The evil dead are ready to rise (on streaming).
Fresh off a very successful run in theaters, the latest attempt to revamp the Evil Dead horror franchise is coming to home viewing. Subscribers to Max will get their chance to watch Evil Dead Rise, starting next week.
While the original Evil Dead team, including director Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell, were all involved in the new movie as producers, Evil Dead Rise comes from a new batch of young filmmakers and follows new characters battling the classic old evil that comes around whenever someone gets the bright idea to read from the Necronomicon — AKA the Book of the Dead.
In the latest film, two sisters, played by Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland, square off with an army of darkness in the midst of an urban environment, rather than The Evil Dead’s typical milieu of teenagers hanging out in isolated cabins in the woods.
READ MORE: Sam Raimi Is Writing An Evil Dead Bible For Future Movies
The original The Evil Dead from 1981 was the breakthrough movie from the young Sam Raimi; its strong reviews and box office got him enough notice around Hollywood to bankroll his first few movies. He followed it with two sequels: Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, and then went on to make some of the biggest blockbusters of the 21st century, including the first three Spider-Man films.
Evil Dead Rise got strong reviews from critics — it’s currently sitting at 84 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes — and grossed $146 million worldwide, a big bump from the previous attempt at an Evil Dead reboot. That was the 2013 Evil Dead starring Jane Levy, which grossed $97.5 million worldwide.
Here is Evil Dead Rise’s official synopsis:
Moving the action out of the woods and into the city, “Evil Dead Rise” tells a twisted tale of two estranged sisters, played by Sullivan and Sutherland, whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.
Evil Dead Rise premieres on Max on June 23.