Evil Dead Rise - Arrow Video Limited Edition 4KUHD

If I counted up how much I collectively spent on all of the various VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K editions of all of the Evil Dead films, I think my wallet would have a heart attack. I imagine my family would have to have some sort of intervention, because it’s been a small fortune by now. That’s where I really shouldn’t be irritated with the handling of the physical media release of Evil Dead Rise turned out. If anything, the first four films should have trained us for this eventuality. 

But if there’s one thing to say right up front about this Arrow video release, we finally have something that could be stated as the definitive (at least to-date) home video release of the film. And I’m glad to report that because the more I dig back into this film, the more I enjoy it. The more I watch it, I solidify my opinion that it’s the fourth-best film (note, I’m purposely not bringing Ash vs The Evil Dead series into this because that’s its own can of worms and difficult to quantify). Suffice to say, nothing can ever touch the core original trilogy. I enjoyed the intensely dark sense of humor (when you could find it) of the 2013 Evil Dead but felt it never really found an even footing. It was bloody and gnarly, but it didn’t have that satirical edge that made the first three films so much fun. On the other hand, I foundEvil Dead Risehad a delightfully grim sense of humor that blended better with the expected brand of Deadite body horrors (cheese grater, anyone?). I also really enjoyed that Lee Cronin and crew found a way to pull the main film out of the Cabin and take it to a new location while also returning to a cabin with the film’s gnarly bookends. Now we’re on the cusp of getting to kick back to Sébastien Vanicek’s Evil Dead Burn due to hit theaters later this year! I still hope for one last Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell reunion film, maybe a capper to the cliffhanger ending of Ash vs the Evil Dead, but as long as we’re getting more Deadite dismemberment at the hands of talented filmmakers, I’m likely to remain a happy fan.  

If you want to look at our past coverage of Evil Dead Rise, you can! 

Bryan’s 4K UHD Review
My 4K UHD EU Import SteelBook Review

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
You can’t keep a good Deadite down for long! Following the standard protocol for an Evil Dead film, Evil Dead Rise enjoys yet another cursed resurrection on physical media. This time, Arrow Video has the honor of giving this title the definitive 4K disc release. For this review, we were issued only a check disc, so we don’t have artwork and swag to look at, but expect a poster, a booklet, a slipcover, reversible insert art, and all that kind of fun stuff in the final retail edition. The 4K is pressed on a BD100 disc and loads to an animated main menu with standard navigation options.

NOTE: We haven’t been able to rip this disc to source new pics, so until we can do that, we’ll be recycling our previous images. If we can illustrate some of the changes to color timing with the DV grade, we’ll add comparison images too.

Another day, another release of Evil Dead Rise on 4K UHD! Arrow smartly branded this one as the director-approved release, and to press that point over the past discs from Warner Bros. and my StudioCanal import, this 2.39:1 2160p transfer finally features Dolby Vision HDR on disc instead of just being a streaming-exclusive option. And the results, I must say, do make a difference. Ostensibly, details are the same as the past discs from WB and StudioCanal, but what’s helping me edge the grade higher is the robust Dolby Vision grading. This is a dark film, as to be expected, but it is more so than the others in the franchise, steeped in dark spaces and creepy, oblique shadows. Those enhancements to the dark spaces and shadows give the image a noteworthy boost in depth and dimension, but they also let the scary bits hide a little more effectively.

While I thought the HDR10 grade for the past discs was excellent, comparing the two, I like that this transfer hides some of the incoming jump scares a little better. Some of the creepy things crawling and moving around in the shadows are now just barely within range of perception, which helps build the tension of the moment. Another angle that helps matters is a better encoding. The bitrate routinely runs 20-30mbps higher than my StudioCanal disc (which already ran higher than the initial Warner Bros. disc). Peaks often spike well past 100mbps! Overall, perhaps not the most dramatic improvement, but the previous HDR10-only transfer was still very strong, but sitting with this new transfer for a few days and doing plenty of disc flips, I have to give this Dolby Vision experience the edge.

Once again, the excellent demo-worthy Dolby Atmos track returns. At this point, we're starting to sound like a cursed broken record! There’s very little more to say beyond that it’s excellent, it’s wall-to-wall sonic immersion, with incredible LFE hits to rumble the floorboards. From front to side to side, around the back, and overhead, this track delivers plenty of gristly sonic meat to every channel. New to this disc, those not enabled for Atmos can enjoy a decent enough DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. I say “decent enough” because while it’s pretty good, seguing from the Atmos to this track is a notable step back for impact value, in my opinion. For key sound elements, it still delivers, but it loses a lot of the LFE power and the extra impact of the overheads. It works, I’ll say that. I’m sure I’d speak more highly of it if that’s what we got to enjoy at the outset, but it’s hard to sing praises for the lesser experience after enjoying perfection for the last couple of years.

Finally, leave it to a boutique studio to license the title and deliver the depth of bonus features that fans have come to expect from an Evil Dead film. Arrow gets that job, and they do it with style. At the top of the pack, we have the group commentary with director Lee Cronin and actresses Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland that was eventually released for the U.S. SteelBook from Best Buy (later reprinted last February from Walmart). The Lee Cronin solo commentary from the StudioCanal disc doesn’t make it here, but honestly, that’s okay. I think the group track is the more interesting and engaging. Also returning from the US SteelBook edition is the Raising a New Evil Dead featurette, and from the StudioCanal disc is Cronin’s short film Ghost Train. After that, we have a TON of new material to dig into with new cast and crew interviews, a couple of small behind-the-scenes looks, but also a great look at the sound design Q&A with the Dolby team after the film’s premiere. All told, we’re getting the better end of three hours of content to enjoy, making this a true Evil Dead special edition release! 

• Audio Commentary featuring Lee Cronin, Lily Sullivan, and Alyssa Sutherland
• Come Get Some with Lily Sullivan (HD 16:22)
• Mommy Deadite with Alyssa Sullivan (HD 17:10)
• The Deadite’s Daughter with Gabrielle Echols (HD 15:01)
• The Levitating Dead with Anna-Maree Thomas (HD 10:59)
• Conjuring Deadites with Luke Polti (HD 12:59)
• Chopping Up Deadites with Bryan Shaw (HD 14:25)
• Sonic Possessions with Peter Albrechtsen (HD 14:20)
• Music to Swallow Your Soul with Stephen McKeon (HD 13:43)
• The Sound of Evil Dead Rise (HD 52:23)
• Raising a New Evil Dead (HD 6:54)
• Ghost Train Short Film (HD 16:16)
• Behind the Scenes (HD 4:29)
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Image Galleries

Did we need another 4K UHD release of Evil Dead Rise inside of two years? Maybe not, but this is an Evil Dead film, and we should have all seen this coming from miles off. Every Evil Dead film has had multiple releases from multiple studios on multiple formats - why should Evil Dead Rise be any different? It sucks for our finances, but we’ve already spent a fortune on our Deadite collections, so why stop now? The good news here is Arrow Video has done this title justice. We’re finally getting Dolby Vision HDR on disc with a better encode, along with the same exceptional Atmos mix. Capping off that experience is three hours of new/archival extras with a great commentary track to complete the package. Hopefully, the upcoming Evil Dead Burn doesn’t get a dozen releases before a definitive one is issued, but we shouldn’t be surprised. But for Evil Dead Rise, consider this Highly Recommended for franchise collectors.