Deadite fusion, wood chipper mayhem, and one bad mother. Let's dive into "Evil Dead Rise's"
finale and dissect some of its biggest moments. Hey, guess what? Spoilers ahead.
Before delving into "Evil Dead Rise's" bloody climax, let's talk quickly about this film's
version of the Necronomicon, since it bears an interesting connection to the franchise's
history and has some unique variations -- both in design and execution. In an interview with Empire
Magazine, Director Lee Cronin talked about how this film's Necronomicon was inspired by something
he saw in "Army of Darkness." When Cronin first started meeting with Sam Raimi about "Evil Dead
Rise," he brought up the three Necronomicons shown in the film and said that he wanted to utilize
one of them for his own entry. Cronin said: "It gave me that platform to nudge things forward,
and also to showcase that we live in a world where there is more than one copy
of the Necronomicon. Those books may all have slightly different personalities."
Thus, this book is a part of franchise lore and comes with its own brand of evil. Its design is
absolutely chilling, featuring serious varicose veins on the cover and a pair of sharp teeth that
keep it locked until the reader offers up some blood. There's actually no text in the book,
so the usual method of reading from it to unleash the spirit doesn't apply here. Instead,
the book in "Evil Dead Rise" utilizes an interesting concept of a recording of a
priest reading cryptic text as the catalyst to let its evil entity free. "Evil Dead Rise" acts
as a new chapter for the franchise, so it's only fitting for it to have its own "Book of the Dead."
For most of the film, the family only deals with one deadite trying to torture and kill them:
the family matriarch, Ellie. However, that changes when Beth discovers that
Bridget has become a monster as well. Bridget's transformation traces back to when Ellie tries
to give Bridget a gnarly tattoo and infects her with some of her own blood. She drills
the tattoo gun into Bridget's cheek, giving her a nasty gash that's not going to heal easily.
By the time we see the cut again, it has turned a sickly black and starts to sprout
dark veins all over Bridget's face -- never a good sign. As it spreads like a skin infection,
the entity's power begins to consume Bridget until she's fully possessed and
starts vomiting up worms and insects. When Beth discovers Bridget, it's too late to save her,
and the group suddenly has another undead family member to contend with.
The family is generally able to stay safe from Ellie after they trap her in the hallway,
but she still makes attempts to get back in. From viciously banging her head against the
door to luring Kassie into opening the door, Ellie has plenty of tricks up her sleeve to try
and get back into the room. "Do it for mom and dad."
However, it's not until Ellie hears something in the vents — the cat
introduced earlier in the film — that she's able to come up with a successful plan.
Before you know it, she's seen hopping down from
the vent in the room that Beth is in to perform a sneak attack on her. Me-OW.
One of the important elements going into the ending is the knowledge of just how
hard it is to kill a deadite. To see if she can learn a little more about how to stop Ellie,
Beth decides to listen to the records that came with the book. Eventually, she comes across a
recording of one of the priests talking about the curse and how all the other priests have become
possessed. He goes into detail about his attempts to stop this demonic force and kill his former
friends, but pretty much says they all failed. His accounts give a chilling glimpse into what
the family is up against — and reaffirms what fans know from the previous films. Prayer and religious
practices won't exorcize the demon. Burning, burying, or dismembering the possessed ones
aren't particularly useful strategies, either. Fans already know from past films that deadites
are tough to kill, but this recording paints an even more horrifying picture for Beth that
solidifies their seemingly unkillable nature. "This evil creates terror through total chaos."
After Ellie makes it back into the room, a huge brawl erupts that throws the entire apartment into
chaos. Danny ends up battling with Bridget in the kitchen, where she stabs him multiple times with a
knife. Danny seems powerless to stop Bridget until he's able to turn on the stovetop and use a spray
can to craft a flamethrower that lights Bridget's head on fire. It doesn't kill her for good, but
it's enough to at least keep her down for a while. As for Beth, she ends up in a gruesome fight with
Ellie that spills into the living room. Although Danny tries to help, he's quickly tossed aside by
Ellie, who nearly has Beth in a prime killing position. However, Kassie is able to give Beth
an edge when she slides her mother's scissors over to Beth -- who uses them to stab Ellie.
With the two deadites incapacitated for the moment, Beth is ready to grab who's left and
bolt for the exit. Unfortunately, she and Kassie have to suffer the loss of Danny, who bleeds out
from his wounds. Danny's guilt over causing this curse to be unleashed was part of what fuelled him
to help stop it, and as we watch the film, there's a part of us that hopes he can find redemption.
Sadly, that isn't the case, making his end incredibly tragic and bittersweet.
His tearful apology to Kassie right before he dies is undeniably heartbreaking and it adds
to the cruelty of the moment. Danny's death is one of the saddest moments of "Evil Dead Rise,"
and it makes Beth determined to protect Kassie at all costs so she doesn't lose another loved one.
Although Beth and Kassie are able to get into the hallway, they have a lot of problems coming
their way. Not only has Ellie reawakened and begun pursuing them again, but all
the people who have been killed throughout the film are also coming back as deadites.
"Everybody here dies by dawn, Beth" As Beth and Kassie take their blood-soaked
elevator ride, the book suddenly flips through pages until it lands on an image of a creature
with multiple bodies seemingly conjoined into one disgusting-looking entity. That's exactly
what forms when Danny and Bridget's bodies conjoin with their mother, and the ghoulish result is seen
when it attacks Beth and Kassie in the garage. This terrifying abomination is one of the film's
most skin-crawling inventions, and is quite possibly the most fearsome deadite of all time.
But it's more than just a freaky monster. At the film's SXSW premiere, director Lee
Cronin spoke with SlashFilm about the meaning behind this twisted creation and explained how
it went hand-in-hand with the distorted lens the film puts on families. He said:
"It's the worst version of family you can imagine. It's a story about this subversion of perversion
of family. So, it's not just there to be creepy, it also has a little bit of meaning behind it."
Once Beth and Kassie make it into the garage, they honestly seem like they're home-free.
They have keys to a car just waiting for them to drive out of there and a pretty clear path
ahead of them. However, they're stopped by the arrival of the newly-formed deadite monster,
forcing them to play a little hide and seek as they try to head toward the exit.
Unfortunately, the gate starts to close as they make their way there,
and they have to make a run for it -- which gives away their location. While Beth is able
to quickly slide under the closing gate, Kassie is grabbed by the creature just before she makes it,
leading her to be captured. As a result, Beth has to smash open a nearby grate to save Kassie.
With no other option than to face the deadite head-on, Beth takes her shot at killing it,
but it doesn't go as planned. The creature is simply too strong for Beth to fight without a
powerful enough weapon, and she's nearly turned to mulch when the creature tries to shove her
into a wood chipper. Thankfully, Kassie is able to turn it off before that happens and Beth turns
the tables on the deadite. With the creature putting itself right in front of the wood
chipper's opening, Beth grabs a nearby chainsaw and tells Kassie to turn the chipper back on.
In true "Evil Dead" fashion, Beth revs up the chainsaw and impales the creature,
pushing it into the chipper. The only thing that's left once Beth is done is Ellie's head,
which Beth proceeds to kick into the wood chipper. With this gesture, "Evil Dead Rise" sticks to its
franchise's roots and delivers a gloriously bloody finale that fans will rave about.
With the creature slain, Beth and Kassie are able to finally leave
this nightmare and start a new life. Their hearts are certainly heavy,
since they've not only had to go through this night of blood and brutality,
but also because ... well, most of their family is now dead. So that's a bummer. Still,
they're happy to be alive and will at least be able to welcome a new member of the family, since
Beth confirmed to Kassie that she's pregnant. "You'd be a good mom someday, Aunty Beth."
Maybe we'll see Beth and Kassie again in a future film to help fight more
deadites -- possibly alongside Ash, or Mia from the 2013 remake -- but for now,
they're simply going to start anew. Although these two have gone through hellish nightmares that'll
follow them for the rest of their lives, they can rest easy for now. Or can they?
Before the film begins to roll credits, we actually get one last scene that ties back
to the opening of the film. A woman named Jessica is talking with her friend about
the weekend they're going to have together at the lake, but soon sees all the carnage
and blood spilling throughout the garage. Then suddenly, the camera is shown zooming toward her
at different angles until she's left screaming. This ending ties back to the opening, where we
see Jessica become fully possessed and kill all of her friends before rising out of the lake,
ready to take on the rest of the world. With Jessica's fate now ambiguous and her demonic power
still growing, it's possible that this hints at a potential sequel. Regardless, it's a great end
stinger that ties everything together and shows how this kind of evil rarely likes to stay dead.
At the moment, there have been no announcements made about a sequel to "Evil Dead Rise" in
development, but signs for one to come are very good. Reviews for the film have been glowing,
and it is poised to have a good run at the box office. However, we have been in this
position before with "Evil Dead." Prior to this film's release, plans for a sequel to "Army of
Darkness," the 2013 remake, and future seasons of "Ash vs. Evil Dead" were scrapped. So, just
because "Evil Dead Rise" escaped that fate doesn't mean that it's going to get follow-up films.
If it does, though, there are plenty of good story directions for future films to
embrace. Like this film, a sequel could simply follow new characters dealing with their own
evils derived from the Necronomicon. Perhaps it could bring the worlds of all three major films
together and have its legacy characters team up to take on Jessica, who's now free to take
her evil elsewhere. Or we could simply see Beth and Kassie try to escape this evil force again
after it comes to find them. The possibilities are endless for what another "Evil Dead" movie
could bring. If "Evil Dead Rise" is a success, it would be groovy to see some of them come to life.