10 More Horror Movie Sequels That Had No Right To Be This Good

by Andrew Pollard

1. Evil Dead Rise

Evil Dead Rise
Warner Bros.

When looking at the greatest franchises in horror, the Evil Dead series is likely the most consistent. Prior to this year, the world of the Deadites had served up an excellent trilogy, a fantastic reboot, and a bloody, brilliant TV series.

There was extreme trepidation surrounding Fede Alvarez's 2013 Evil Dead, but that trepidation was even more prevalent for Lee Cronin's Evil Dead Rise earlier this year. With no Ashley J. Williams in sight, and with the familiar 'cabin in the woods' locale removed, Rise seemed doomed once it was announced the film would simply be getting a quiet release on HBO Max rather than a full theatrical release.

Positive early screenings did mean Evil Dead Rise got a short US cinema run, but the film was available to stream mere weeks after that run. But man, what a devilish delight of a movie Rise proved to be!

Did anybody miss Ash? Nope. Did anybody miss the woods? Nope. Instead, Cronin delivered a claustrophobic, chilling slice of horror as the action switched to a rundown high-rise building, with Alyssa Sutherland on particularly disturbing form as Ellie, a mother who falls under the spell of the Deadites.

With zero sense of hyperbole, and regardless of those early fears, Evil Dead Rise could well end up being the best horror movie of 2023.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.