The Evil Dead (2013)

The Evil Dead (2013)

First off, let me start by saying that this movie is not a remake. Aside from the cabin and the book of the dead it shares almost no similarities with the first one. Upon its release this movie was literally crucified by critics and common viewers alike. It seemed as though every hipster with a basic understanding of the English language and a MacBook had posted a whiny review about how it ‘didn’t stay true’ to the original. Well fuck, maybe that’s because it isn’t the original. Times have changed, cameras have improved along with special effects, and the need for an actual compelling storyline and characters has become a necessity. If you watch this movie, think of it as independent from the original; consider it a distant cousin or something. I understand that in its time the original Evil Dead was ground-breaking and it totally changed the horror genre, creating an entire generation of loyal fans, but times have changed. The steam engine was pretty fucking ground-breaking as well but we don’t use it anymore because compared to modern technology it fucking sucks. If the original Evil Dead had been released in 2013 everybody would shit on it as it subtly made its way to the bottom of the $5 movie bin at Wal-Mart.

Summary

The beginning of this movie is one of my all-time favorites. The opening sequence follows a young girl being chased through the woods by a pair of backwoods freaks. The ensuing chaos is one for the horror movie record books, I will leave it at that.

The film focusses primarily on the relationship of David (Shiloh Fernandez) and Mia (Jane Levy) a brother and sister with a less than perfect family history. Haunted by the death of her mentally insecure mother, Mia turns to drugs to relieve the pain. After she overdoses on what I can only assume to be heroine, her childhood best-friends Olivia (Jessica Lucas) and Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) stage their own little intervention and take her to the old family cabin located in the middle of fucking nowhere. Olivia, who is a registered nurse, is strapped with the tiresome duty of easing Mia through the process of kicking her addiction. Eric is a school teacher who is basically just there for emotional support, and David, who has been absent for the majority of Mia’s adult life, takes a literal guilt trip to the cabin with his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) and his old faithful dog Grandpa. Upon their arrival they are greeted with a little bit of attitude from Eric, which tells us that maybe David hasn’t been the world’s greatest friend lately. After only a few short hours in the cabin Mia’s behaviour pattern turns into that of a fiending drug addict.  She looks like shit (but still kind of hot)

Sexy can I?

and continuously complains about a rotten smell in the cabin. Un-surprisingly her friends refute her complaints, explaining that she is just extremely sensitive. Grandpa however is not so easily fooled.  He does some sniffing around and leads David to a trap door in the floor of the cabin. In classic horror movie style Scooby and the gang  David and his friends venture into the depths of the shitty cabin and discover an even shittier surprise in the basement. Hanging from the roof are dozens of rotting, animal corpses (mostly cats), and an extremely suspicious looking book wrapped in barbed wire and garbage bags. This strange discovery peaks the interest of Eric and he makes the brilliant decision to open and read the book, which clearly says “LEAVE THIS BOOK ALONE”. Eric’s curiosity results in a dark evil to be awakened, and after a strange rape scene involving Mia and some vegetation, people start dying.

Mia is a screamer

My Take

I really fucking loved this movie honestly, the special effects are beyond impressive and the sheer brutality of the film really drew me in. I was extremely excited by the fact that the subplot of the movie focussed on the relationship between David and Mia rather than David and Natalie.  I felt that the chemistry they share as siblings was very convincing and relatable. With two older brothers of my own I definitely empathized with David’s situation, and understood his reluctance to let go of his sister. David’s determination to save Mia’s life really brought his character to life. In addition to that, the movie broke new ground by pitting a group of best friends against each other, rather than allowing them to work together  to defeat impending evil. The demon who manifests himself in the form of David’s friends does an impressive job of playing on his weaknesses, transitioning from an insane, bloodthirsty monster to an innocent and confused victim in the matter of a few seconds. The story did have a few plot holes, and I will be the first to admit that. The slutty demon dialogue can be a little much to handle at times (although it does offer a modicum of comic relief), and I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t that much effort put into building the character relationships (aside from David and Mia). This movie is also no stranger to gore, but then again neither was the original. I didn’t feel as though the violence was over-done at all, but I did hear plenty of complaints about it as I left the theater. In my opinion the violence and gore were perfectly tuned to the movie. The action scenes are more than cringe worthy, and the special effects never even faltered in my eyes, which is pretty impressive considering the movie used almost no CG animation at all. The Evil Dead has definitely earned a spot in my horror collection, I would suggest that you give the movie a watch and do the same.

8/10