How Evil Dead Rise’s ending sets up a sequel
Evil Dead Rise spoilers follow.
Evil Dead Rise's ending is an all-out blood fest, as we would expect from an Evil Dead movie, but could the story continue?
The movie certainly leaves the door open for a sequel, although Evil Dead Rise 2 hasn't been confirmed yet. Evil Dead Rise might find new audiences now that it's available on Netflix UK, and its strong performance at the box office surely will play a big part in deciding the future of the saga.
Yes, Evil Dead Rise has been a box-office hit: with a budget of less than $20 million, the movie has grossed around $146.3 million worldwide. Now, the movie is heading to streaming platforms where it can find new audiences to scare, so first let's talk about that ending.
Following on from Sam Raimi’s original trilogy – The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness – plus the 2013 reboot Evil Dead, the fifth movie in the series, Evil Dead Rise, is a fresh start for the horror franchise that features new characters and moves the action from the traditional cabin in the woods to a near-derelict Los Angeles apartment building where those nasty Deadites (demons that possess the souls of the living) are out for blood and souls once more.
So how does the ending of Evil Dead Rise set up a possible sequel? Strap on your chainsaw and be ready for some major spoilers – and look away now if you haven’t seen the movie yet.
Evil Dead Rise ending explained: How Evil Dead Rise’s ending sets up a sequel
Evil Dead Rise starts with a camera zooming over a lake, teasing us that maybe the action is going to take place at a wooded cabin as in the previous Evil Dead movies.
We meet Jessica, who is there with two friends to have a fun weekend – only Jessica isn’t feeling too well. It’s not long before she has turned into a Deadite and killed her two companions in suitably grisly ways.
The movie then jumps back 24 hours and introduces us to single mum Ellie, who lives with her three children, Danny, Bridget and Kassie, in an LA apartment earmarked for demolition.
Ellie’s younger sister Beth – who has just discovered she is pregnant – comes to visit, but the family reunion doesn’t go that well after Danny discovers the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead) in the building’s basement, along with vinyl recordings from 1923 of passages from the book being read out.
As Evil Dead fans already know, reciting pages from the Necronomicon isn’t a very good idea, and it unleashes demons who take over the souls and bodies of the few residents left in the building, including Ellie.
Soon, Ellie and her two eldest kids are Deadites, bucketloads of blood have been spilled, there’s been a nasty incident with a cheese grater, and Beth and Kassie have to flee to the building’s basement garage in an effort to escape.
It’s there that they are forced to battle Ellie, Danny and Bridget, who merge to become one great big squishy Deadite – before chainsaw-wielding Beth finally manages to trap them and, with the help of little Kassie, turns on a wood-chipper machine parked in the garage that sucks the Deadite hybrid into it and spurts out all the mushy bits onto the garage floor.
Beth and Kassie stumble away, presumably to fight another day – but that’s not quite the end.
A few hours later, another of the building’s residents, Jessica (who lived on another floor so had no idea what was going on upstairs) walks into the parking garage, only to walk through the aftermath of the bloody battle (and presumably inhale/step in some swirling Deadite DNA on the way to her car).
Yes, it’s Jessica from the opening scene of the movie, and she’s off to meet two friends for a weekend at a cabin in the woods, by a lake. And we all know what happens when she gets there, as that opening lakeside scene was set 24 hours after the LA gorefest.
This ending suggests it is highly likely Deadite Jessica could continue her lakeside rampage in a possible Evil Dead Rise sequel, or that a movie could focus on survivors Beth and her niece Kassie fighting more Deadites in the future now they have escaped from the Los Angeles apartment building.
And don’t forget, we never see the Necronomicon destroyed. It’s still there, in the apartment, just waiting for someone to find it…
Evil Dead Rise 2 release date: When can we expect Evil Dead Rise 2?
As mentioned above, there is no confirmation that there will be a sequel. And even if one gets the green light, we may have to wait a while for it if it's to be directed by Evil Dead Rise’s Lee Cronin, as the director has other projects to work on first.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cronin will next direct a horror movie called Thaw, about a group of survivors at sea following the melting of the polar ice caps who find a habitable town but then encounter a new nightmare living just below the water’s surface.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Empire, Sam Raimi – who directed the first three Evil Dead movies (starring Bruce Campbell as Ash) and produced Evil Dead and Evil Dead Rise – revealed that he would definitely like another Evil Dead movie, whether it be a sequel to 2013’s reboot or to Evil Dead Rise.
“I still think there’s room for all sorts of Evil Dead movies. I don’t think they cancel each other out,” he said, also hinting he would like to get Bruce Campbell back, along with producer Rob Tapert, who he has worked with since they made the 1978 short Within the Woods that was an early template for The Evil Dead.
“I love working with Bruce and Rob. I love it as a producer because they’re really good partners, but I also like being supported by them as the director. So I hope that is on the cards eventually.”
Even with Raimi on board as producer, we still may have a while to wait – there was a six-year gap between The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, a whopping 21-year gap between Army of Darkness and reboot Evil Dead and ten years between that and Evil Dead Rise.
Evil Dead Rise 2 cast: Who’s coming back for Evil Dead Rise 2?
Technically, Deadites can’t really die, so any of the characters from Evil Dead Rise could potentially return for a sequel.
However, since Ellie and her children became one big blobby Deadite in the final bloodbath and then got pulverised in a wood-chipper, their resurrection is quite unlikely. And while some of the neighbours we saw could potentially rise from the dead, since the apartment building they lived/died in is due for demolition, we’d be very surprised if they emerged from the pile of rubble.
It’s more likely that the two survivors of the underground garage carnage, pregnant Beth and her niece Kassie, could return for a possible sequel, with Beth (aka actress Lily Sullivan) potentially becoming a Deadite-demolishing hero like Ash from the original movies.
Of course, there is one other survivor – of sorts – from Evil Dead Rise who could make a comeback: Deadite Jessica (Anne-Maree Thomas), who rises out of the water at the lake, ready to go on another deadly rampage.
One character from the original Evil Dead movies (and who popped up in a credit scene cameo at the end of 2013’s Evil Dead) who sadly won’t be in an Evil Dead Rise sequel is OG Deadite-killer Ash.
Bruce Campbell officially retired as Ash back in 2018, and confirmed he wouldn’t be back in an interview with Collider in 2021, saying: “Ash is gone. I’ve retired the character because I physically just can’t do him any more, so why bother? It’s time to hang up the chainsaw.”
However, while Bruce Campbell doesn’t actually appear in Evil Dead Rise, he is (briefly) in the movie, so there is always the chance that the actor may return in some form – just not as Ash – for a sequel. Here’s hoping.
Evil Dead Rise 2 trailer: Any Evil Dead Rise 2 footage yet?
A sequel hasn’t even been confirmed yet, so there is no footage to see. Watch this space as if Evil Dead Rise 2 is announced, we’ll have a better idea when we can see a trailer.
Evil Dead Rise is available on Netflix UK.
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