“Evil Dead Rise”

(USA/New Zealand/Ireland)

Rotten Tomatoes (1/5), Letterboxd (1/5), Imdb.com (2/10), TMDB.com (1/5)

As contemporary horror films go, I’ll freely admit that this is a genre about which I couldn’t care less. I find most of these films boring, predictable, stupid and not especially scary. In fact, the only ones to which I’ll even give a second look are smart horror films (like “Get Out” (2017) or “Annihilation” (2018)) or campy romps (like “Renfield” (2023)). So the fact that I somehow managed to sit through this trash heap is quite an accomplishment. (Actually, the only reason I watched was because I was channel surfing and there was nothing else on, so I decided to give it a chance (I would have been better turning on the radio).) This pointless parade of endless blood and gore is a prime example of the decline of the mainstream movie industry (how projects like this get greenlighted is beyond me, except, of course, for the obvious box office considerations). It’s so utterly ridiculous that the picture plays like something that was made up as the crew went along. I’ll admit that there was some modestly cheeky humor here, but not enough to make it a genuine camp fest. Writer-director Lee Cronin’s latest is an assault on the art of filmmaking, the kind that should carry fines and other punishments. My goodness, what has this industry come to?