Evil Dead (2013): Review
Mia (Jane Levy) and her estranged brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) meet at a cabin in the woods with a couple of other friends as a way to detox Mia from a drug habit. When they come across a scene of some sort of ritual in the basement one of the friends begins to fool with a certain book bound in flesh. In doing that it releases an evil greater than they will ever know. What comes next is an evening of absolute horror that they will never forget.
The film advertises itself as “The most terrifying film you will ever experience”. In doing that it’s already setting the bar pretty high. Did it live up to the hype? Not entirely. Although it’s not the “most terrifying” it was good, twisted, gory fun. Most of the heart racing moments came more from the anticipation of things rather than the scares themselves. There were some nice similarities and nods to the original cult favorite that were done without being cheesy about it or feeling like it’s being rehashed. The film got the job done of being very gruesome and unapologetic when it came to the violence but I still think the people possessed by “The Evil” were scarier looking in the original, white eyes and all. Now I can understand some people being upset that the film doesn’t have the catchphrases or the comedy that the others had but this is an entirely different monster. Without Bruce Campbell this movie wouldn’t have been able to get away with it and would’ve just been silly. Director Fede Alvarez was pretty good about respecting the previous films and creating a unique experience for the modern movie goer at the same time. The formula of the story was pretty much the same but I thought the drug addict angle was interesting. It made the rest of the group not believe Mia when she started saying she was seeing things and in turn giving them a reason for them to stay in the cabin. The only thing I felt could’ve used a bit of a push was in character development. Besides David and Mia, I didn’t feel any connection to the other characters at all. Honestly I didn’t even really realize David’s girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) was even there until she made a comment about Mia halfway through the movie. The best death however belongs to Olivia (Jessica Lucas) as it was probably the scariest. Seeing someone rip into their face with a shard of glass is pretty crazy and the way she crawled on the floor toward Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) looked absolutely insane. This film won’t ever replace Raimi’s but I think it does a great job at introducing a new generation to world of Evil Dead.
NOTE: Be sure to stay during the credits for a neat part of the original Evil Dead and stay right after the credits for a quick little clip that you’re sure to dig.
NOTE 2: I did notice that a few things that were in the trailer weren’t in the actual film. Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t remember the chainsaw coming into play until the end but in the trailer you see David wielding the chainsaw being covered in blood and also the “We’re gonna get you” song is missing from the film as well. Hopefully we’ll see a nice unrated Blu-ray release in the near future.
Evil Dead is in theaters NOW from Sony Pictures!
