Groovy!
The H-Bomb: Or perhaps a better subheading would be, “Gory!” Very, very gory. For the initiated, this should come as no surprise, there will be blood… lots of it. Stands to reason, as it is a remake of one of the most unabashedly gruesome films ever made. 1981’s The Evil Dead is a homegrown horror flick shot on a shoestring over a period of several years that is now considered a classic by gore junkies the world over, and that started the careers of director Sam Raimi and B-movie demigod Bruce Campbell. Raimi and Campbell would later collaborate on two sequels, both of which also achieved cult status, and have now re-teamed to produce this remake. That they’ve overseen the project directly is probably the reason why fanboys are willing to give this redo a shot, instead of reacting with their typical knee jerk, vitriolic outrage.
Like the original, this one starts with five friends heading out to a remote cabin in the woods to spend the weekend. They include nurse Olivia (Jessica Lucas), academic Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), mechanic David (Shiloh Fernandez), David’s girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore), and David’s sister, Mia (Jane Levy). You may have noticed there’s no one named Ash in that group, which is kind of a bummer, but really, who wants to see anyone besides Campbell in that role, anyway?
Unlike the original, these twenty-somethings are not gathered at the cabin to party. As it happens, Mia has a serious drug problem, and after a near fatal overdose, her friends have brought her out to the middle of nowhere as a last ditch attempt at an intervention. So, she has a fun weekend of torturous withdrawal to look forward to, while her brother and friends get to put up with her ugly episodes as they keep her locked in the cabin and away from her magic fairy dust.
All of that, however, soon proves to be the least of everyone’s problems, as when they arrive at the cabin, they find it’s dingy, disgusting, and in complete disrepair. It’s a dilapidated old dump that not even a hobo would squat in, and there’s a really foul stench coming from the basement. When the two men of the group venture down into the basement, they find several dead cats, along with signs of some ritual, a shotgun, and weirdest of all, a really creepy looking book that’s wrapped shut with barbed wire.
Everyone agrees that they should just attend to Mia and leave all that spooky shit alone, but egghead Eric, who acts as this movie’s Jeff Goldblum, can’t resist the urge to open the creepy book, flip through its creepy pages, and read the creepy incantations inside. Little does Eric know, he has just opened a Pandora’s Box from Hell, as ancient demonic spirits will soon descend on the cabin to claim the souls of those within. Now our young heroes will have to find a way to fight off this army of darkness, or they will all be dead by dawn… sorry.
Now I, like many, am pretty cynical when it comes to remakes, especially more recent ones, because their high aptitude to suck. I did go into Evil Dead more optimistic than usual, but I still had my reservations, as the original film is a personal favorite and kind of sacred to me. Having now seen it, I can say that even my slightest fears were entirely misplaced, as it is an absolute blast! I really must say, if all remakes were as flat out fucking fantastic as this, I wouldn’t have such a big problem with them.
What we have with Evil Dead is a truly twisted re-imagining that stays true to the bloody insane spirit of the original, while at the same time completely doing it’s own thing. Director Fede Alvarez tips his hat to the original in a number of ways, such as recreating some of Raimi’s most memorable shots, like the moving point-of-view shots through the woods, as well as re-staging the infamous “Tree Rape” scene. He also sets up some very familiar scenarios, then takes them in entirely new directions that actually provide a great deal of jolts, jumps, and genuine surprises throughout.
And that is something I really have to give Alvarez props for, aside from just making the flick bloodier than a used Maxi Pad, he also made it relentlessly intense, with a batshit crazy atmosphere of pure chaos that made me feel terrified for the characters. I also have to hand it to him for keeping the tone appropriately dark and serious. While I love the sequels, they took a more humorous route, to a point where the third film became more or less a supernatural slapstick comedy. All the hijinks has been dispensed with, this one is one hundred percent grim all the way. Grim… but oddly enough, still fun.
Another thing that makes this Evil Dead potent is, surprisingly, the amount of character development. All of the characters, with the sole exception of Blackmore’s Natalie, who is given nothing to do except die, are given much more depth and definition than your typical splatter flick fodder. At first, I thought that all the drug intervention drama felt way out of place for an Evil Dead movie, but as it turned out, that actually helped me invest in these people, and it got me to root for them once they started getting picked off in the most grisly and disgusting ways imaginable.
Which brings me to a point I feel I need to make, a kind of disclaimer of sorts. I may be overstating the obvious, but there is nothing PG-13 going on around here. This flick contains guts and gore galore, with people getting dismembered and disemboweled in all kinds of creative ways, ways which made even me wince once or twice… that bit with the tongue and the box cutter… eew!!! I don’t know how many gallons of fake blood were used in this movie, but I’d be very surprised if it didn’t set a record. Believe me, nothing was watered or sanitized for this remake. If the original Evil Dead was too gross for you to stomach, then you don’t want to go anywhere near this new one.
But, if you’re a blood thirsty freak like me, then this nasty ass remake is just your cup tea. It is a wild, ferocious thrill ride that does the Evil Dead brand name proud. It thoroughly kicked my fat ass all over the theater and left me begging for more like some demented, masochistic bitch boy! If you love the Evil Dead series, or horror flicks in general, then check this sick bitch out, pronto! And when you do, make sure you stay through the end credits, where a groovy surprise awaits…
