It's being praised as the "nastiest and most extreme entry in a series that's pretty well-known for being nasty and extreme". And that's not the only praise that's coming in for Evil Dead Rise. The latest, and fifth, film in the Evil Dead franchise — the first film by Sam Raimi, released in 1981, is counted as seminal in best-ever horror film lists — is being hailed as a real return to form for the franchise, with director Lee Cronin packing in blood, guts and gore, matched by compelling performances from leads Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan.

Premiered at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival last month, Evil Dead Rise has received unanimously positive reviews (see box). With Warner Bros releasing the film on Indian screens this Friday, t2 caught up with Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan for a late-night video chat.

The two actors play estranged sisters whose reunion is interrupted by an earthquake in Los Angeles — which uncovers a mysterious book (Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, an ancient Sumerian text that wreaks havoc, like in the other Evil Dead outings) in the depths of their apartment building. Little do they know, it'll unleash an evil force that wants to carve their family apart, quite literally.

The words 'bloody', 'disgusting' and 'horrible' in any review would count as negative, but in the case of an Evil Dead film, they are compliments of course! Now that the reviews are out and quite a few people have watched the film, what's the most memorable piece of feedback that's come your way?

Lily Sullivan: Someone told me that it's a 'blood-soaked rock opera!' (Laughs) The film is relentless, but the best thing is that when the horror reaches its peak, the comedy kicks in (smiles). The release that comes in the audience when the comic bits happens allows you to laugh and that kind of opens up the world of the film from just being horror and allows more people to see it. The comedy cuts through the horror and people have liked that.Alyssa Sutherland: I started realising what we had in our hands when the trailer was released. All of a sudden, there were these reaction videos to the trailer on YouTube. There are so many of them now! I was like, 'They are liking the trailer so much... they haven't even seen the film yet!' I got really excited about that.

While you were making the film, at any point did you realise that you were hitting all the right notes that an Evil Dead film calls for?

Lily: When you are making something, it's hard to know. Our first AD (assistant director) was having a good time watching us on set. I felt like if we could make him go, 'Oh my God... what is going on?!' after every take, then we somehow felt we were on the right path.Alyssa: Evil Dead is full of iconic moments and lines and the best thing is that we got to put all of that in our film and also have fun with it in the moment. We just needed to trust the process.

Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie (Left), Lily Sullivan as Beth ((Right)

Alyssa, you have said that your inspiration for certain scenes in the film was Jim Carrey in The Mask, which I found very interesting...

Alyssa: It was one of my inspirations. I worked on a lot of different things for this role and I was looking at some iconic villains in films of various genres. And then I came across The Mask and there was something so over the top about it. When I watched it again, I really loved how much fun he (Carrey) had when he wore that mask!

I grew up at a time when Jim Carrey was the guy. Every attention-deprived child had an Ace Ventura impression. It was the zeitgeist. I wanted my character Ellie to have as much fun as Jim Carrey had in The Mask, while at the same time, she had to be really scary. I wanted to bring a sense of joy to this horrific, possessed demon! (Laughs)Lily: I just had to concentrate on Lily not judging herself as Beth (her character) and just letting myself go. We were acting in way more extreme circumstances than a normal drama. I thought of Toni Collette in Hereditary (2018) and just took the essence of that.

How do you think that transporting the demonic action from a cabin in the woods in the Evil Dead films to an apartment in Los Angeles in Evil Dead Rise changes or enhances the horror?

Alyssa: Oh, immensely! Moving it from the expanse of the woods to the closed confines of an apartment where is very little chance to escape makes the horror feel more real, immediate and claustrophobic.

Alyssa, I know that you are not a horror fan, and Lily you are. Lily, what are your all-time favourites and Alyssa, do you have one or two that you have been able to sit through?

Lily: I love horror! I grew up on it and that's why I was super excited to jump into The Evil Dead franchise. My mum was more excited than I was because she is a next-level horror fan! The Shining (1980) and Get Out (2017) are big favourites. So is The Babadook (2014)Alyssa: I have started watching some horror films now (smiles). Hereditary scared the bejesus out of me! But I made the wrong choice and watched it at night on my own and was texting a friend of mine saying, 'What was I thinking? What am I doing?!' But wow, what a performance (from Toni Collette).

I went and watched Cocaine Bear. It's so brilliant! And I feel that it matches the kind of absurdity that we have in Evil Dead Rise. I love that Elizabeth Banks (the director of Cocaine Bear) made that film. I feel that the world doesn't know this enough... the fact that women love gore, women love horror.... And now we are coming out with this female-centric horror film full of blood, gore and guts!