Deaths in Evil Dead Rise Ranked by Brutality

The Evil Dead Rise franchise has existed since 1981 and since then people have endured the batshit nature of Deadites and those who try to defeat them. It started with Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), who also got his own TV show set in the canonical universe, and the most recent installment featured a new set of folks. Evil Dead Rise brought a new flavor to the franchise and to me, it was a necessary shift. Say what you want about the film itself, Evil Dead Rise has some gnarly deaths and many kick ass moments.

Instead of focusing on a few deaths in this installment, this particular journey is going to hone in on all the deaths in Evil Dead Rise. Each ranked by brutality. It’s wise to bring a mop for this occasion because it’s about to get messy.

Lumping these characters in the same category is apt because their deaths are lower on the tier of brutality. Not to mention, they aren’t very crucial characters within the film (despite being the opening deaths).  Jessica (Anna-Maree Thomas) got possessed at the end of the film, so the opening is set after the events in the apartment complex. She then scalped her cousin Teresa (Mirabai Pease) on their cabin side vacation and decapitated her boyfriend Caleb in the lake (Richard Crouchley). Compared to other deaths in the film, these are tame.

It’s not a game to choke on your father’s eyeball in what is a very campy sequence (not unusual for the Evil Dead franchise). But as far as brutal goes, it’s more so gross than anything else. Jake (Billy Reynolds-McCarthy) watched his dad get killed and then met his end by way of an eyeball.

The only reason this death is lower on the list is that it happens offscreen. Mr. Fonda (Mark Mitchinson) tries to no avail to shoot Dead Ellie after she murders Gabriel and his sons. But since killing Deadites isn’t that easy, he gets his stomach torn open and is left to die in the hallway.

Despite trying to help Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her family, he meets a gnarly end when Deadite Ellie bites out his eyeball and rips out his throat. It just goes to show that you should mind your business sometimes. And also not wander into the apartment that has the door wide open.

Imagine seeing your brother and dad get murdered and just when you think you’ll get away, your arm is ripped off, and you are murdered violently. The nature in which he’s thrown into the hallway with one arm missing is brutal in and of itself. Especially since it’s so abrupt and you know the kid has no chance of surviving.

One could argue that he got what he asked for by reading from the Necronomicon in the first place. However, he was just being a stupid teen and didn’t realize what was going to happen as a result. Danny (Morgan Davies) suffers through the trauma of his mom and his daughter being possessed. And gets done in by Bridget fatally stabbing him before he can set her on fire (which doesn’t kill her). It’s a brutal and overall tragic death because his actions are why everything occurred in the first place.

Considering she’s one of the main characters, Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) deserves to be higher up on the list. The impact of her death is felt because she stood no chance against her Deadite mother or the forces that were unleashed after her brother read from the Necronomicon. Bridget tried to fight off her mom but got possessed and ate glass, then endured several moments of what could be considered death. Only to meet her official end later. The glass eating and the stabbing through the mouth and being set on fire, etc., is very brutal.

Dealing with a separation, having nowhere to go because your complex is being torn down, being a single mother, and then getting violently possessed is horrifying. Ellie’s possession is hard to watch and knowing that she tried to fight it before the demon took over is horrific. Her death is brutal not just in the nature of it, but the fact that her body was used to cause harm to the people she loved the most.

As far as creatures go in the Evil Dead universe, the Marauder is fucking cool but scary as hell. In this version of the Necronomicon (there are a few volumes), a Marauder is shown, its three bodies merged into one monstrous creature. Deadite Ellie, Bridget, and Danny merge bodies (after Ellie’s limbs are shot off by her sister Beth). Of course they try to kill Beth and Ellie’s daughter Kassie (Nell Fisher), but the Marauder meets his end when Beth uses a chainsaw and a wood chipper on it. Does that death count necessarily? It absolutely does!