Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released a bare bones edition of Evil Dead Rise in 2023. It still looked great on 4K, but thank you to Arrow for doing a complete special edition. The movie showed that Evil Dead can work in the big city, and with new characters unrelated to Ash.
The 4K is still a study in shadow and darkness. Even before the Deadites attack, the dark bathroom, towering building in the rainy night and corners of the apartment are deeply shadowed. The garage and the hole that opens in the earthquake are oppressive, and once the book is read, the Deadites use those shadows to menace the living.
Stars Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland discuss their careers leading up to the film in new interviews recorded on Zoom. Sullivan shows some video recorded on her own phone.
I love hearing about Sutherland’s movement because her physicality is so captivating as a demon. She goes into more detail about movement on the commentary and also talks about loving the wirework for her elevator scene. She also points out when it’s a foot double in close-ups. The commentary, with director Lee Cronin, also mentions a great deleted line after the eye scene.
Gabrielle Echols kept the head mold they made of her and shows it on screen. Anna-Maree Thomas also shares great details of her bookending sequences. Each of the actor interviews except Thomas, who wasn’t in the scene, addresses how the finale was revised under COVID protocols.
Then the prosthetics makeup designer, editor, sound designer and composer discuss technical aspects of an Evil Dead film. There are EPK and Dolby features from 2023 too. Cronin’s short, Ghost Train, is a polished and evocative brief that incorporates child actors and their guilt-ridden adult counterparts.