Once intended to be a straight-to-streaming HBO Max release, Evil Dead Rise went over so well with test screening audiences that it’s going to be receiving a theatrical release on April 21st – but before we get there, the film had its official premiere at the SXSW film festival last night. We have gathered some of the Twitter reactions below, and judging by most of these tweets Evil Dead fans are going to be in for a hell of a time next month!
Evil Dead franchise creator Sam Raimi handpicked Lee Cronin to write and direct a new Evil Dead movie after seeing his feature directorial debut The Hole in the Ground. The story Cronin crafted for Evil Dead Rise has the following synopsis: A road-weary Beth pays an overdue visit to her older sister Ellie, who is raising three kids on her own in a cramped L.A apartment. The sisters’ reunion is cut short by the discovery of a mysterious book deep in the bowels of Ellie’s building, giving rise to flesh-possessing demons, and thrusting Beth into a primal battle for survival as she is faced with the most nightmarish version of motherhood imaginable.
Although the film is set in Los Angeles, filming actually took place in New Zealand. Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland star as the estranged sisters at the heart of the story. Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, and Nell Fisher play Ellie’s three kids. Mia Challis is playing Jessica, “an 18 year old girl, who is obsessed with fashion and Instagram. Jessica loves to be the center of attention, although she is smarter than she lets on”.
Bruce Campbell doesn’t have an acting role in Evil Dead Rise, as he has formally retired from playing franchise hero Ash on screen, but he did produce the movie alongside Raimi and Rob Tapert, as those three hold the rights to the series. Evil Dead Rise is a collaboration between Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, and Ghost House Pictures.
Campbell, Raimi, Taper, Cronin, Sullivan, and Sutherland were in attendance for the SXSW screening and participated in a Q&A after the end credits.
Here are some of the reactions:
Of course, not every reaction was a rave, and the Q&A was notably disrupted by a heckler who shouted that the movie sucked – after a member of the theatre staff woke him up, as he was sleeping with his feet up on another seat. The guy tossed an empty popcorn bucket in the air and angrily stormed out, giving the cast and crew the finger on the way. And Campbell handled the heckler in exactly the way fans would hope he would.