It’s hard to believe after a decade long wait, the dreaded Deadites have finally returned to the big screen in Evil Dead Rise. The fifth entry in the popular horror franchise is already off to hot critical and box office start with the film making $2.5 million in its Thursday previews. The series has had a history of making references to other classic genre franchises and Rise was no different having a ton of homages to things like The Shining and The Last of Us. If you're a horror film it’s almost expected at this point to make references to the genre’s rich past. One of the biggest modern successes in horror has been Stranger Things and now the series has teased its upcoming final season may share a connection to Evil Dead Rise. If you’re not caught up on Stranger Things or the Evil Dead franchise you may want to stop reading here as there will be spoilers for both going forward.
The Horrors of Motherhood & Demonic Possession
In a post on the Stranger Things Writers’ Twitter page the popular Netflix series teased, “We rarely promote new movies on here… But Evil Dead Rise and ST5 share something small but awesome in common”. The only other “clue”, if you could even call it that, included with the cryptic message is Evil Dead Rise’s poster that sees the Deadite version of Alyssa Sutherland’s Ellie creepily holding onto her children. Now this small connection could be literally anything. Things like the famous Evil Dead “Boomstick”, chainsaw, or Necronomicon could make a cameo of some sort, but these are items that are a part of the whole franchise, not just Rise. If we want to go deeper, there’s one thematic possibility that Stranger Things could tap into. This would be the horrors of motherhood. Rise's main story centers around a single mother who gets possessed by the Deadites after her kids find the Necronomicon under their apartment building. The whole film is one big traumatizing allegory for children being the “death” of most women’s lives and how their “sacrifices” often come back to haunt them. This leads to a Deadite Ellie literally consuming two of her children and her sister Beth killing them in tragic fashion. When the day seems saved, the Deadites get unleashed on an unsuspected bystander who inadvertently spreads the Necrononmicon’s “virus” to a wide open world.
Now how exactly would this connect to Stranger Things? At the end of Season 4, after Eleven and the Hawkins' crew “defeated” Vecna, The Upside Down seemingly merged with Hawkins. While fans still don’t know exactly what that means, it could mean Vecna and The Upside Down have their sights on possessing the town not too dissimilar to Season 3. However, with the barrier between both worlds now torn down, Vecna may now have a wider reach than just Hawkins. Just like the Deadites Necronomicon chains being broken and their “virus”, world denomination may be on the mind of The Upside Down. Also, to bring it back to Rise’s motherhood themes, Eleven’s mother Terry is still alive. She’s in a catatonic state thanks to Hawkin’s Lab, but Vecna may use her as a vessel to get to Eleven. That would take Season 3’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers influences to the next level. Now that’s probably too big for this small connection, but Stranger Things in its first four seasons has been one giant love letter to the horror genre with its main influences being the work of Stephen King and Steven Spielberg. However, each season has tackled a different sub-genre of horror like Season 4’s Nightmare on Elm Street backdrop. Stranger Things’ final evolution could very well be the blood-soaked influences of Evil Dead.
RELATED: Does ‘Evil Dead Rise’ Have an End-Credits Scene?
When Does Stranger Things Season 5 Premiere?
While there’s no confirmed release window yet, Stranger Things Season 5 starts shooting in June. This may mean that we could see the popular horror series conclude as early as 2024. While fans continue to theorize and anxiously wait for Season 5, you may want to rewatch Evil Dead Rise to try to find more clues. Rise is in theaters now and the trailer, along with Stranger Things’ mysterious tease, can be viewed down below.
