EVIL DEAD (2013) movie review

Evil Dead (2013) (1st viewing) d. Alvarez, Fede (USA)

I have seen the new EVIL DEAD...and it is good.

Recidivist drug user Jane Levy announces she’s kicking the habit, inviting her three amigos (Jessica Lucas, Lou Taylor Pucci, Elizabeth Blackmore) and only brother Shiloh Fernandez to attend a stash-dumping ceremony and assist in her cold turkey rehab at the secluded family cabin. Unfortunately, before the night sweats barely get going, the reading of a strange volume of occult spells found in the basement invokes something into their world. Are Levy’s personal demons more than just figurative?

For a film as ferociously original as its source material was in 1981, it’s no small thing to say that director Fede Alvarez has done himself proud with his remake (or “rebirth” as he referred to it from the stage of Austin’s Paramount Theatre during its world premiere at South by Southwest Friday night). Ever since it was announced that yet another beloved modern classic would be undergoing its seemingly inevitable 21st century interpretation, expectations were huge and it’s safe to say that horror fans everywhere have been waiting with bated breath and sharpened knives to weigh in. Several considered it sacrilege; nearly all felt it unnecessary. Some were encouraged to hear that Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert and Bruce Campbell – the creators of the original film – were all on board as producers, while others were disappointed to hear that Campbell would not be reprising his signature role as Ash. It’s been an emotional ride to this moment, one that has seen the online world on fire responding to rumors of a CG-free production (what little we see isn’t off-putting, but it’s there) to early set-photos (is that Raimi’s Oldsmobile making a cameo?) to its red-band trailer fueling a spirit of overall, if cautious optimism.

But ultimately, it’s what ends up on the screen that counts and this particular horror hound is thrilled to announce that while not perfect, Alvarez’s version captures much of early 80s Raimi’s spirit while also striking out with a voice of his own. There are homages aplenty to be found, ranging from Roque Baños’ evocative score to DP Aaron Morton’s “Force-Cam,” but rarely do these feel extraneous or represent overt pandering to the assembled faithful. The practical gore is at once garish and good-natured, excessive with intent without sliding into parody. The shocks are appropriately shocking and the scares strike a fine balance between the “blast of sound as something passes the lens” jumps and genuine moments of relentless creep, with an assortment of gross-out gags to keep the juices flowing.

The performances and dialogue fall a little flat in the beginning; viewers preordained to hurl bile and invective will likely target these early scenes, and they are undeniably the weakest. The set-up invented by Alvarez and his co-writer Rodo Sayagues to gather his hapless quintet of soon-to-be-Deadites in that lonely cabin wooded is a worthy one, but we’re given very little time with these characters before the excrement starts hitting the oscillating blades. It’s an approach that both serves and weakens the narrative: on the one hand it’s a nonstop breakneck coaster ride; on the other we don’t really know and/or care about these people and are left to content ourselves with the gleeful abandon with which Sultans of Splatter Roger Murray and Jane O’Kane rend, sever, puncture and gouge their game ensemble.

If I have a complaint, and a very minor one at that, it’s that these capable actors are all so generic in their TV-ready attractiveness that they don’t really make much of an impression. Jane Levy impresses as the primary recipient of the demonic assault, but she is also given the most to do. The others do their best to look shocked, amazed and horrified as their companions’ bodies are bent and broken, but it’s when the unearthly blood is running down the screen that everyone truly shines. Their “human” performances feel almost beside the point, so thinly drawn are Murray’s future cannon fodder.

Ultimately, it’s Alvarez’s show, and he proves his skill time and again in delivering the goods. There is a forward momentum maintained from start to finish, with the director straining against the harnesses, leading his pack on their merry chase. It’s not inaccurate to say that it often feels like everyone is really trying, but it’s a unified effort less preoccupied with showboating than with telling a story that inherently lends itself to flashy set pieces. And lord a’mighty are there some doozies here. No one escapes unscathed and the pacing and parsing and piecing are superbly calibrated to deliver maximum impact. Yet the mayhem always feels high-never-mean-spirited; a major accomplishment where eviscerations and limb-lopping occur at such a rampant rate.

In the remake annals, while perhaps no instant classic like Carpenter’s The Thing or Cronenberg’s The Fly, this Evil Dead easily conjures comparisons to Zack Snyder’s worthy 2004 Dawn of the Dead or Dennis Iliadis’ surprisingly strong 2009 Last House on the Left. In maintaining a similar tone, one that never really scares but trades its gooseflesh for juicy well-timed gooses of adrenaline, it neither slavishly apes its forerunner nor flies too far astray. Kudos all around and Two Bloody Paws Up!

--Aaron “Dr. AC” Christensen, HorrorHound Magazine


Evil Dead opens wide April 5th.