The Cinema Lounge: Evil Dead

 Remakes are usually very under whelming. The big trend now that seems to have been going on for a century is to remake movies, particularly horror movies. Now some of them can be good, I'll admit. Though it was no where near the original, the Halloween remake was decent enough, as were the two Romero remakes Dawn of the Dead and The Crazies. But most of the time producers give us unimaginative garbage that is either complete garbage or a total unoriginal rehash of the original that begs questions like, "Did we really need a remake of Nightmare on Elm Street?" So naturally when news broke that there was going to be a remake made of The Evil Dead my immediate response was, really? You're gonna try and remake one of the biggest cult horror movies and try to get away with it? Pssh, good luck with that. And as the hype grew and more and more information about the film was released I actually began to become intreagued with this film. For one thing, Raimi and Campbell were producing which was a big sign to the fans of the original. Also, the new director Fede Alvarez had some hype behind him as well. This was his first feature but he has a good number of pretty damn good short films under his belt. I really started to get excited about it when I heard that it was brought to the MPAA for a rating and right off the bat it got slapped with the dreaded NC-17, which for this film they were apparently very proud of. It was brought down to an R rating with some editing though, but a hard R at that.After all of this hype and news about the film I did get a bit more excited for it but I was still on the fence about it. That is, until I saw the red band trailer and by god was that a glorious way to draw in movie goers, spotlighting the films more serious tone compared to the original and more realistic gore.

As I've said the film is directed by new comer Fede Alvarez and produced by Sam Raimi, director of the original series, and Bruce Campbell, the king of all things B-movie and star of the original series. The movie stars a young up and coming cast of actors in the forms of Jane Levy as Mia, Shiloh Fernandez as David, Lou Taylor Pucci as Eric, Jessica Lucas as Olivia, and Elizabeth Blackmore as Natalie. All of these characters do have connections with each other but they are never fleshed out all that well or they are with very bad exposition. And that is the biggest flaw of this remake, the writing.

The film starts off much like the original with five friends going to a cabin in the woods to have a fun time and to help their friend Mia kick a drug addiction. The first twenty minutes is all terribly forced exposition about the character's past relationships, mainly focusing on that of Mia and David, two estranged siblings who haven't seen each other in quite sometime, or at least I think that's the relationship shared between the two because it is never fully developed or even all that good. The rest of the cast are just kind of there for the most part except for Eric who has the best lines of the piece and is the one responsible for the whole thing happening because he thinks it's a good idea to read from a book that was found in the creepy basement of the cabin in a room where dead animals are hanging from the ceiling, is wrapped up in barbed wire, is bound in human skin, and that displays multiple notes throughout it that says DO NOT READ THIS BOOK ALOUD OR SHIT'S GONNA GO DOWN essentially. The others aren't all that much smarter either, as they all constantly do stupid things that are commonly seen in the horror genre. Although this may actually have been the intention made by Alvarez who also served as one of the writers as well as director on the film. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt but if the writing was done on purpose it does make sense and gives the film a depth of humor that on the surface it is missing.

Besides the writing everything else about the film is pretty damn solid. Alvarez's direction is great. The film is shot very well and the key decision to only use practical effects over CGI was what really makes this movie shine. The gore scenes are spectacular, although they would have been even better if I hadn't seen the trailers for it because they do spoil a lot of the best parts but there are a few choice moments that weren't shown that still would make you cringe, particularly the scenes which include either cutting off or ripping off arms and hands. The film gets so gory and over the top that by the end of the film it literally starts raining blood from the sky. The final "battle" with a chainsaw is also very satisfying. If you have seen the trailers though, each of the scenes in them do have more to them so they weren't completely spoiled but going in fresh would have been a better way to go.

The performances from the cast got the job done and the stand out is definitely Jane Levy. She has the engrossing task of giving a troubled drug addict girl performance one minute, then an Exorcist- like demon performance the next. Lou Taylor Pucci would be the other notable cast member for a darkly humorous role which involves getting injured, a lot. The rest of the cast is unfortunately not all that memorable although the identities of who lives and who dies is a bit unpredictable which is a big plus for the troubled script.

Evil Dead is a good remake of a classic horror gem. The problems really only come from the script which is kind of a big deal but it is possible that it was intentional. This movie is about the experience of watching it, and when characters say or do dumb things it is very enjoyable to her the audience groan or laugh or actually yell at the screen altogether, so even with it's problems they aren't a deal breaker for the movie. The gore scenes are the whole purpose of seeing this and you won't be disappointed. While it doesn't surpass the original, it does entertain in it's own right, and if you're a fan of the originals or classic gory ultra- violent films, than you'll love Evil Dead.

FINAL GRADE: B