How Evil Dead Rise Created The Franchise's Most Disgusting Monster

This post contains spoilers for "Evil Dead Rise."

It has been a full decade since an "Evil Dead" movie was on the big screen, but Lee Cronin has brought the Deadites back to life once again with "Evil Dead Rise," which brings the franchise to the big city for the first time ever. There's plenty to discuss and debate featured in the film, but we're here to talk a little bit about the ending. More specifically, that absolutely wild monster that appears to bring the whole thing to a close.

The film reaches its conclusion when Beth (Lily Sullivan) attempts to escape the high rise with Kassie (Nell Fisher) following the film's blood-soaked events. But before they can make their escape, a horrifying beast serving as an amalgam of the previously dispatched Deadites tries its best to prevent that from happening. It's one of the most unique and terrifying creations in the history of the series — and that's truly saying something.

I had the chance to speak with Cronin following the film's premiere at SXSW earlier this year (read our review here). During our chat, I asked him how they managed to craft the impressive creature. Most impressively, it was largely accomplished through practical means with minimal CGI. As he told me:

"It was damn hard. And it is primarily practical, but it was very, very hard to create. I don't want to spoil anything, but the reality, the actual real biology of what it would take is almost impossible. So it was very hard. It was a lot of practical. All the actors were involved. We had stunt doubles for each one of them that would perform certain parts. We had multiple different elements of the prosthetics that were required, and harnesses, and rigs, and then a lot of time, and a lot of pain."

I mentioned that the practicality of the monster was evident on screen. Lee Cronin appreciated that saying, "It was tough. I'm really glad to hear you say it is when you see it on screen, it feels real. And that's really important for an 'Evil Dead' movie." Indeed, dating back to Sam Raimi's original low-budget horror classic "The Evil Dead," practical effects have been a major part of the equation.

As cool as the monster is, it wasn't just cool for the sake of cool. When I spoke to Cronin (you can read our full interview here), he talked about going "after the story and the characters first." Even when it came to bringing this hulking Deadite to life, that notion of character first was there as well. As Cronin explains it, the monster carries a meaning that ties to the heavy themes of family that are present in the film.

"I also felt like it needed a big bad, but that big bad is also reflective of, it's the worst version of family you can imagine. It's a story about this subversion of perversion of family. So, it's not just there to be creepy, it also has a little bit of meaning behind it."

"Evil Dead Rise" is in theaters now.