Evil Dead - Review

I'll be straight up honest with you folks... I wasn't looking forward to this one. With the current state of film being obsessed with sequels, prequels, remakes, re-boots, re-whatevers, I was convinced that a remake of The Evil Dead would just be another half-assed retelling of a classic movie. The original Evil Dead was released in 1981, a low budget horror/comedy written and directed by Sam Raimi. It was an ambitious indie-horror flick that blended 70s exploitation violence, buckets of blood, cartoon slapstick, and haunted house-inspired scares. Many debate whether the film's humorous tone was intentional or if it was a result of the lack of skill/experience, but either way, the film was one of the genre's most entertaining efforts. It was followed by two sequels, 1987's Evil Dead II (a bigger budget pseudo-remake) that myself and many others consider the series' best, and 1993's Army of Darkness, an action-comedy that failed at the box-office but would later find a massive cult following on home video. Raimi himself constantly denied rumors of another sequel, but eventually announced that he would be co-producing (though not directing) a darker and less humorous remake with the trilogy's original star, Bruce Campbell, serving as his co-producer. By the way, if you don't know who Bruce Campbell is... go sit in the corner! As I said, despite Raimi and Campbell's endorsement, I wasn't exactly on board with this film... especially after Cabin in the Woods did such a brilliant job lampooning this kind of movie. That said... I come before you just a tab-bit humbled... this remake of The Evil Dead is actually... decent. Not great, not fantastic, but not terrible either... just decent.

The remake, once again, re-tells the familiar story of Raimi's 1981 film, with a few new twists. Five friends drive to an isolated cabin in the middle of the woods for a short getaway. Unique to this version is that one of the members, Mia (Jane Levy), is a drug-addict who has decided to go cold-turkey and break her habit. Upon arriving, they find a mysterious book in the cabin's basement, which unbeknownst to them, is none other than The Book of the Dead... which holds the power to summon terrible spirits. Despite warnings and ominous messages, the curious Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) reads from the book and accidentally awakens an ancient evil upon the cabin. Mia is the first one to be affected, and soon begins to have violent compulsions and tendencies. At first thinking it is just a side effect of her quitting her drug habit, the group soon realizes that something far more evil has come for them, and that their lives (and souls) are in grave danger.

I'm really torn on my feelings for this film. On one hand, what I said earlier about excessive remakes and lack of original thinking certainly resonated with me while watching this. On the other hand, I couldn't help but love the no-holds-barred style of filmmaking. This is one of the few honest-to-God true horror films of the last few years to go for broke. Subtlety has never had a place in any of the Evil Dead films, but instead of over-the-top slapstick jokes, the remake favored oceans of blood and violence that would make even Clive Barker cringe. The lack of the series' trademark humor was a bit of a disappointment, but the excessive blood that made my inner-gore hound giddy was enough to keep me engaged. Really not gonna lie on that last point here folks... this film has some of the most memorable and twisted deaths, dismemberments, and mutilations I've seen in a while. Even if you're a seasoned gore veteran like me, there are one or two scenes that might make you feel a little nauseous. I also couldn't help but appreciate the film's dedication to both practical effects and it's gritty roots. While Evil Dead does have the expected stylish and more polished updated look seen in so many horror remakes, it still nonetheless sticks to it's exploitation film roots and has a sort of retro/modern thing going for it. Those who were concerned that this remake would be a tone-downed rehash of the original, you can at least rest easy that the blood still pours freely. It's not as funny as it's predecessors but it's wild in it's own way.

The story is a bit of a mixed bag. I have to give the writers credit for at least trying to do something kind of interesting but in the long run, nothing really excels. One could actually make a reasonable argument that the movie is a metaphor or examination rehab from drugs cold turkey. It definitely has those kinds of moments, and when it dwells on that aspect, it's kind of interesting. Beyond that though, it's pretty straightforward. Aside for a couple little twists, it's pretty much a basic retelling of the original flick with few surprises. Unfortunately, none of the characters really amount to much more than their typical genre archetypes either. I haven't even mentioned that the character of Ash (originally played by Bruce Campbell) doesn't appear in the remake (well, except after the credits but that doesn't really count). This is probably for the better, as nobody other than Campbell should even touch that role, but without Ash's presence the film does lack the wit and flair of the previous three. The only character who has some level of depth is Mia, but even she doesn't do much to break the formula. This was one of my biggest concerns, once Cabin in the Woods did such a solid job spoofing this kind of repetitive writing, it just made it even harder to accept. All of the actors do pretty commendable work, which is fairly impressive considering that they really didn't have a whole lot to go off of other than looking scared. Not much more to say about the actors other than that they're fine. I don't want to bash the story too much though, as it does have a certain enjoyment factor. The setup is good, it has all of the necessary suspense beats, and it moves at a good pace. It does little to differentiate itself from the barrage of other "isolated cabin" horror films but you can't argue with what works.

There's not much more I can say about Evil Dead. Odds are, you either love or hate these kinds of movies and made up your mind a long time ago about whether you would see it or not. Because of the liberal amounts of blood and the obvious efforts made on behalf of the filmmakers, I'd say it's worth a watch. I would have much rather seen this team put their talents to use on an original idea instead of another remake, but as long as the film is good, I can live with remakes like this. If you're a horror fan or a blood hound, it's worth a matinee ticket or as a midnight movie. Check it out.

My Score: 3 out of 5!