Warner Bros. has dropped the blood-soaked trailer forEvil Dead Rise, which transplants the demonic lore of the iconic horror franchise into an urban setting. One of the most promising horror movie trailers in recent memory, theEvil Dead Riseteaser deftly recaptures the gonzo, anything-goes style that made Sam Raimi’s originalEvil Deadfilms such beloved classics of the genre. Between unapologetic campness, shocking pitch-black humor, and inventive, boundary-pushing gore, the trailer forEvil Dead Risestrikes the perfect tone for a new entry in the fan-favorite series. Ash Williams might be nowhere to be seen in the newEvil Deadtrailer, but it gets every other aspect of the franchise just right.
Evil Dead Risewill leave behind the usual cabin-in-the-woods setting for a bustling apartment complex in Los Angeles. After a lengthy absence from the family, a woman named Beth goes to L.A. to visit her older sister Ellie, a single mother raising her three children in a tiny apartment in the middle of the city. They’re launched into a nightmarish fight for survival when they discover a copy of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis in the building and unwittingly release the flesh-eating demons residing within its pages.Evil Dead Risepromises to deal withthe universal themes of motherhoodand a parent’s desperate struggle to protect their kids (through the lens of brutal, bloody horror).
RELATED:The Best Nightmare On Elm Street Sequel
The creepiest moments from the red-band cut of the trailer rekindle the zany, full-throttle, pedal-to-the-metal approach that Raimi took to his groundbreaking original films. There’s a tattoo needle to the eye, a cheese grater to the leg, and an outpouring of blood evokingthe elevator scene fromThe Shining. A scalp is ripped off the top of a skull and a frying pan is filled with crackling eggs and crimson blood. It has plenty of unsettling one-liners, like “Mommy’s with the maggots now,” and the trailer even sees the return of theEvil Deadfranchise’s signature weapon: a revving, blood-drenched chainsaw. And writer-director Lee Cronin has toldEmpiremagazine that the horrifying imagery seen in the trailer is “just a taste of the grind.”
TheEvil Deadfilms have a special place in the hearts of horror movie lovers. The 1981 original inspired a generation of horror fans to pick up a camera and make their own low-rent scary movies with their friends. This gnarly indie horror gem became a staple of the midnight movie circuit andmade Bruce Campbell a globally adored icon. The sequels continued to push the envelope further and further with even bloodier violence, even more twisted humor, and even more bonkers special effects. No idea is too wild or outrageous to be in anEvil Deadfilm, and if the trailer is an accurate representation of the movie it’s advertising, then it seems as though Cronin’s new reboot is boldly continuing that tradition.
Based on the trailer,Evil Dead Risehas gloriously recaptured what makes this franchise so great. It puts a fresh spin on the story – swapping out a cabin in the woods for an apartment in the city and swapping out a group of friends for a fractured family unit – but maintains the same tone and style that fans are familiar with. Like its classic predecessors, the trailer is full of gonzo, anything-goes visuals andshamelessly dark humor, and builds a tangible sense of dread around the threat of the Necronomicon and the demons it unleashes. Every parent fears that something horrible will happen to their kids, andEvil Dead Risewill realize that fear in the most jaw-dropping ways possible.
LikeFede Álvarez’s immensely satisfying 2013 reboot,Evil Dead Risehas modern filmmaking technologies at its disposal to make the horror feel more real. The homemade effects of Raimi’s original low-budgetEvil Deadmovies gave audiences the comfort of artifice. No matter what Raimi subjected Ash to, it didn’t look real enough to make viewers feel truly uneasy. But the new CG effects look hauntingly realistic. When some poor soul has their scalp ripped off, it looks real enough that the audience can feel the excruciating agony.Evil Dead Riseis poised to be even more of a gut-punch than its predecessors.
Although it was originally set to go straight to streaming on HBO Max,Evil Dead Risewas switched to a theatrical release after the movie turned out to be unexpectedly awesome and Warner Bros. executives got a renewed faith in its prospects. It seems to be a worthy addition to theEvil Deadcanon and a whole new benchmark for the series’ signature gruesomeness. If the grisly, petrifying trailer is anything to go by, then horror fans are in for a gory treatwhenEvil Dead Risearrives in multiplexeson April 21.
MORE:This Sam Raimi Horror Gem Proves PG-13 Movies Can Still Be Scary
