The Dead Room

Lore & Background

The Dead Room follows three ghost hunters—Liam, Scott, and Holly—hired by an insurance company to investigate a house after a ghost scares a family away. Initially, their equipment detects nothing, but strange events escalate, including a chair rocking by itself and a ghostly figure only Holly can see. Scott, a skeptic, insists on staying to gather scientific evidence, despite the growing danger.

Reader's Guide

As the investigation deepens, the team discovers a hidden room containing the mummified remains of a woman. The police are called but find no body, and the ghost hunters are attacked by a second, more malevolent ghost. The film culminates in the deaths of all three ghost hunters and the police officers, with the killer ghost finally revealing itself in the final scene. The Dead Room received mixed reviews, with critics noting a lack of scares until the last ten minutes, which were praised for their special effects and mayhem.

Did You Know?

• The film was inspired by the 1970s urban legend of a haunted farmhouse in Central Otago, New Zealand.
• It premiered at the Sitges Film Festival on 14 October 2015.
• IFC Midnight released the film in the US in April 2016.

A Franchise Forged in Scrapped Plans

The path to Evil Dead Rise was anything but straightforward. Before the 2023 entry entered development, the franchise had already seen multiple projects fall through: a planned sequel to Fede Álvarez's 2013 remake, a follow-up to Army of Darkness, and a fourth season of Ash vs Evil Dead. At the SXSW premiere, Álvarez confirmed his film would receive a sequel, while Raimi had outlined plans to co-write a fourth installment with his brother Ivan as a continuation of Army of Darkness. Campbell and Álvarez had even discussed a seventh film merging the Ash Williams and Mia Allen storylines. By October 2019, the landscape shifted. Raimi announced a new film in development, with Rob Tapert producing and both Raimi and Campbell serving as executive producers. Lee Cronin was brought on to write and direct, and New Line Cinema joined as a production company. Principal photography ran from June to October 2021 in New Zealand, making the project an international co-production spanning New Zealand, Ireland, and the United States. Originally slated for HBO Max, the film was pulled for a theatrical release by Warner Bros. Pictures after positive test screenings.

The Apartment Siege

Evil Dead Rise confines its horror to a single L.A. apartment building, creating a claustrophobic siege narrative. Guitar technician Beth, newly pregnant, reaches out to her estranged sister Ellie, who is raising three children—Danny, Bridget, and Kassie—alone after her husband's departure. An earthquake cracks open a hidden chamber beneath the parking lot, where Danny stumbles upon three 1923 phonograph records and a volume of the Naturom Demonto, a demonic text. The records chronicle a priest's failed attempts to contain the book's power before he accidentally summoned Deadites. Once the building's power fails, an unseen force possesses Ellie, and the family finds themselves trapped: the staircase has collapsed, the elevator is damaged, and the fire escape is blocked. Ellie, in a trance, massacres their neighbors. The possession spreads—Bridget is infected, Danny is fatally stabbed, and the three possessed bodies merge into a multi-limbed creature called the Marauder. Beth and Kassie survive by destroying the creature in a wood chipper, with Beth ultimately kicking Ellie's severed head into the machine after it taunts her about motherhood.

Cast and the Campbell Thread

The film centers on Lily Sullivan as Beth and Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie, two sisters whose estrangement becomes the emotional core of the survival story. Supporting roles are filled by Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, and Nell Fisher, the latter making her feature-film debut as one of the children. Perhaps the most quietly significant casting choice belongs to Bruce Campbell. He appears in an uncredited, voice-only capacity, heard within one of the 1923 phonograph records discovered in the hidden chamber. His unnamed character delivers a warning to the priests about the dangers of the demon resurrection ritual and demands they destroy the book. Writer-director Lee Cronin has explained that he deliberately brought Campbell in for this role, framing the character as a time-displaced version of Ash Williams. The cameo is brief but carries the weight of the entire franchise's history, threading the legacy of the original trilogy into the new narrative without requiring Campbell to appear on screen. It is a nod to fans that respects both the source material and the new direction Cronin was taking with the series.

Box Office Triumph and Series Legacy

Evil Dead Rise premiered at the South by Southwest festival on March 15, 2023, before hitting U.S. theaters on April 21 under the Warner Bros. Pictures banner. Critics responded favorably, and the film went on to gross approximately $147 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing entry in the entire Evil Dead franchise. At the 51st Saturn Awards, the film earned nominations for both Best Horror Film and Best Make-up, recognizing the practical effects work that defined its visceral horror. The film's commercial and critical success cemented its place as a turning point for the series, proving that the franchise could resonate with a new generation while honoring its roots. The momentum carried forward into the franchise's future: a sixth installment, titled Evil Dead Burn, was released on July 10, 2026, continuing the story and expanding the universe that Cronin and the production team had revitalized. For a series that had seen multiple projects stall or be scrapped over the years, Evil Dead Rise demonstrated that the Deadites still had a powerful grip on audiences.