Warning! There will be spoilers in this review.

Warning! There will be spoilers.

Final warning ⚠️

I am going to start off by saying that I have been excited for this movie since the announcement in 2019. I’ll be honest, I was not a big fan of the 2013 film, maybe I need to give it another watch to get a better grasp on it, but this film went in a whole different direction, and I loved every second of it. The film starts out on a lake near a small cabin (of course), but that’s not where the film takes place. So the beginning is basically where the movie ends and has no relevance to the events that took place other than another girl is possessed and murders her 2 friends.

The story takes place in a condemned bank that was converted into an apartment building. The main character is centered around Beth. A touring guitar tech, who discovers that she is pregnant, goes to see her sister Ellie in Los Angeles. Ellie, a tattoo artist and a single mother to 3 kids. Teenagers Bridget and Danny, and child Kassie. Beth comes home on a surprise visit to see her sister and the kids unknowingly they have been going through some struggle for a couple of months since the father of Ellie’s children has abandoned them and forced to move out of their apartment.

Ellie sends the kids to get pizza for dinner as she explains to Beth what happened between her and her ex-husband, claiming that she contacted Beth as soon as the tragedy had occurred, but due to her deep involvement in her job Beth has no memory of Ellie ever reaching out. Consumed with guilt after Beth checks her messages, Beth tries to help Ellie and the kids however possible. When the kids return to the basement parking lot from getting the pizza, shortly after an earthquake occurs, and that’s the tip of the iceberg before all hell breaks loose.

After the earthquake, Danny discovers a chamber underneath the basement parking lot, filled with religious artifacts, three phonograph records and a book. Danny takes the artifacts back up to his room, hoping that he will he able to sell the artifacts for money to help out the family, but unfortunately, that did not go according to plan. The first record documented details of rejected efforts by a priest to research the book revealed to be 1 of 3 volumes of the Naturom Demonto: The Book of the Dead. The second record recites an incarnation that summons the demonic forces known as Deadites.

When the record is concluded, the buildings power fails, the elevator is damaged, and the stairs in the building and the fire escape have collapsed. Shortly after, Ellie is attacked and possessed by an unknown force. She returns to the apartment in a trance and menacingly threatens her family and dies after pleading with Beth to take care of her children. Beth and the neighbors take Ellie to rest in her bedroom, but soon after, she has revived by the demonic spirit that has overtaken her body, in the process, attacks her family and wounded Bridget. After Ellie unsuccessfully pursues her family, she attacks the neighbors outside the apartment and is locked in the hallway with the corpses of their neighbors and attacking several others.

Danny being plagued with guilt, Bridget turns on Danny posting blame on Danny. Danny finally confesses to Beth about finding the Naturom Demonto book and records as Ellie tricks Kassie into opening the door to the apartment. While Danny and Beth are distracted, rescuing Kassie. Bridget becomes possessed from the wounds that Ellie has inflicted on her. Beth finds Bridget eating a broken wine glass and attacks Beth before turning on Kassie and Danny, as Kassie impaled Bridget in the face with a broken broom handle.

Beth listens to the third and final record in hopes of finding a resolution to her demon problem. The record was a warning from a priest to anyone who had come in contact with the book to bury it deep, explaining the events of the previous read from the second record. In efforts to perform an exorcism, they have failed. As the demons had mocked their prayers. It explained that fellow priest’s have come to help expel the demonic spirit but ended up getting possessed themselves. While Beth keeps listening to the final record, the possessed Ellie hears a cat inside the air vents and gets back into the apartment through the air vents but not long before Bridgets possessed body revives and attacks Danny, nearly decapitating Danny’s arm with a butcher knife and vomiting blood all over his face.

Beth listens to the final segment in the recording, explaining that the only way to be rid of the possessed evil that has taken over Ellie’s body is decapitation. Beth sees Ellie in a reflection in the window and immediately stabs Ellie in the neck with a kitchen knife, Ellie, is of course, unharmed. Ellie throws Beth out of Danny’s room, attacking Beth, while Kassie throws Beth a pair of scissors and stabs Ellie in the face while Beth and Kassie make their escape.

The hallway is filled with the corpses of Ellie’s neighbors. Beth grabs the shotgun from the supers body with the intention of shooting the lock off the door leading to the fire escape, Ellie gives Beth a scare and shoots off Ellie’s leg and left arm. The corpses in the hallway become possessed with the corpses of Danny and Bridget. Beth and Kassie seek shelter in the broken elevator with possessed bodies chanting “DEAD BY DAWN” in their demonic voices. The book turns to a page showing a picture of a mysterious creature. Danny, Bridget and Ellie merge their bodies together into a multi-limbed creature known as the Maruader. The broken elevator fills with blood as the Maruader attempts to attack Beth and Kassie through the ceiling vents of the elevator. With the combined weight, the elevator plummets into the parking basement, opening the blood filled elevator and spitting out Beth and Kassie in the process.

Beth and Kassie get in Ellie’s car in a attempt to escape, from the earlier earthquake, the back tire is stuck in a crater. The Marauder comes out from the elevator and swiftly goes after Beth and Kassie but they flee before the creature can get to them. The Marauder captures Kassie and attempts to behead her with a chainsaw, but Beth returns and distracts it, and she and Kassie destroy the Marauder’s body by forcing it into a wood chipper. Beth decapitated Ellies head from the Maruaders body with a chainsaw as the woodchipper destroys the creatures body. Ellie’s decapitated head taunts Beth, saying she will be a failure as a mother, prompting her to kick Ellie’s head into the chipper. Beth and Kassie escape the building together.

The next morning the unseen force takes over another victim who was going on vacation to a lake and cabin for the weekend, hence the beginning of the film.

In conclusion, I give this film a super thumbs up. Like a 5 out of 5 stars, not because I am a big fan of the franchise, but the story was incredibly well written. The movie had some humor about Beth being picked on by her family about her profession with jokes about being a groupie, when she’s a guitar tech and a few other jokes throughout the fim. The atmosphere and cinematography was top-notch. I like the direction it took taking place in a abandoned apartment building gave the film more of a haunting atmosphere, plenty of room for jump scares. The effects were as gruesome, if not more so, as any Evil Dead fan would hope to be. Overall, I highly recommend this movie to not just fans of the Evil Dead franchise but to horror fans in general. Like I said in the beginning of this review, there will be spoilers here, but a written review does not do it justice, experiencing the film yourself is priceless, but anyway thanks for reading.

Go see it!