3 out of 5

Director: Fede Alvarez

So the style of reviews / info that hit the internet world before and after the 2013 version of Evil Dead’s release gave me enough ammunition to arm myself with a blank slate when heading into the theater – you had your required haters overwhelmed by the horror community who embraced every aspect of the flick, and then your modern day reviewers who obviously have no love for the original beyond accepting that it’s considered a classic and they have fond (faded) memories of watching it when they were in college and boy hasn’t Raimi grown.  So pretty much horror remake business as usual, but the actual support the film had building up and up to it coming out (as opposed to mass speculation) did indicate good things.  Still, since the first one is so well known, I’m not really going to be just clapping my hands if you just wink at me with a chainsaw.  I would still like for you to make a good movie that stands on its own.

Which ED does, in moments.  My review actually kept bouncing up and down while watching, down to two stars, up to four stars, such that by the admittedly awesome final sequence I accepted that I’d have to consider the whole thing as pretty average.

Our overall basic setup is maintained – kids in an isolated cabin in the woods ‘awaken’ a demonic force that take them over (and out) one by one – but I absolutely doff my sweet hat to the script (not to Diablo Cody, just to the script) for coming up with a contextually plausible reason for these people to be where they are and not bug out at the first signs of weirdness as well as a secondary doff to casting for getting the proper mix of good lookers and oddball character (who can be subbed out for comedy relief in horror setups) without dipping into the Platinum Dunes well of American Eagle posterboys and Playboy girls.  The contextually plausible reason comes via a drug-kicking attempt for lead lady Mia, something decided upon of her own volition, and supported by her nurse friend, her boyfriend, and Mia’s brother, who plot dribbles inform us has been out of the picture during many important events (drug and undrug related) in Mia’s life.  So Mia is isolating herself in this ramshackle cabin from her childhood, and her friends are going to make her stay there, dammit, because they’re gonna’ get her clean for real this time.  Thus can some initial ranting and ravings about things in the woods be brushed off as withdrawal crazies.

The 80s horror trope of ‘giggle, will reading these demonic words REALLY bring a demon to life?’ has also been slickly reworked, the crew smelling something foul, discovering the trapdoor, investigating, finding the book… and then our oddball character’s curiosity getting the best of him, cracking it open to apply his college learnin’s at translating some foreign text aloud (acting as our tape recorder from the original) and just sorta’ mumbling the demon activating words to himself.  But that’s really all it takes, right?

Here’s what really works in the film: the set and character design seem purposefully non-dated, as in they don’t reek of any particular era.  Yes, it’s not ’83, we know, but besides the dude’s cool facial hair, it could be – there’s no pointless ‘cellphones don’t work’ mention or a hip-hop soundtrack or need to reference some modern political nonsense or anything – the filmmakers knew that they just wanted to make a horror flick and so all those extras be damned.  Good for them.  The tributes to the original(s) are also incredibly well done.  There are enough obvious things to quell the clapping and hooting desires of those who’ve seen it at a party or two as part of growing up, but there are tons of little nods from all 3 ED’s via shot composition, shooting style, music stings, and set design to really drive the fan service feeling home.  But it’s not just stealing shots – director Alvarez has a firm and steady hand behind the camera, confident in his setups, and so when these Raimiesque zooms happen, they match the vibe that Fede has set.  As to the blood n’ guts?  Well, once things kick into gear, the violence is freaking top-notch.  Good close calls to make you flinch, some great over-the-top fun slaughter, and it rains blood.  Again – they knew what they wanted to do and so they went for it.

But some things definitely don’t work.  There’s a cold open intro that introduces us to one of the methods for banishing the demons, and I’m not really sure what the point of it was except for a Ted Raimi cameo and, perhaps, something for the studios to convince them that the kids will get their torture violence and stay in the seats.  It’s a dumb modern contrivance that just started the flick on a worrying note.  The whole beginning similarly falters, besides leading up to the cabin with a familiar aerial shot, there’s this slow, tension-lacking build that’s a fair attempt at giving the characters some dimension, and perhaps I wouldn’t have been able to praise the setup plausibility without those pieces, but there was just a feeling like they were relying on their audience to hang in there precisely because we know what to expect.  Otherwise the intro draaaggs (hence my suspicion that the intro was tacked on).  So demons happen with a more tasteful (?) tree rape scene (the one in the original just felt tonally off; here it matches, even if it is over the top) and then the film quickly ups and ups the ante with the ghoulies… BUT… and look, this is a hard battle to win, but the script’s purposeful aversion of repeating exact moments from its source material ends up making a lot of it underwhelming.  You get the chainsaw, you get the hand, but then it zig-zags around it and yes, makes something new, but for some reason it just lacks the sense of energy and fun the original offered.  Only the end sequence manages that, and that’s because the gloves are off by then.  Hints to this lacking are in that slow buildup – Raimi’s creep-outs and zaniness start from almost the first shots, whereas the 2013 version takes the more typical route of trying to build to it.  I accept that there’s no right choice here, as doing it shot for shot would be seen as a rip-off and going completely original would be seen as sacrilege, it just doesn’t quite nail the atmosphere effectively enough for the majority of it, and that would’ve gone further for me than some shot-for-shot comparisons.  And one of these zig-zags feels purposefully misleading (regarding who our ‘last survivor’ ends up being), and negated the possibility for even more fun with demons / zombies.

L l l astly on my list of criticism, it should be telling that neither I or the person I saw the film with could remember what happened after the last battle.

Could it have been a shitt of a lot worse?  Of course.  It was worthwhile.  It was a tribute, it attempted to do something new.  It didn’t always do it successfully, but I absolutely believe in the creator’s dedication to the original, which isn’t always the case with remakes.  I’m honestly not sure if it’s worth a theater go… When the fat dorks behind me asked “was that Bruce Campbell?” after the post-credits thing, I just shook my head.  People know Evil Dead, of course, but I guess we have aged out of the VHS generation completely now.