'Evil Dead Rise' star calls her demonic host 'unlike any other monster we've seen' (2024)

Actress Alyssa Sutherland had never seen an Evil Dead film when she learned that director Lee Cronin wanted to talk with her about appearing in Evil Dead Rise, the fifth movie in the franchise.

"I'm a very easy scare," says the Australian, best known for playing Queen Aslaug on the TV show Vikings. "I have a tough time watching horror films. I tend to stay awake at night if I've watched one. When I heard that Lee wanted to have a chat I was like, 'Okay, well, I guess I have to watch these films,' which I did in broad daylight in the middle of the day, and very quickly discovered their uniqueness, especially Evil Dead 2. I was like, I've never seen anything like it."

In Evil Dead Rise, in theaters April 21, Sutherland plays Ellie, the mother of three children and sister of Beth (Lily Sullivan). The relationship between the two siblings is stretched to the breaking point, and way beyond, after Beth accidentally unleashes the power of the Necronomicon book, turning Ellie into a possessed, and highly dangerous, Deadite.

"When the film opens, she's really trying to make ends meet," says Sutherland. "She's been living in a dilapidated apartment building for a long time, and the building's getting torn down, and she has to scramble and try to figure out where to live, which is not an easy task on her meager income. She's in a little bit of a pickle. Her younger sister Beth shows up on her doorstep, and they haven't spoken in a little while, and there's tension because Beth has been MIA and Ellie could have really used a shoulder. So that is where the film is at before the Necronomicon is discovered, the words are spoken, and Ellie is possessed and she is no longer her human self."

Director Cronin filmed his horror sequel in Australia where he arranged for the core cast to undergo physical training ahead of the shoot.

"We had family boot camp with the stunt team," says Sutherland, laughing. "We had an actual obstacle course that they set up for us and we were army-crawling under camouflage nets. I vividly remember that! Yeah, I had a lot of stunt rehearsals. I don't want to spoil anything for people, but there were many things that I had to learn to get on film. We also spent a lot of time in rehearsal with Lee to really create a family dynamic. Lily is wonderful. We're cut from the same cloth. It turns out, we're from the same hometown, so we got along very quickly."

On days when she was playing the possessed version of her character, Sutherland often spent hours in the makeup chair. Her trick to making the time go quickly? The actress listened to episodes of the British podcast My Dad Wrote a p*rno in which host Jamie Morton and a couple of friends ruminate on his father's erotic novels.

"It brings me so much joy. It's so good," says Sutherland. "It's like this Harry Potter cast of characters, but it's just disgusting."

Despite all that training, Sutherland admits that she collected a few injuries during the very physical shoot.

"I had quite a few dings," she says. "I think Lily suffered a little bit more than I did but, gosh, my knees took a real beating and I actually head-butted a camera at one point. That's on me! I had an egg on by forehead because I head-butted a camera."

The upside, albeit maybe a worrying one? Sutherland found she could inhabit the persona of the possessed Ellie without much difficulty.

"She's unlike any other monster we've seen, especially female monster," says the actress. "The dialogue that she has is so wonderful that, oddly enough, and I don't know what it says about me, [whispers] but I found it kind of easy!"

Sutherland explains that, when Evil Dead Rise screened at this year's SXSW Film Festival, she finally understood the appeal of scary films.

"I was really anxious, truth be told," she says. "I've never had to sit with such a large crowd watching my work like that. But once everyone cheered after the cold open, when the title card came up, I sort of relaxed and settled in. And then it was just incredible. I mean, the crowd was so loud, and laughed in all of the right places, and cheered, and [was] yelling at the screen: 'Don't open the door!' I've never experienced anything like it. Now I understand horror films. I was like, 'I get it and I know why people watch them!'"

Evil Dead Rise is released in theaters April 21. Watch the film's trailer above.

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