Weekend Watch: Evil Dead Rise, Beau Is Afraid, The Diplomat

Horror, guilt and tricky politics

Image Credit: New Line

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, in which I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Sisters face Deadite horror, Joaquin Phoenix has crushing guilt and Keri Russell navigates international diplomacy. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite

Here we go again… Time for me to insist I’m not a horror movie fan –– I still can’t say I find real entertainment in seeing people terrified and/or torn apart –– and yet recommend a scare-filled time at the cinema.

Evil Dead Rise represents possibly the best example of channeling Sam Raimi’s vision for the Evil Dead movies since the director himself handed it off. While I saw the value in Fede Alvarez’s 2013 reboot, here Lee Cronin comes in with a fan’s gusto but a filmmaker’s need to invent and refresh.

Possibly the best move that Cronin has made here (with Raimi’s full backing since he’s among the producers) is the shift from the traditional cabin/woods setting to a creaking old high rise that is rattled by an earthquake. The powerful tremblor reveals a buried bank vault investigated by young Danny (Morgan Davies), who discovers a strange book bound in human skin that will be familiar to anyone who has seen an Evil Dead movie. If not, a book bound in human skin and illustrated using blood is surely a sign you’d be better browsing your local indie bookstore.

But though he’s partly the cause of all the trouble ahead, Danny is not the focus. The real story revolves around the sister dynamic of Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), mom to Danny, and his sisters Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) and Kassie (Nell Fisher), and Beth (Lily Sullivan). They’re somewhat estranged since Beth’s touring job as a guitar tech has kept her away and Ellie is dealing with the end of her marriage.

Between the quake and Danny unwittingly letting something terrible loose by playing records that were stored with the book. Again, if you’ve seen the previous Evil Dead movies, you know exactly what that “something terrible” is.

Suffice it to say, Cronin ratchets the tension and the horror up to a huge degree, keeping the characters in mind and blending practical effects with digital seamlessly to make it all work together. There are gruesome moments, jump scares that work, and all manner of creation around the idea of a Dead film.

The cast, meanwhile, fully commits themselves to the ridiculous levels of carnage on display here. There are nods to The Shining and even a cameo –– if you can spot it –– for a certain square-jawed veteran of the franchise. But Cronin cannily never lets the nods to the other movies overwhelm Rise. This is, even in the opinion of someone who doesn’t watch them regularly, one of the best horror movies of the year so far.

Evil Dead Rise is in UK and US cinemas now.

Image Credit: A24

A horror of a very different, more psychological (mostly) kind is on display in Ari Aster’s latest, Beau Is Afraid. The director, who has made his name with the likes of Hereditary and Midsommar, here changes gear for the story of crushing guilt, smotherly “love” and strange happenstance.

And the result is… A. Lot.

Joaquin Phoenix plays the titular Beau, a cringing, meek-tempered man-child who is dreading going to see his overbearing, successful, and wealthy mother (Patti LuPone). His odyssey is anything but straightforward once his shabby apartment is ransacked and his possessions stolen.

After injuries, run-ins with killers, odd woodland theatre troupes, weird suburbanites, and a former flame, Beau is finally ready to confront his issues in a finale that stretches the idea of “bizarre” to breaking point.

This is not a film to be tackled lightly, far from easy entertainment for a quiet night in or a date. Beau Is Afraid represents Aster exorcising his own guilty demons on film and funneling them through the most unusual Joaquin Phoenix performance in a long time. Phoenix goes all in on Beau, but whether you will largely depend on your tolerance for abstract quirk.

“Divisive” is probably the best way to describe Aster’s latest, a movie unlikely to spur mild reactions or “meh” responses. I must admit that parts severely bored me and made me wonder what I was doing with my life to subject myself to this movie, but as the days have gone by, it has grown in my estimation, trickling into my subconscious in unexpected ways. It’s still far from a rip-roaring ride at the movies, but it’s worth seeing, even if all you come away with is a feeling of deep, unabated loathing, or joyous love at the idea of a director truly getting to make the movie he wanted.

Beau Is Afraid is on wide release in the US now and arrives in UK cinemas on 19 May.

Image Credit: Netflix

If, like me, you were a fan of The West Wing and miss the show’s political outlook, chatty dialogue, and fun characters, I can recommend The Diplomat, now on Netflix. It features Keri Russell’s best work since The Americans and was created by Debora Cahn, a veteran of the Wing.

Russell here plays Kate Wyler, a career diplomat more used to ambassadorial positions in trouble spots and who sometimes resentfully has lived in the shadow of her superstar diplomatic husband Hal (Rufus Sewell). But Kate is no quiet wife, has her own accomplishments, and is in fact (though she doesn’t know it at first) being vetted as a potential replacement for an outgoing Vice President.

Part of the testing process involves handing her what for most would be a plum assignment –– US ambassador to the UK, which comes with pomp, ceremony, and a very fancy house. Yet while Kate initially bristles at the idea, a threat to the safety of the world stage gives her very little time for dissatisfaction.

Cahn and her team have created something light on its feet, and while it never reaches the Sorkinesque levels of dialogue, there are enough comedy, drama, and strong performances here to make it an acceptable substitute. It’s an easy binge, with the cast around Russell all completely watchable.

The whole first season of The Diplomat is on Netflix now. I’ve seen all eight episodes.