Dir. Fede Alvarez
92 Minutes
Rated R
(I saw this movie Friday on opening day, but I had a lot of crap to do for school that got in the way of writing my review. Sorry to all none of you who are upset.)
In high school, horror movies were my life. Horror posters covered the walls of my room, I looked forward to opening the grisly pages of Fangoria magazine every month, and I was addicted to buying whatever obscure, limited/special/ultimate/uncut/unrated edition DVD on Amazon I could afford. I remember fondly buying the 'Book of the Dead' edition of Evil Dead 2, and paying a stupid amount for the out-of-print 'Boomstick' edition of Army of Darkness. Being a sick and twisted teenager I couldn't get enough over-the-top gore and the Evil Dead movies satiated my appetite for bloodshed. They were campy, gory, weird, but good-natured and fun. Bruce Campbell brought a great slapstick sensibility to his character Ash, and Sam Raimi elevated the standard "cabin in the woods" storyline into an inventive, crazy, and in its own way "groundbreaking" trilogy of films. But given the huge cult following Evil Dead has amassed over the years, a remake was inevitable. There are so few horror series even left to remake, but with Raimi and Campbell behind it as producers, I remained cautiously optimistic.
The remake was directed by first-time feature director Fede Alvarez, who gained some notoriety after his short film Ataque de Pánico! hit Youtube in 2009 and received instant popularity. It was such a big hit that Sam Raimi offered Alvarez a $30 million deal to make a full-length film out of it. We've yet to see what will come of that project, but I'm guessing Raimi wanted to use this remake as a sort of "proving ground" to see if Alvarez had the chops to go on to bigger projects. So I'm halfway through the second paragraph of my blog and haven't said if it was any damn good or not. Well, sorry. I didn't mean to ramble but this is some good info you're getting. I did end up digging this remake. Raimi made a wise choice in Alvarez, and Evil Dead (2013) is a really gruesome, modern remake that works despite losing some of the "fun" of the original.
The film replaces the Bruce Campbell 'Ash' with a girl this time - a girl with some major drug problems. Mia, her two friends, and her brother are all staying in this cabin in the middle of nowhere as a way of getting her to kick her drug habit cold turkey. Unfortunately, the long haired hippie in the group just had to accidentally read a passage out of the Book of the Dead that they found in the basement, which is what you should do if you want to unleash evil demons who are out to swallow people's souls. So Mia and co. are in a little bit of a pickle. After an iffy set-up with some bad acting and your usual "dumb teen" characters, it's pretty much a wall-to-wall gorefest and my inner high school counterpart was gleefully absorbing the carnage.
Alvarez really got the tone right here. It used many of the iconic shots from the first film that the fans love, while still cultivating its own style and making it work in this separate world (it's not just pure copying or nostalgia). At times it was really hard to watch, and even I, who has grown so used to seeing these types of ultra-violent movies, was wincing and looking away during certain scenes. This is not a film to show grandma. But at the same time, Alvarez knew when not to take it so seriously. Unlike some of the recent slew of "torture porn" horror flicks, there was this underlying sense of dark humor. It could've gone to 10 and been really tough to watch, but everything is cranked to 11 and is just so insane that it doesn't just feel like gore for the sake of it. There are some genuinely disturbing visuals and gross-out moments, but it was just so over-the-top you couldn't help but smile. It's like when one of your friends makes you watch some disgusting video on the Internet - sometimes it's fun to gather around and watch your buddy dry heave as a lady poops in a cup. Fede Alvarez has also said in interviews that the film is 100% CGI-free, only implementing old-school practical effects, which makes it feel even more tangible. What I'm trying to say is: the effects are good, and that's why you should see this film.
Of course, this is just my opinion. In fact, MOST people will hate this film. Even some horror fans may watch it in disgust, wishing for the days of the campy 80's slasher films, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for these things. There's not a good plot, the characters are one-dimensional, and some of the dialogue is just plain bad - but in a movie called EVIL DEAD what I want is a horrifying film that goes all the way and doesn't care if it is too much for you to handle. In fact, it was mentioned many times by the filmmakers that it had to be cut down from an NC-17, and it's easy to see why. Basically, if you're a sick fuck who loves these effects-heavy creature features, this movie is simply a fun ride through Hell for an hour and a half, nothing more.
Rating: B
BONUS - Related Internet video
Hey, you guys like these bonus things? Cause I can stop if you want. This here is that short film I was talking about earlier, the one that landed Fede Alvarez this directing gig in the first place. (As of right now it has a whopping 7,146,678 views! Pretty good for something shot on a supposed $300 budget.)
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