Evil Dead
★★★
Dir: Fede Alvarez
(2013)
New comer, Fede Alvarez puts Sam Rami's original film through the wood chipper in this fun, completely over the top, adrenaline rushed, gore filled version of Evil Dead. It's not clever and it's no post modern take; Alvarez knows exactly what he's doing and uses his camera and some wonderful sound design to darken the tone to near black. The comedy element, so deliriously powerful in the first two instalments, is sadly lacking here and, although tightly tuned and technically executed to perfection, 2013's version takes its self that little bit too seriously.
The set up is the same; The etched into stone arrival of a group of young lookers at a cabin in the woods, this time with the added twist of one of them going cold turkey, avoids the obvious nods to the 1981 version and sets up a tense atmosphere between the five 2D characters. Our addict, Mia, played well by Jane Levy, and her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) are set up with a cautious resentment to each other, even more so with the impending lock in which the group have planned for her. Alvarez makes it known from the start that David has blundered friendships on numerous occasions and the groups coldness to that fact is extended to his new girl friend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore).
Apart from using this little bickering mechanism to play around with the final girl/boy expectation wonderfully in the films final reel, as far as character goes, that's a deep as we're going to get. And that's fine by me; Who know anything about Ash and the fateful teens in the original? When the famous Book of the Dead is found in the cabin's basement and Mia has the now obligatory "encounter" with the woods, the demonic screaming gets turned right up to deafening levels. Alvarez rarely takes his foot of the pedal and by the time the final 15 minutes splatter themselves all over you it feels like he has gotten many elements right and many wrong.
The ropey future of the horror film has been discussed here in-depth in the past; The forever bland remakes and the stagnant reboots keep coming and the very fact that this version of The Evil Dead exists is an odd one indeed. Produced by Bob Tapert, Sam Rami and Bruce Cambell, the so-called holders of the flame, this version is undeniably well made, with its heart in the right place. It shies away from CGI almost completely, letting fantastic makeup and prosthetics garner most of the gross out moments and it's very well produced and even well acted in the realms of a cabin in the woods horror.
But in 20 years time one feels that the sheer inventive hilarity of the 1981 classic and it's sequel will still be the go to films for the genre. In that way, the film fails, how could it not? But for a good, entertaining, screeching piece of bloodletting fun, you really can't go past this nasty little film.
