Following an iconic film trilogy, a remake in 2013, and a beloved, cult TV series that continued the original trilogy, the Evil Dead franchise is finally returning this year with Evil Dead Rise, releasing in April!  And after months of teasing, we finally got a full trailer!

Brand New Setting
Abandoning the cabin in the woods motif feels strange for this franchise, but it’s done well before with outings like Army of Darkness and Ash vs. Evil Dead.  And frankly, we already got a remake which followed the same plotline with 2013’s version, so it seems fitting to move into that new direction now.

The new trailer shows us a family in peril as the mother becomes possessed by the iconic evil spirits and transforms into a truly disturbing deadite.  Bruce Campbell may have officially retired from the role of Ash, but as an executive producer (along with Sam Raimi), their goal was to create another awesome entry into the franchise and that seems to be what they’re doing.

Heavily stylized and creatively shot, the trailer succeeds at giving us just enough of a bare bones premise with its focus more on gore and spectacle versus giving away too much plot too early.  One of the most notable updates is the Necronomicon itself, which admittedly feels weird not having the face.  But it looks much more “realistic” in the sense that it actually looks like something that could have been bound in human skin.

Same Old Gore
By far the best thing about this trailer is that they went full red band and gave us all the gleeful gore!  We get chainsaws, scalping, an elevator filled with blood, a cheese grater being used as a weapon, among many other things.  You can’t really make an Evil Dead movie without going balls to the wall, and it seems very much like this film is doing just that!

Based on what we’ve seen, it’s difficult to tell if it’ll have the same level of fun camp that the original trilogy did.  Evil Dead (2013) certainly showed us that you can be serious and gritty in this franchise and still be effective and scary.  Here’s to hoping that this movie follows in those same footsteps!

Evil Dead Rise is coming to theaters April 21, 2023

What did you think of the Evil Dead Rise trailer?  What do you hope to see most in the movie?  Let us know in the comments!

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