A remake I feel was necessary and successful.
David (Shiloh Fernandez) and his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) meet up with some of his old friends in an isolated cabin deep in the woods. Instead of the friends meeting up for a weekend of partying, they’re really present to help David’s sister Mia (Jane Levy) kick a drug addiction once again. Certain events leads to David and his friend Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) investigating a cellar through the floor in which they return with some items, and one should have been left alone. -summary
It never fails, and I mean never. Remakes of classic films will always be met with the harshest of criticism and no matter what the film may do well at; a batch of fans will always find reason to rip it apart. The original Evil Dead was actually panned back in 1981 for being unintentionally funny, and pretty much a bad movie all around that people ended up finding enjoyment in despite how poorly done it was. Now without getting into the technical aspect of things; the original Evil Dead had potential to become a genuine horror movie with some really good frights. Unfortunately, it’s sequel Evil Dead 2 decided to take the comedic route and all hopes for a true horror movie became a pipe dream then. That was until Evil Dead was set for a remake to be released in 2013. When I heard Sam Raimi was not directing, Bruce Campbell was not playing a leading role, and the campy silliness was being completely abandoned; I actually had high hopes because when someone sees the title “Evil Dead”, then it shouldn’t be wrong to expect something sinister and twisted. This remake directed by Fede Alvarez gets the job done as far as I’m concerned.
I can care less if it’s some how blasphemy to say this; but I enjoyed this remake more than the entire early Evil Dead franchise. Even though I didn’t like the early movies, it was still a joy to watch this one retrace some of those steps and even pay homage to key moments. I personally think Evil Dead 2013 is among the better horror remakes.
One thing is for certain that despite borrowing from predecessors, Evil Dead is its own movie. The plot begins when Eric reads the incantations from the cursed book they find, and he unknowingly unleashes an evil whose drive is to kill them all. It begins this malevolent agenda by quickly forcing Mia to see it, and it starts working towards the possession and from here all hell breaks loose.
One of the main issues of these type of horror films is the incompetence of the main characters not to leave when they see horrible things occurring. Alvarez handles this by quickly pointing out that the characters can’t leave; first of all they believe the visions Mia’s witnessing is due to her withdrawal symptoms which is believable, and second, even when one of them tries to break north they simply can’t because the evil prevents them. It’s similar to the original but I like this story more.
I enjoyed the set pieces, camera work, and dim lighting in places as it lends an eerie atmosphere to the setting. Although the movie isn’t totally scary there’s still a level of creepiness, and things become even more weird when Mia acts up. The film is violent and it does venture into that annoying realm of torture porn; if there are any shots I’ll take at this movie then it’s the over done violence at times. I like gore in my horror movies especially ones with slasher elements; but the movie could have worked its creep factor much better without shock and gore for the sake of it. In fact, Alvarez also exposes his weakness when it comes down to carrying a plot through suspense and tension, and this is some of where the excuse of gore comes in.
Despite the flaws going on here with a bit of shaky acting here and there. The film had my full attention though, because I was still impressed by its tone and mood. While Alvarez follows Raimi’s storytelling style, he mainly falls back on the sinister elements forsaking the slapstick. I will also give plenty of credit to the gore scenes taking the old school route as opposed to CGI techniques which had grown annoying years ago.
Evil Dead needed a remake that focused on the terror in its original premise. In regards to its horror element involving the possession, it had more in common with the original Exorcist than the franchise that spawned it. This series began with potential to be creepy and this movie expanded on it. I like my horror movies to carry a serious tone especially when they have titles like this. Despite an ending that was too over the top for its own good and other missteps; I still recommend this to horror fans whom like their horror serious without the imaginary laugh track.
Pros: Horror elements have moments of being well used, some good gore overall
Cons: Quite weak on suspense and tension, falls back on gore quite a bit
