Evil Dead (2013)

Over opening weekend of this movie, I watched at least a dozen people leave this movie early because they were too grossed out. I am not sure what they were expecting, but the trailers for this remake/re imagining/sequel/band-new-movie-set-in-the-same-world-as-the-original were brutal, bloody and unrelenting. Why would you watch an Evil Dead movie if that is not what you were expecting? When they first announced the film, I was not nearly as opposed to it as so many others. I know a big part of the charm of the original Evil Dead was the low budget look of the film and how creative Sam Raimi had to be in order to get what he needed from each shot. It was a micro budget movie that turned into this awesome cult classic, that has even spawned a stage musical. However, if there is one place where remakes have been successful, it has been in the genre of horror. I can name a handful of remakes that I prefer to the original in the horror genre. Now, this was not to be a straight remake, as the character of Ash (Bruce Campbell) would be nowhere to be found, so it was more like a whole new story following the path of the original two movies. There are enough callbacks to the original to call this a remake, but a remake with different character. Ah, does it really matter what it is, is it any good?

Starting with your standard 5 young attractive people in a deserted cabin formula, Evil Dead wastes no time getting going. Mia, David, Eric, Olivia and Natalie head up to Mia and David's old family cabin for a few days in order for Mia to detox from the various amounts of drugs to which she is addicted. Mia and David are siblings, but they never got along because David left her to take care of their dying mother. Natalie is David's girlfriend who has no real attachment to the group otherwise and Eric and Olivia are life long friends of the siblings. Olivia and Eric inform David that Mia will say or do anything to get out of the cabin and they all make a pact to not let her leave. In the cabin Mia smells something awful and after the group investigates the basement, they discover a bunch of dead, hanging cats, blood everywhere, and the smell of burning human flesh. They also discover a book that is that completely covered and wrapped in barbed wire, which would seem to be the universal sign for DO NOT OPEN!! Eric opens it, reads a few words that someone wrote in the book not to read, and suddenly Mia is possessed by a demon who needs 5 human souls in order to rise from the ground rule the world.

Once Evil Dead gets going, roughly 10 minutes in, it is a nonstop gory romp with unrelenting blood, noise and cringe inducing moments. There is barely time to breathe between disgusting moments and it does leave you feeling a bit woozy and your limbs might hurt when all is said and done. It is lightening fast until it starts to drag during the climax, but even as it drags, you find yourself cringing and wondering how much more these characters can possibly take. The tone is definitely dark, but there is a hint of very dark comedy that exists throughout. Granted, a good majority of it is nervous laughter at the disgusting things going on, but the on-going gag of Eric surviving everything that hits him is petty funny in a not-really-supposed-to-be-laughing kind of way. In fact, most of the laughter comes from those moments that you know are not funny, but you are not exactly sure how you are supposed to react.

Much has been made on relying on practical effects/make up for the film and it shows that great care went into crafting this continuation of the original film. The make up is flawless. I greatly admired the slow transformation of Mia and what happens to Olivia is not only gnarly and incredibly difficult to watch, it is so well crafted. The make up on her jaw is quite something, but it is hard to admire as she is cutting her jaw off. I loved all of the quick P.O.V shots at the beginning when Eric first reads the book and there is a wonderfully dark scene early on when Mia is trapped by the forest. That sequence might have been my favorite as it is a dark twisted version of The Wizard of Oz or even The Lord of the Rings. It is easy to see why Sam Raimi wanted to work with first time feature director, Fede Alvarez because they are very like minded. They both have a visually pleasing aesthetic and both love to set up shots and stories in similar fashion. I will be curious to see where Alvarez goes from here, because it does appear that Evil Dead is going to be a nice little hit and from what I have read, not too many people are super upset at the movie existing after they watched it. If you look at Evil Dead as a horror movie and not the relaunch of a much beloved series, the movie really works on its own. I know many people who grew up worshiping the original because it shows that you can make a good movie without money, if you have vision and I understand that, but this version of the film has nothing to be ashamed of.

That being said, horror has become kind of stale and no amount of blood, vomit, severed limbs, bloody rain or zombie demons change that. Evil Dead is not terribly scary. It has two good jumps, but it does not set up to scare you. it just wants to gross you out. That kind of gross out horror gets old kind of fast and always has for me. I like the tension of quiet horror movies, and how everything is what you see in the corners of shots, and Evil Dead is not that film. I have worlds of respect for how this film was made and it succeeds in what it wants to do which is gross you out. It is clear from the very beginning that is the mission of this film. There is nothing wrong with that, but I think I was hoping for just a bit more of a difference. I was looking for a Raimi type of camera work, and a cleaner story, but when the movie was over, I definitely felt it and some times, that is enough.

Final Grade: B-