There has been a lot of discussion about certain movies having their content dumbed down to achieve a more family-friendly rating including some of the more recent entries in theAlienfranchise and, reportedly, the upcoming MCU introduction ofBlade.However, if there is one movie that everyone demands to receive an R-rating it is theEvil Deadfranchise, so the news that latest movieEvil Dead Risehas secured the adult-orientated rating for “bloody violence and gore” ahead of its release on HBO Max later this year.
The Evil Deadhas been a constant presence at the higher end of the ratings scale, with the original 1981 movie gaining and maintaining a NC-17 rating and all subsequent movies including the 2013 reboot gaining an R-rating for the excess use of blood, gore and violence. ConsideringEvil Dead Risehas the involvement of bothEvil Deadalums Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell as producers and director Lee Cronin was picked by Raimi to work on the fifth movie in the franchise, there are not many certainties in the world, but this rating was one of them.
Evil Dead Rise, like its predecessor, will not involve Campbell in a starring role, but will also move away from the cabin in the woods location,bringing theEvil Deadto a cramped L.A. apartment block. The new movie will see sisters Ellie and Beth, played respectively by Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan, who must face-off against the Deadites of the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis in a brand-new nightmare scenario that for the first time in the franchise also puts children in peril.
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Although Bruce Campbell had a short cameo inThe Evil Dead 2013, the film featured a whole new cast but essentially remade the original 1981 movie for a second time – asEvil Dead IIwas also a new version of the same story. Campbell has ducked out of on-screen duties this time around, butEvil DeadRiseis also abandoning everything that has become synonymous with the franchise to deliver something brand new, but with the same black,Evil Deadheart at the center of it.
According to the blurb, inEvil Dead Rise"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."
Back in October,director Cronin shared the end of filming on the movie on his Twitter account, commenting, “8 months, 1 Covid Lockdown, 6,500 litres of blood, and more memories than my brain can even process. That is a wrap on #EvilDeadRise. Thank you New Zealand, it’s been a blast. Time to head home and cut this beast together.” In the following months, he has kept fans updated with the post-production progress, and with the rating for the movie now in place, it seems like everyone now just has to sit back and wait for a trailer to give a first glimpse at what the latest outing for the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis has to offer.