Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Evil Dead Rise

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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).
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Evil Dead Rise                                                                        OK/G
I love the original Evil Dead; I didn’t see it until my late teens, but I was instantly hooked.  I grew to love Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness is still a little too spoofy for me, and the 2013 remake got better with more viewings.  I loved the first season of Ash vs. Evil Dead, but seasons two and three kind of overstayed their welcome (you can read my review of the first season in here---https://vampireclown82.blogspot.com/2016/04/movie-reviews-4242016.html---but it is in dire need of editing since it was around when I first started doing this blog).  This fifth film in the franchise has nothing to do with the other entries (aside from Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell being involved), but there are some neat nods to them (the very beginning being one).  The action is not at a cabin in the woods (for the most part), but an apartment building in California (shot in New Zealand though); Demons 2 may come to mind, but it takes place predominantly on one floor, one apartment specifically (you’ll see why the characters are stuck there).  On one hand, it’s fine to expand a franchise instead of making the same movie again and again, but, on the other hand, why expand in the first place?  The original movies are always going to be there.  Is this entry worthy though?  I’ll admit I lost a bit of interest halfway through and it did feel like a remake at times, but I think you need to wait until it’s over to know how you truly feel.  It certainly doesn’t skimp on the red stuff and ends up being as manic as expected for an Evil Dead film once it gets going.  So, notwithstanding a few issues I had, the pros ultimately outweighed the cons.  It definitely wasn’t unnecessary.  It might age better too; hell, I didn’t love Evil Dead 2 the first time, or appreciate the remake initially.  7/11/2023

Bonus review:

The Deep Web:  Murdershow                                     OK/G
Part of me loved this new movie available on Tubi.  Or, parts of it I loved is what I should say.  It is derivative as they come, but I did dig the clown masks and the sharp objects that were used throughout; it is short too (roughly 81-minutes).  In other words, I guess you can chalk this up as a case of style over substance.  The ending does open the door for a larger part of the story (perhaps why it felt lacking), which might lead to this becoming a franchise (i.e. The Deep Web:  Fill in the blank).  I’m not sure how I’d feel about that, but I definitely can’t say that I hated this film, as derivative as it was…7/8/2023

Other movies I've seen and their ratings (see above):

American Cherry  >>>B

Godless:  The Eastfield Exorcism  >>>B

Maggie Moore(s)  >>>OK

Mystic Pizza  >>>OK

The Tutor (2023)  >>>EH

---Sean O.
7/12/2023

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