'Evil Dead Rise' Trailer Delivers Gory New Frights For Classic Horror Franchise

The classic horror franchise, "Evil Dead," is making another comeback this spring. Warner Bros. Pictures dropped the first trailer this week for "Evil Dead Rise," the latest installment of the franchise with a new director and cast. You can check out the new vision for the iconic franchise below:

https://youtu.be/5ahO-azWVBw

The new installment for the iconic horror series looks to change up locales, moving things from a remote cabin in the woods to the city. Most of the action appears to be set in an apartment building. "Rise" looks to follow a whole new set of characters following the events of the 2013 "Evil Dead" reboot.

The connection of "Evil Dead Rise" to past films, if any, is not clear, other than that there is a malignant book that unleashes supernatural horrors into the world, with otherworldly creatures, Deadites, who threaten the innocent. In the new film, the road-weary Beth (Lilly Sullivan) visits her older sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), who is living with her three kids in a cramped Los Angeles apartment.

The happy reunion is cut short after the Necronomicon is discovered in Ellie's building, giving rise to an outbreak of Deadites, flesh-possessing demons. The nightmare thrusts Beth into a fight for survival against a nightmarish vision of motherhood. It appears the Deadites possibly kill and possess Ellie, and it now falls on Beth to protect her sister's children from the Deadite horrors.

While the film has a new setting, it looks like it hasn't forgotten its roots from the 1981 original film. It even looks like filmmaker Lee Cronin is paying homage to the classic franchise with familiar visual motifs, editing, and cinematography techniques. It also looks like this will be a dark, bloody, dark, scary, and intense horror experience.

The last time "Evil Dead" made it to theaters was the 2013 reboot. Fede Álvarez directed the film. It was a box office success, earning $54 million domestically off of a $17 million budget and $97.5 million worldwide. The film only did moderately well with critics, scoring 63% percent on Rotten Tomatoes, so it had fairly mixed reviews.

While the 2013 movie set up potential sequels and follow-ups, none were ever made. Bruce Campbell did return to the franchise as Ash Williams in 2015 for the new "Ash vs Evil Dead" television series. The show lasted for three seasons and 30 episodes from 2015-2018, but it was not connected to the 2013 film. It doesn't appear that Campbell's Ash is a part of the narrative for "Evil Dead Rise."

The new film comes from writer-director Lee Cronin ("The Hole in the Ground"). It also stars Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, and Nell Fisher. Original franchise creators Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi ("Spider-Man," "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"), and Campbell, aka "Ash" from the original "Evil Dead" trilogy, are on board as producers for the new film, along with John Keville, Macdara Kelleher, Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Romel Adam, and Victoria Palmieri.

"Evil Dead Rise" will hit theaters from Warner Bros. Pictures on April 21 in North America and April 19 overseas.