Evil Dead (2013) TriStar/Horror RT: 91 minutes Rated R (language, strong bloody violence and gore, some sexual content) Director: Fede Alvarez Screenplay: Fede Alvarez, Diablo Cody and Rodo Sayagues Music: Roque Banos Cinematography: Aaron Morton Release date: April 5, 2013 (US) Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore. Box Office: $54.2M (US)/$97.5M (World)
Rating: *** ½
It’s generally safe to assume that a horror movie remake will suck. Look at the long list of casualties over the years: Night of the Living Dead, Psycho, Prom Night, Halloween II, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Last House on the Left, The Amityville Horror, Fright Night, When a Stranger Calls, The Stepfather, The Fog ….. the list goes on. In deference to the few good ones, I did like The Fly, The Hills Have Eyes, The Omen and The Blob.
I’m pleased to announce that I will be adding Evil Dead to that very short list. This movie ROCKS HARD! It’s the long-awaited (or long-dreaded) remake of the 1981 low budget classic that put writer-director Sam Raimi (the Spider-Man movies) on the map. Actually, it’s not so much a remake as it is a re-imagining. One could even argue that it’s a quasi-sequel. Any way you look at it, the one thing that we can all agree on is that it’s the best horror movie in recent years.
It’s more than that. It’s a pure, all-out, blood-soaked, full tilt boogie gorefest! How long has it been since a mainstream horror movie did that? When’s the last time one of these directors used gallons and gallons of stage blood? And I’m not talking about any of that CGI crap; I’m talking about old school gore effects! This movie is graphic, extremely graphic! To that I say thank you very much, Mr. Director. That would be one Fede Alvarez making his feature film debut. He was personally selected by Raimi to direct this remake. It would appear that his confidence has been greatly rewarded. Evil Dead isn’t quite as good as the original, but I never expected it would be. There is one change I’m not too wild about. But it’s still one hell of a movie for the most part.
Evil Dead does follow the same basic story as the original by placing five young people in a rundown cabin in the woods where they find themselves fighting evil demons. As you have undoubtedly heard, the character of Ash does NOT figure into this movie. I think that was a wise decision on the part of the filmmakers as no actor other than Bruce Campbell could ever play this part. Campbell was, is and always will be Ash. Period.
In this version, the protagonist is recovering heroin addict Mia (Levy, Suburgatory) whose friends have brought her to the cabin to help kick her habit for good. Present are her older brother David (Fernandez, Red Riding Hood), his girlfriend Natalie (Blackmore) and their friends Eric (Pucci, The Music Never Stopped) and Olivia (Lucas, Cloverfield). Kicking any drug cold turkey is never easy and it isn’t long before Mia starts freaking out. She claims she smells something awful in the cabin. She’s proven right when they discover decaying animal carcasses in the basement. That’s where a father burned his possessed daughter to death in front of a bunch of redneck religious nuts in the opening scenes.
They also find the Necronomicon (aka the Book of the Dead) in the basement. Naturally, one of her friends reads some of it aloud and reawakens the evil demons that immediately take possession of Mia. Now we’re getting to the aforementioned change I’m not crazy about. Alvarez does recreate the infamous “tree rape” scene, but he changes it up by showing the demon that possesses Mia. It has manifested itself in the form of the young girl who was burned to death at the beginning. In the original, we never actually see the demons. Instead, Raimi shows his characters becoming possessed by way of some wild camera work. The camera speedily approaches the characters as the demons take possession of their bodies. This works better because there’s nothing scarier than that which is not shown. The imagination can be scarier than anything depicted on film. Anyway, all bloody hell breaks loose once the demons are unleashed. And I use the term “bloody” literally!
It’s nice to see a movie that exceeds expectations for a change. I’ve been hearing all kinds of great advance buzz about Evil Dead. I liked the trailers that I saw for it (especially the red band trailer). I went in expecting a good movie. What I got was a great movie. Again, it doesn’t quite reach the same level of excellence as the original, but so what? I’m satisfied on that rare occasion when a remake doesn’t totally suck. I love that Alvarez didn’t even attempt to remake the character of Ash. It would have been the biggest exercise in futility since Liza Minnelli married David Gest.
So how does our new protagonist measure up? Pretty good, I would say. Mia starts out as the victim, but becomes a fairly bad ass demon fighter by the climax. Levy does a very good job in the role which brings me to another difference between the original and the remake. In this Evil Dead, the characters aren’t merely one-dimensional victims-to-be. Alvarez attempts to add context to the plot by introducing background information concerning Mia and David’s mentally ill mother. It helps the audience understand the strained relationship between the siblings as well as David attributing Mia’s claims of a demonic presence to mental illness passed down to her by her mother. I don’t think he needed to do that, but since it doesn’t hurt the movie, it’s fine.
Fans of the Evil Dead series will recognize and appreciate all the references to the original movies. Alvarez even manages to work the possessed right hand bit from Evil Dead II into the proceedings. The old special effects in Evil Dead really work to the movie’s advantage. It has a lot of blood, gore, severed limbs and other gruesome stuff. I sincerely hope that this signals the long-awaited return of pure, all-out, blood-soaked splatter flicks. Perchance to dream, right?
