Theatrical experiences are important, but there’s something to be said for scaring yourself at home, too. Netflix viewers agree, as they’ve been watching “Evil Dead Rise” in droves since it arrived on the streamer two days ago, according to reports. FlixpatrolThe analytics site tracks what Netflix subscribers are watching, and Lee Cronin’s grungy and dirty film set in the Sam Raimi-created “Evil Dead” universe is currently the second-most-watched movie on Netflix, according to its metrics.
“Evil Dead Rise” trails only “The Garfield Movie,” which is no surprise as children’s movies typically dominate the home media charts (likely for reasons of replayability and ease of viewing). However, the two titles couldn’t be more different, as one features a cat who loves lasagna and one (literally) takes a cheese grater to a demonic woman’s foot. Despite the skin crawling in that scene, it’s not even the most disgusting part of Cronin’s film, which distills the humor and camp of Raimi’s original trilogy while keeping its sick sense of humor alive. The film famously used over 1,700 gallons of fake blood, and it’s generally a terrible movie to accidentally click on if you’re browsing the Netflix home page.
While that’s not the case for most viewers, the immediate success of “Evil Dead Rise” on Netflix is further proof that horror fans are always ready for a good movie. The genre has been a consistent moneymaker in recent years, with films like “Alien: Romulus,” “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” “Scream VI” and “A Quiet Place: Day One” crossing the $100 million mark at the box office in the past two years. “Evil Dead Rise” also hit that coveted benchmark, turning a reportedly small budget into a $146 million global theatrical payday (per Number,
Evil Dead Rises dominated the box office and now it’s taking over streaming too
“Evil Dead Rise” is technically a standalone installment of the classic franchise, with a powerful, demonic book and the relentless monsters known as Deadites being the only connective tissue between the new film and the original. If you haven’t seen it yet, the movie stars Lily Sullivan as Beth, a band roadie who attempts to escape reality for a little while at her artistic sister Ellie’s (Alyssa Sutherland) L.A. apartment when the Deadites come knocking. Along with her sister’s kids (Morgan Davis, Gabrielle Echols and Nell Fisher), Beth encounters some evil supernatural beasts who never seem to have any free time or energy.
The film received mostly positive reviews upon release, with /Film’s Jacob Hall writing in his review that Sutherland’s performance is a “real revelation” and the film’s gross-out special effects are “often astonishing”. As Jacob stated: “Cronin knows what made the first two ‘Evil Dead’ films work and he’s not afraid to set a new mark by focusing on what’s really going on. Though it’s certainly darker than Raimi’s films, it’s also, like them, an ultra-violent trip through a nightmarish funhouse that only stops to show something so horrifying you can only scream or laugh.”
“Evil Dead Rise” was nominated for dozens of genre awards in 2023, and /Film even named it the second-best horror movie of the year. Now, it’s available to stream on Netflix in all its creepy, stomach-churning glory — that is, if you have the guts to watch it.
