Evil Dead

“The scariest movie you will ever see!” “Bloody as hell!” “So scary it will turn black people white!” Ok so I made that last one up, but we have gotten so out of hand with the hyperbole lately that it’s hard not to let the hype of a movie skew your judgement . What I really hate is when in the previews they show people’s reaction to a pre-screening or even the preview of the movie and they are screaming or jumping out of their seat in fear. I get it, when I see a scary movie I am going to be scared. Isn’t that the point? But I think that they should do away with showing Japanese people’s reactions because that’s not really helping their cause. Haven’t you ever seen those Youtube videos of young Japanese girls losing their shit and basically stomping each other to death because a guy clearly wearing a bed sheet is walking around booing? Seriously??? Why was it so hard to defeat their army in WW II? When we took the beach of Iwo Jima, why didn’t we just sprinkle pixie dust in the air and have a loud speaker blaring Vincent Price’s voice? “Darkness falls across the land. The midnight hour is close at hand…”. I know that’s from Thriller but you get the point. But I only kid the Japanese. I don’t want to offend any of them because I have seen Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift and I don’t want to have to settle things “With a race!!!” (in full on country twang) 

What’s the point of all this rambling? Well there isn’t one really, except for the fact that I was pretty excited to see the remake of Evil Dead! I think all movies should stand on their own whether it’s a remake or a re-imagination of the original, so I won't waste waste your time comparing this version to Sam Raimi's cult hit. I don’t ever want to see a shot for shot remake of something because what’s the point?

If you have never seen the original but you were unfortunate enough to see Cabin in the Woods, this movie starts out in similar fashion. 5 friends go their family’s old cabin in the woods to help young Mia kick her drug habit. But she has been known to try anything she can to get out of it in the past, so they are prepared to go to great lengths to make her stay. Well wouldn’t you know it, they somehow discover a bloody door to the basement and in this basement lies a book that unlocks the gateway to hell for an evil demon. The demon then possesses one of them as he plans to kill everyone in the cabin and literally have it rain blood.I'll stop there as it's a pretty basic plot but it has all the key elements needed to create a classic horror film.

Fede Alvarez, who caught Rami’s attention with his short Panic Attack, does an excellent job of creating his own vision of Evil Dead without completely abandoning what made the original so fun. This movie has a ton of blood and gore but it also balances it with the right amount of humor. Thankfully though, Alvarez doesn't try to include another Ash in this film as that would have been a total disaster. For the first 40 minutes of the movie, you think to yourself that you’ve seen this kind of gore on AMC and The Walking Dead. But right when you say that, he takes it up a notch with some creative use of household tools. Well, assuming your house has a nail gun and chainsaw. And yes, the chainsaw scene in particular is worth the price of admission as you are basically clapping and laughing in horror at the amount of blood this scene produces. Actually the grotesqueness of that scene is still in my head and it somewhat bothers me. But this movie would not be complete without it.

Another scene that seems to stick with people is the infamous tree rape scene. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal as it was over with fairly quickly and to be honest; after seeing the movie Irreversible and it’s rape scene, everything else just pales in comparison. You will never see anything more brutal than that in your life. But it definitely adds to the quirkiness of this film. 

All in all, this movie has everything you are looking for in a horror film minus the boobs. It makes you jump in your seat, it makes you laugh, and it makes you cringe with it’s gore and the copious amounts of blood. I rate this movie as very FRESH and suggest that you see it with a group of friends. If you are a fan of the original, do yourself a favor and stick around after the credits.I'm off to go petition for the release of the movie The Grudge on a Plane!