The Evil Dead horror franchise has been resurrected once again. Following on from the original trilogy and the 2013 remake, a fifth installment in the series, Evil Dead Rise, is now terrifying a whole new generation.
Evil Dead Rise centers on Beth, her sister Ellie, and Ellie’s children Danny, Bridget and Kassie, and largely takes place in a single apartment in Los Angeles as Ellie is overtaken by demonic forces, eventually turning on her family. It’s a claustrophobic, deeply unsettling new chapter in the Evil Dead franchise, and many fans are hoping that it will lead to sequels.
Given the growing popularity of post-credit sequences in big franchise movies, either to set up future movies or just provide a sting in the tail, you might expect Evil Dead Rise to include one final scare. But it doesn’t. Once the screaming ends and the screen fades to black, you are safe to leave the theater.
While there is no post- or mid-credits scene, there is one nifty detail which connects Evil Dead Rise to the previous movies: a cameo from Bruce Campbell. Or at least, his voice. Campbell can be heard speaking on one of the phonograph records that is unearthed under the apartment complex following an earthquake. He tries to warn off anyone who tries to read from the Book of the Dead, and while his unseen character is not explicitly given a name in the credits, Campbell has stated that he played the role with the intention of it being interpreted as a time-displaced Ash sometime after the events of Army of Darkness.
Philip Ellis is a freelance writer and journalist from the United Kingdom covering pop culture, relationships and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV.
