For most fans, Evil Dead means a bloody spectacle full of laughs.
It makes one wonder what the state of the Evil Dead franchise would look like today had Sam Raimi achieved his desire with the original film of making "the ultimate experience in grueling terror"? What would the first Evil Dead movie look like if the filmmakers had the budget and the means to make the movie as Sam Raimi originally envisioned it to be?
The 2013 remake/reboot of the franchise, EVIL DEAD, attempts to answer the above question. Directed by Fede Alvarez, the 2013 Evil Dead film plays a similar narrative but cuts any semblance of humor from the film completely. In other words, this Evil Dead film won't make you laugh. Instead it was designed to deliver on Sam Raimi's original vision for The Evil Dead as well as the tagline "The Ultimate Experience In Grueling Terror."
It was with this frame of mind that I went into the theater in 2013. And as a result, I loved the film. Five years later I still hold it up as the standard for blood, gore, and carnage in new horror.
From other Evil Dead fans that I've talked to, however, they didn't receive the movie as well as myself. Understanding their view point, they felt the humor of the series was as essential to the franchise as the blood and gore. And that without the "Three Stooges" like humor, the new film just wasn't an "Evil Dead" film. And they're not wrong for thinking that. But to have that humor present in Fede Alvarez's film wouldn't feel right either. To this I say again, the 2013 Evil Dead was meant to remake the original film as Sam Raimi had originally envisioned it, not to remake the film as it ultimately became.
THE PLOT
Mia and her friends have retreated to an old family cabin deep in the woods. The reason: to help Mia quit her drug addiction cold turkey. When they arrive Mia's senses are assaulted by a horrible smell. In the basement they discover a dozen strung-up rotting cat corpses, blood stains, demonic sigils, and a strange book. One of Mia's friends begins reading from the book. Mia, struggling to hold it together while detoxing, suddenly feels an evil presence surround her. This evil presence assaults her in the woods, crawling inside her. Slowly the evil overtakes her and then moves from one friend to the other, ravaging their bodies and swallowing their souls.
WHAT I LIKED
The Intensity. Few horror films in recent years have felt as dire and as horrific as this film. The sustained tension level throughout the film is an amazing achievement. Once Mia is taken over the film pushes the pedal to the floor and doesn't let up until the end. Your heart is pounding throughout 80% of this movie. There's an "anything can happen to anyone" power to this film that keeps you on edge. No character is excluded from the tortures in this film. Very few movies can maintain such a high level of suspense and terror as this film does. All the different aspects of this film work towards this common goal and in that shared goal I feel all the elements succeed.
The Sound Design. "One by one we will take you!" Continuing off of what I was saying above, one of the standout aspects of this film is the sound. The score by Roque Banos is unnerving and filled with dread. There's a noise which I can only describe like an air-raid horn that sounds from time to time in the film. It chills the blood when you hear it. Then there are the two sound bites from the original Evil Dead: "Join us" and "One by one we will take you!" They're subtle but used to great effect. I don't talk about the sound of horror films too often, but the sound here is truly remarkable.
Raining Blood. It's been a really long time since the symphonies of gore in the 80's and early 90's. Even the gorefests of the 2000's feel like a long time ago. One of the elements this movie brought to the table that few in the 2010's have is the gore. There are some incredibly graphic images herein, from a recreation of the tree-rape sequence, the tongue slice, face carving, self-dismemberment, to literally raining blood (one of the greatest things I've ever beheld in a horror film). It wasn't until seeing the movie that I realized how long it had been since a horror movie reached these heights of gore.
Appropriately it looks like the only horror film to try to match this film since has been the television show ASH VS THE EVIL DEAD. Maybe I'm just missing the movies or misremembering them but in terms of gore in horror films today, 2013's Evil Dead remains, in my opinion, the most recent height and the standard with which I have measured gore in other horror films going forward.
NITPICKS
As you can imagine I don't have too many qualms with this film. I like the brief little Bruce Campbell "Groovy" at the end but it would've been wonderful to see Ash pull up in his car and give Mia a ride at the very end of the film. Any bigger presence of Ash would've changed the tone perhaps. That's more of wishful thinking than a nitpick. The only other thing I can think of is with the character of Olivia and her possession. In the Book of the Dead it depicts a victim cutting off their entire face. She only ends up carving her cheeks. It would've been epic to see her remove her whole face as depicted in the Necronomicon. Every time I watch the movie and I see that sequence I always see it as a rare moment in which the filmmakers had cold feet and didn't go for it.
THE VERDICT
Ever wonder what Evil Dead would look like as a serious horror film without B-movie acting or B-movie special effects, as it was originally intended? Here you go. And for me personally, I found it glorious. Do I still heartily love the original series? Yes. Do I love this intense serious take too? Hell yes. The acting is wonderful, the sound is striking, and the gore is epic in scope. This is one of the best horror films of the last decade, in my opinion, and has set the bar for heights in cinematic gore of the 2010's. Whether you feel a serious Evil Dead movie is a sin against the series or not, it is nice to see what such a film (as Sam Raimi intended the original to be) looks like.
Overall Ranking: 9 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 0 out of 10
For more of my thoughts on the Evil Dead franchise check out the posts below!
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