Evil Dead: The New Generation
Since her mother died Mia (Jane Levy) has been struggling, turning to dope to deal with the pain to the point she technically died when she over dosed. With her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez), his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) and their friends Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) and Olivia (Jessica Lucas) they head to a cabin in the woods to force Mia to go turkey to deal with her addiction. With Mia struggling with painful withdrawal symptoms they discover something unsettling in the cabin's basement where some sort of witchcraft has been going on as well as animal sacrifice as their rotting remains are hung from the joists. But they also uncover a book tightly wrapped in plastic and barb wire which when Eric opens and starts reading accidentally summons a demon which one by one possesses the friends who initially are sceptical when Mia warns them that something is not right.
I've said before that it either takes a genius or a lunatic to remake a movie which is loved by many and I am sure when whoever's idea it was to do a remake of Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead" suggested it people were thinking it is time to call the men in white coats. But whilst I wouldn't say that the 2013 "Evil Dead" is an act of genius it does one thing very right, it focuses on one aspect of Sam Raimi's original and tries to improve on that rather than trying to recreate and improve on the whole thing. I will also say that if you are a mega fan of the original "The Evil Dead" then this remake isn't for you.
What that means is that this remake of "Evil Dead" ignores the absurd humour of the original and concentrates on updating and improving the horror whilst sticking relatively close to the original story. I say relatively because another thing which this remake does right is establish characters and connections as well as reasoning with the whole idea of going to the cabin is to intervene in Mia's dope addiction. It makes it an improvement on the original and many a cabin in the woods movie because it stops it being about horny teenagers wanting to get laid and drunk.
So as I said "Evil Dead" concentrates on bringing up to the date horror side of it, reworking some of those old scenes including the rape in the woods to have a greater visual impact thanks to CGI. It means that the blood and guts side of the movie is in your face from blood dripping from where a cheek is cut away to the sheer power of blood filled projectile vomit. And whilst I wouldn't say the movie is full of atmosphere the intensity of it all, the ferociousness of the attacks makes for uncomfortable viewing. It does mean that this remake becomes less about the story and more about how crazy the next moment of graphic horror will be and it constantly builds to a full on climax.
Now of course there is the acting and it is solid especially from Jane Levy who right from the word go sheds the image many will have of her from watching "Suburgatory". But it is a group effort and each of the main actors do a remarkable job of playing characters and giving them character although I have to say that whilst I remembered that Jane Levy was playing Mia I couldn't remember the names of the other characters.
What this all boils down to is that "Evil Dead" is a good remake, not trying to emulate what Sam Raimi originally did but taking the storyline, embellishing parts of the narrative to give it meaning and then turning the dial way up past 11 when it comes to the gore and graphic nature of the horror and it is one of the most graphic horror movies I have come across.
