Evil Dead (2013)

It's been a while since my last post.  But a European vacation followed by a nasty bout of food poisoning has delayed the next post.  But this week, we are bringing it back with a brand new release in theaters, the remake/reboot of Evil Dead.  If you are a horror fan and have visited this blog multiple times you have probably seen the original version from 1981, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell.  They developed cult icon status with this movie and the even better Evil Dead 2.  They went on to make a third installment called Army of Darkness, which is often forgotten about in the franchise.  Sam Raimi has since gone on to become a bonafide Hollywood blockbuster film maker.  He directed the Spiderman trilogy with Toby Maguire, and more recently just released Oz with James Franco.  This post is about the new Evil Dead movie, but it is important to note that Raimi and Bruce Campbell were producers on this film and were involved with the movie.  If you were a fan of the original, I honestly am not sure what you will think about this movie.  First off, the 2013 edition has a much more somber tone overall.  The movie centers around a group of friends who go up to a cabin in the woods, but the main character, Mia, is battling  a serious addiction to heroin and is trying to kick the habit cold turkey at the cabin with her friends providing unyielding support.  This is different from the 1981 version which was basically just a group of college friends going away for the weekend.  Just like the 81 version, in the new film, the group of friends uncover the infamous book of the dead which is the book bound in human skin and written in blood that summons the evil spirits from the woods.  Of course the spirits possess our main character Mia.  At first her friends think she is just going through a painful withdraw from the drugs.  Quickly they found out that it is something completely different.  The original Dead definitely had some tense moments but there was almost a three stooges quality to the film.  It acquired cult status in large part to the campy nature and the great performance from Bruce Campbell.  The new version doesn't have many, if any at all, comedic moments.  It is dark and dreary from the get go.  There are a few homages to the original.  You'll see an old car you may recognize, some great camera work through the woods and of course...the chainsaw.  But the tone is one that is much more serious and dare I say it, more violent.  This is one of the goriest movies I have ever seen released to a theater.  Body parts are severed, blood is sprayed, and at one point literally rained down from the sky.  Directer Fede Alvarez said he wanted to use as many practical effects and as little CGI as possible.  This really worked for me in the movie and added to the extreme gore.  I personally liked the movie and had fun during the short 90 minutes.  The bigger point for me is the growing trend in the last 10 years of remaking or rebooting every horror franchise almost in existence.  The question for me is, why remake a franchise?  Is it for the cash grab?  Is it to introduce a franchise to a younger generation who may not have had the chance to see the original?  The new Evil Dead does enough in my opinion to change things up just enough from the original to do something fresh and different that warrants the remake.  I think that if you are just going to do the same thing and do a shot for shot redo, what is the point of the remake in the first place?  Evil Dead will not make hundreds of millions of dollars because of its extreme violence.  But I do think it is one of the better remakes of a horror franchise to hit theaters.  If you think you can stand the gore, check this out.  If you haven't seen the original Evil Dead, you should see that to!  I think you can currently stream it instantly on Netflix.  Ultimately, what I am most excited about from all of this, is the possibility and rumor that Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are going to finally get to work on an Evil Dead 4.  Nothing beats the original...Hail to the king baby!

If you have seen both the original and the remake, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of the remake.  Too violent?  Loving homage the original?  Check out next week as I will be writing about an old school horror movie.  One of the original creature features...George McCowan's Frogs!