Return of the Evil Dead

The final cut turned out pretty well, don't you think?

‘Evil Dead,’ the first of a trilogy which made Bruce Campbell a household name, is one of my most beloved horror cult classics.  Like ‘Dead Alive’ for Peter Jackson and ‘The Duel’ for Steven Spielberg, ‘Evil Dead’ gave us an early glimpse of Sam Raimi’s genius and the type of filmmaker he is to become.  As you may well know, Raimi went on to helm 'Darkman,' the Tobey Maguire ‘Spiderman’ trilogy and the recent Disney ‘Oz’ movie, as well as co-producing the popular syndicated TV fantasy series ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’ and ‘Xena: Warrior Princess.’  So when it was announced that ‘Evil Dead’ was getting remade, I was both brimming with anticipation and apprehensive at the same time.  One thing is clear, though.  Whether it will do justice to its source material or suck, I’m going to have to find out no matter what.   

 

Whew, I am so glad it is the former.  This remake is directed and co-written by Fede Alvarez.  Alvarez is quite a story.  The Uruguyan filmmaker had no prior directing experience, not even commercials or music videos.  Like Justin Bieber, Youtube became his claim to fame when his 2009 stompin' giant robot video ‘Ataque de Pánico’ went viral.  Within weeks, he was signed on to Raimi’s production company Ghost House Pictures for the ‘Evil Dead’ remake. 

 

Now on to the movie.  ‘Evil Dead’ 2013 is a lovingly crafted and respectful remake of the 1981 original.  The plot, pacing, atmosphere, tone and palpable suspense capture those of its predecessor flawlessly, and the movie appears to be guided by a deft hand which belies its filmmaker’s inexperience.  Without spoiling it for those who haven’t seen the original, ‘Evil Dead’ is probably the very first ‘cabin in the woods’ movie, which Joss Whedon’s tagline for his 2011 homage ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ summed up rather succinctly as follows: “Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods.  Bad things happen.”  While Sam Raimi’s original featured the tough-as-nails Bruce Campbell and his infamous jawline, Alvarez’s version gave us a heroine who couldn’t have been more different in the form of Surburgatory’s sassy teenager Jane Levy.  It is an interesting, effective and welcome change, because the last thing we want is for this movie to be a mechanical, rote copy of the classic. 
 

This ‘Evil Dead’ remake is every bit as giddy and unabashedly bloody, brutal, disgusting, funny, gory, gross, gruesome, grungy, scary, sick, shocking, twisted and violent as Raimi's, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.  And yes, you know I just had to come up with 13 words to describe it.

Grade: A

Most terrifying, you say?  Quite possibly, yes.