Evil Dead (2013)
Fear What You Will Become
Said I’d do it and here we are, the remake of last week’s movie. You may remember me driving home the fact the last one was a horror movie - that’ll come in to play here. Mind you, I will say in advance this isn’t going to be for everybody - people that get a bit queasy around body-horror or violence will probably want to sit this one out. For the rest of you, or perhaps those of you who just wonder what a random guy’s thoughts on the movie are, leave your “The” behind, it’s time for Evil Dead.
It’s dumb, but I do get a laugh out of how we went from The to just Evil Dead. Anyways, there’s some changes here to the story - perhaps better, perhaps worse. We follow a group of folks who head up to an old family cabin out in the woods - that hasn’t seen some love and care in quite some time - for an intervention. Literally, it’s a drug intervention - the sister character is (once again) trying to cold turkey quite the drugs, and her brother and friends are there to support her through it. It’s a reasonable reason for the cabin in the woods setting, but at the same time taints the family cabin with a bit of darkness through a break-in during it’s down time and some “witchcraft” in the basement. Unfortunately, this is also where the cliche tropes and the bad decisions start - as after performing their little ritual the break-in group leaves behind the evil book, as though a house that had a lock on it would never have someone else come back to it at some point. You could say one person reading something in a book that’s explicitly written to not read is a dumber decision then a bunch of curious folks listening to a recording - and I’m not entirely sure which way I like better, but listening to spooky audio seems far more intelligently plausible then “don’t read this,” “Okay! I’m going to read this!”
So there’s a lot more room for character drama, for someone who might like that. The fact that one is trying to kick addiction, and another has sort of abandoned the group for some time leaves plenty of spots for tension between the players to crop up while we wait for the inevitable horrors of it’s namesake. The actors do an alright job - some aren’t as convincing at all times as others are, and some really only get the chance to shine at all after things have already gone south. It’s not really terrible acting, and anytime it might seem a little… Blair Witch I assume it’s intentionally done. The characters don’t come off as friendly and solid a group as in the original - perhaps feeling more like a group of actors acting like they know each other then an actual group of friends making a movie. Part of it might just be because of the tensions among the characters, as they don’t really start off feeling a hundred percent happy with each other, but I think at the very least some of it is just the dynamic isn’t as strong as it lacks that extra real.
Despite things seeming rather grim for the comparison of the two, the movie on it’s own isn’t terrible. It contains plenty of little easter egg moments, but it’s not required to know it’s an easter egg in order to enjoy it. It also does some things to try and enhance things - such as making characters self-harm in order to end up looking like a Reaver out of Firefly instead of simply turning around for the makeup to appear. Some burns, some cutting, getting some nails done (that ones a grim pun) allow the demonic shift to feel more rooted instead of just a complete change of person from out of nowhere. Both sort of have their place in the world of paranormal spookiness, so I’d forgive you for liking either one more than the other. That said, it’s also probably the biggest point of contention I could see for the common audience (not the die-hard fan) - the movie gets pretty brutal. Cutting one’s face off, ripping one’s hand off, getting stabbed in the eye, burned up, cut up, and gallons of blood really won’t sit well with some folks.
Gotta clean up a little.
Which serves as a great segue to the effects work. Despite being quite brutal and not for everyone, it does all look good, in that sense that it’ll perhaps make you cringe a little over how good it looks. The thing makes the Saw series look PG. There’s also a very nice mix of practical and digital effects going on here, and although our “demon force” is relegated to looking like generic dead ghost girl number seven instead of just POV shots, it still ends up looking good. It also takes a whack at the blood record, having it’s entire climax take place in a Slayer song as it’s just straight up down pouring blood. Costumes leave a bit to be desired, being most are just everyday common looking attire - although different enough within the actors to be recognizable as each character having their own look. It could be enough alone for fans of horror to want to check it out just for the effects work when it finally gets to things happening.
Audio is interesting. It does its job in the background, and at times seems like maybe the movie is a little more quiet then you’d like. I don’t really remember any of the actual songs that played over the course of it, and I know there was at least one at the start. Actors deliver their lines fine, although you can look back at the section on acting for more about that. Background stuff is really where the audio department gets to shine, in those sickly little squishes, sounds coming from other rooms, or that air-nailer hiss. It might not be exceptional, but it’s good enough that it doesn’t hurt it in any way.
So as a standalone, it’ll be fine for the type of person who likes the more gruesome horror flicks, with a good chunk of character drama before the true spooks even really start happening. It does fall to typical cliches - real stupid character decisions, an arbitrary element or two, brutal violence, and a few jump scares. As a remake, it has a few eggs in there, but it does also change things up enough that’s it isn’t just the exact same movie. This leaves plenty of room for interpretation as to which is your preferred movie - in my case, I think the original is where it’s at, even if the newer one has better effects work an more polish - but the more real feeling character interactions of the first and a few moments here or there give it that little bit of edge to be the one I would rather watch. That said, the movie also does some fun things playing with expectations, especially those based around from the original.
The prophecy is wetting itself.
So there we have it, another battle between old and new, with a different result. Another October piece set upon the board. Wonderful quality to witness with the eyes, and a lot of red getting thrown against the screen, the movie really isn’t bad. It does lack some of the charm of it’s lower budget originator, but has a moment or two where it can shine a little regardless.