For me, Evil Dead (2013) has to be the year’s most anticipated movie. Dreadful horror remakes such as The Wicker Man, Psycho, and A Nightmare on Elm Street had me wondering whether this would be just another poorly made cash grab.
Then I saw the Poster – where producers promised, ‘The most terrifying film you will ever experience’. Surely an awful horror remake wouldn’t make such a courageous statement?
I’m pleased to say that this version of Sam Raimi’s cult-classic has regained my faith in the genre… but not as much as I’d hoped. Unfortunately it’s not the most terrifying film I’ve ever seen but it is the goriest and certainly has its fair share of scares. The Saw and Final Destination demographic will definitely get a kick out of the 91 minutes of bloodshed.
This chilling tale tells the story of five teens who head out to a remote cabin in the woods. Refreshingly, they’re not there to party, but to help Mia (Jane Levy) get off drugs cold turkey. It’s not long before her friend Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) finds a barbed-wire bound Book of the Dead, and foolishly reads from it, despite the written warning – ‘Leave This Book Alone’. From this moment on, an evil force rather unpleasantly grabs hold of Mia. Things don’t exactly go great for the rest of the group either, played by Shiloh Fernandez (the hero), Elizabeth Blackmore (eye-candy #1) and Jessica Lucas (eye-candy #2).
This Evil Dead is a more polished version of the 1981 classic, and the gore has most definitely been cranked up to an 11. But fans of the first need not worry; there are also moments that honour its predecessor. This is perhaps because Sam Raimi and his leading man Bruce Campbell serve as the producers. The man behind the camera is Fede Alvarez. The Uruguayan filmmaker blew viewers minds with his apocalyptic short film Panic Attack! and I don’t think he’ll disappoint many with his debut feature, Evil Dead.
What doesn’t work well is the movie’s predictability. The creator’s may have been imaginative about how to kill off their victims, but when they were going to die was very foreseeable. The audience knew exactly when to cover their eyes. A few unexpected scares could have made this an unexpected classic.
Evil Dead is far better than most horror remakes and is most definitely worth a watch, but it is unfortunately not the terrifying film we were promised.
Mikey Clarke
Genre: Horror
Director: Fede Alvarez
Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas & Elizabeth Blackmore
Running Time: 91 minutes [youtube id=”FKFDkpHCQz4″ width=”600″ height=”350″]
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