WARNING! This article contains major SPOILERS for Evil Dead Rise!
introduces the franchise’s third Book of the Dead, which unleashes a horrifying new Deadite monster. Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise is the fifth movie in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead franchise, and while it seemingly has no direct connections to past characters and events, there is one key uniting factor: The Book of the Dead. Each installment of the franchise sees the lead character contend with the cursed Book of the Dead (A.K.A. Naturom Demonto or Necronomicon Ex-Mortis), the book’s unique demonic creatures, and their Deadite friends and family. Just as Ash Williams and Mia Allen did in past movies, Beth (Lily Sullivan) will continue to fight and run from Evil Dead Rise’s demonic book.
In Evil Dead Rise, Beth’s nephew Danny (Morgan Davies) discovers vinyl recordings made by priests and an entombed book underneath his family’s apartment building. When Danny plays the recordings and opens the book, he unintentionally releases a demonic spirit, which turns his mother and Beth’s older sister, Ellie, into the lead Deadite. Chaos ensues as Deadite Ellie attacks the family and other tenants in their apartment building, leading all but Beth and her niece Kassie to become Deadites and form a grotesque monster. While Beth and Kassie survive the ending by putting the monster through a woodchipper, the book and demon aren't destroyed, with Evil Dead Rise’s scary expansion on the book’s lore having greater implications and connections within the franchise.
Evil Dead Rise's New Necronomicon Is The Third Book From Army Of Darkness
The third movie in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series revealed that there are three known volumes of the Book of the Dead. The first, which released the Kandarian demon and had a face-like cover, was discovered by Ash Williams and his friends at a Tennessee cabin in The Evil Dead (1981). Ash continued to contend with this book throughout the first three Evil Dead movies, with 1992’s Army of Darkness depicting his book being one among three in a Medieval graveyard. Evil Dead (2013) then showcased Mia Allen battling the second book, which had a stitched cover and released the Taker of Souls.
Evil Dead Rise has finally introduced the third Necronomicon Ex-Mortis from Army of Darkness, which has a vein-like cover and teeth clasping it together. Evil Dead Rise’s character Danny finds it in a vault in the buried bank, which a group of priests used to try to contain the book and keep it from being opened again. The vault was filled with Saint Benedict’s medallions and scriptures asking the saint to protect them, with the book itself being kept within a tomb. It’s unclear how the book, which was in 1300 AD England in Army of Darkness’s timeline, made its way to an old bank-turned-apartment building before 1923, but Evil Dead Rise’s priest recordings about the book feature a hidden detail that could help explain it.
Danny finds three vinyl records made by the priests researching the book from 1923, which warned about the Naturom Demonto’s dangers before one of the priests uttered the incantation releasing the book’s demon. At one point, an unnamed “priest” tells the lead to destroy the book, yelling “It’s called the Book of the Dead for a reason!” This line is actually Bruce Campbell’s hidden Evil Dead Rise cameo, with director Lee Cronin being ambiguous as to whether the “priest” is actually Campbell’s Evil Dead franchise character Ash Williams.
If it is a time-displaced Ash, then he may have tried to travel back in time to find and destroy the other two books he saw in Army of Darkness, but failed to stop the release of Evil Dead Rise’s demon in 1923. As such, the book had been sitting in a vault for 100 years before an earthquake led Danny to find it in the apartment building. Since Ash might be in Evil Dead Rise via a century-old voice cameo, he could appear in a sequel to help Beth and possibly Mia find and attempt to destroy the three books as a team.
Evil Dead Rise's New Book Drawings & Demon Explained
The blood-inked drawings in Evil Dead Rise’s Necronomicon are detailed and depict the events that follow throughout the movie’s Deadite attack. In the book, a woman is killed and becomes the lead Deadite under the demon’s possession, which becomes Ellie. Another drawing shows blood and other substances being expelled from the mouth of another demon, which turns out to be Ellie’s daughter Bridget, who vomits blood and maggots upon turning into a Deadite. The Book of the Dead’s drawings also show the first woman being disemboweled by others, which later comes to life when Deadite Bridget and Danny open up Ellie’s stomach as they prepare to become the multi-limbed final creature depicted in Evil Dead Rise’s book.
Keeping in line with Evil Dead Rise’s overarching theme of motherhood, the book unleashes a Deadite creature that is far different from the franchise’s past undead monsters. This one is controlled by the lead mother Deadite (Ellie) with the limbs and bodies of other Deadites globbing together to form one giant creature. As Evil Dead Rise’s mother demon was forming the creature, the use of her children as the monster’s other arms and legs called back to the demon’s earlier sentiments that she wanted to keep the entire family together. It seems that Evil Dead Rise’s demon preys on families in order to accomplish its chaos, such as how the Deadite Jessica attacks her cousin Teresa in the opening scene/after the movie’s ending.
What Evil Dead Rise's Deadite Monster Really Is (& What It Wants)
Director Lee Cronin is calling the new monster the Marauder (via ScreenAnarchy), which is extremely different from 2013’s Evil Dead monster The Abomination. Instead of an evil version of the main character like The Abomination, Evil Dead Rise’s Marauder is an unholy monster that unifies other Deadites into one multi-limbed creature. Ellie, the mother Deadite, leads the monster and uses her Deadite children as an extension of her chaos, making her stronger. Considering the only Deadites who join the Marauder are Ellie and her kids, it seems Evil Dead Rise’s monster is fixated on corrupting the themes of familial unification, explaining why it’s primarily fixated on Ellie’s sister Beth, Beth’s unborn child, and Ellie’s daughter Kassie.
While Evil Dead Rise’s monster is motivated by themes of family, the demon still shares the same ultimate goal as the past evils in the franchise: Terror through utter chaos. The witty one-liners from the Deadites certainly contribute to the chaos, but what the demon truly feeds on is fear and horror, such as the quick massacre in the hallway as Evil Dead Rise’s Deadite Ellie kills her neighbors. The terror is worsened by brutal insults toward the Deadite’s targets, which primarily consist of Ellie telling Beth that she’s a groupie and will fail at being a mother. Evil Dead Rise’s demon isn’t entirely picky about which families it will destroy, however, as Beth and Kassie’s escape leads to Jessica’s possession instead.
The Marauder Is Evil Dead's Most Horrifying (& Chaotic) Demon Yet
Evil Dead Rise’s Marauder is now the Sam Raimi franchise’s most terrifying demonic creature yet, not just because of the grotesque body horror used to create it, but also because of the difficulty in destroying it. As a brilliant Evil Dead Easter egg, Beth – much like Ash and Mia – had to use a chainsaw to cut through the Marauder’s limbs and shove it through a woodchipper in order to (temporarily) stop its reign of terror. Even still, the demon wasn’t dispelled upon the destruction of the Marauder, and found a new host less than a day later.
The demonic spirit had stayed in the apartment building parking garage after Beth and Kassie left, where it then attacked and possessed Jessica. Bringing Evil Dead Rise full circle, Jessica becomes the Deadite seen in the movie’s opening scene, where she decapitates her boyfriend and scalps her cousin Teresa. Defeating this demon won’t come easily, especially since the priests warned that there’s no way to destroy the Book of the Dead or truly dispel the demon. Rather, Evil Dead Rise’s ending suggests the Marauder’s terror will only grow and spread in a sequel, with there being no indication as to how characters like Beth, Ash, and Mia can stop the spirits’ chaos for good.
Source: ScreenAnarchy