A Blonde Guy Gamer's Ramblings

Or perhaps the most violent.

If you know me from my extensive reviews of Evil Dead video games, then you already know I'm a fan of the movies. I'm not much of a horror movie buff (I haven't seen any of the Friday the Thirteenth and Nightmare on Elm Street movies for example), but Evil Dead I have a soft spot for. With it's gruesome effects, hell-spawn summoned from an ancient book bound in human flesh and bone called the Tome of Eternal Dar-I mean, the Necronomicon, and of course, Bruce Campbell being Bruce Campbell.

The movies would go on to have a prominent cult status as a solid trilogy, even when each movie got more slapstick and campy, but still all the more entertaining. Which this movie is not doing, as it goes back to the straight up horror roots of the first one with a reboot of sorts. Reboots of other horror classics like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (also haven't seen the original or reboot) has happened before, but those...haven't had the best reception from their respected fanbases. Naturally, with those and the quality of most modern horror movies like the million Saw sequels sticking with tired tropes like torture porn, unlikable teenage/collage age main characters, CGI, cheap jump scares, ect, it was understandable to be concerned whether this would turn out good or be material for reviewers like Phelous to rip into.

He actually hasn't reviewed the new

Evil Dead yet if that's any indication.

However, I can safely say that this actually turned out alright as a re-imaging (and possibly even a sequel of the trilogy of sorts) and that it doesn't have the cliches that plague a lot of modern horror movies. Or at least most of them, and the few that do aren't bothersome. There's no CGI, save for touch-ups, none of the main characters are painful horror movie stereotypes, and the movie is pretty much dead (no pun intended) set on reliving the feel of the first Evil Dead while still doing a somewhat original take on it. It also helps that the movie is produced by Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Robert Tapert, who all worked on the original and approved of this. Hell, for years Bruce Campbell apposed a new Evil Dead because he knew fans would not like it. But for this, he seems satisfied, so we can take that into consideration. The movie was directed and co-written by Fede Alvarex, and Uruguayan film maker chosen by Raimi to work on the new Evil Dead. It was also his feature film debut as a director and that seemed to turn out well for him. It'll be interesting to see what this promising director will do next.

The film came into theaters in April, but I didn't see it then due to my general lack of seeing movies much at cinemas. But on Christmas I got the movie and it's the first Blu-ray movie I got after having a Playstation 3 for about...2 years. Yeah, you can tell I'm more of a game collector than a movie collector. Anyway, I'll just quickly summarize what I thought about it while not spoiling too much, because I do feel it's worth seeing even if you know what goes on in the original Evil Dead.

Oh, right, the PS3 can also play Blu-ray movies. Might

as well actually get movies on those.

The set up and characters are a bit different this time around, but we do still have a group of five people visiting a remote cabin in the woods. One character, Mia, suffers from a drug addiction and decides to go full cold turkey with her friends Olivia, Eric, and her brother David and his girlfriend Natalie to help her out. (Fun fact: each letter of their first names spells something subtle). This means there is no Ash Williams in the sense that Bruce is not in this film nor is there someone else doing a "new Ash." Which does work in the movie's favor even if fans might have been disappointed at first since there is no Ash. Because let's face it, Bruce is getting older and a new actor doing a new Ash wouldn't do it justice, so all the more reason why Bruce approves of this approach.

While staying at the cabin, the group soon discovers a foul smell from the basement, where some nasty things happened and comes across a covered up book (which is actually a different book called Naturom Demento, a variation of the original Necronomicon) and a sawed off doubled shotgun on a table. Eric, being curious and looking like someone from the 70s, opens up the book and despite the frantic warnings scribbled on the pages, deciphers and reads aloud words that summon a demon. This, of course, is when Mia starts seeing things and realizes that something is after her, but because she's going through withdrawal symptoms, everyone else doesn't believe her and thinks she just desperately wants to leave before the habit fully breaks. Panicking, she takes one of the vehicles, but comes across a vision of the demon and crashes. Then she gets possessed in a fashion very reminiscent of a certain infamous scene from the first Evil Dead. Hint: it involves branches.

Mia getting possessed is when shit really starts hitting the fan and the movie gets into gear. This is where the effects of the movie shine and it's almost entirely practical effects; even the occasional CGI tweak is pretty seamless and not that noticeable. With these effects, the movie is quite violent as blood sprays everywhere, cuts and wounds are cringe level convincing, and limbs are dismembered with great detail. Needless to say, if you don't like seeing that stuff in general, then Evil Dead in general isn't for you. But if enjoy things like say, the modern Splatterhouse game (which I do and feel it's underrated by the way), then you can get some guilty pleasure out of it. It definitely harkens back to the original with it's gore and is never really torture porn levels of absurdity. The only thing I find a tad absurd is the endurance the characters go through. Especially Eric, who while doesn't lose arms, suffers the most injuries to the point where I went "how is he still alive?!" That, and people losing an arm or hand without going into shock when dealing with demonic possession.

It's only a flesh wound! Small cost to pay to avoid

demonic possession I say!

I won't explain what else happens in detail, but as a fan of Evil Dead, I liked it enough. There's enough familiar elements and nods to the original to please fans while the effects and new things are enough to be engaging on their own and be interesting takes of the original's elements. Is this better than the original? Eh...not quite. There were creative things Raimi and his team had to do in the original because of the small budget that gave it distinction. While the new Evil Dead feels more like a homage or if the original was made today and had a higher budget. Don't get me wrong, I'm relieved that this turned out the way it did and not like other horror film reboots, but it just felt a bit predictable. Which I guess is to be expected if you know Evil Dead, but the movie does use a lot of foreshadowing that will make you go "oh, I wonder if this will be used later on" kind of thing. Even so, the writing behind the foreshadowing isn't bad, and neither is the dialog, acting, and back story for these new characters. Save for Natalie, who doesn't have much screen time before things start happening, making her underused compared to the others like Olivia being a practiced nurse and David dealing with the guilt of abandoning his sister and their deceased mother and trying to make amends with this trip to the cabin. Also, the movie does throw in a "not really the end" twist to make things not too predictable.

As for is this being the most "horrifying movie you'll ever see?" Well, it might be the most shocking and unsettling with it's violence and possessions. If you've already seen the other Evil Dead movies and know the gist of it, then probably not, but for those that haven't, maybe. As it's more traditional shock gore horror than torture porn. It also doesn't just rely on gore as there are a couple jump scares (but not obnoxious or over done) and a few unsettling things like the look of the possessed characters. I'd say at least check it out if you like Evil Dead, violent/gory movies, or simply just curious. It's 90 minutes too, so it's not a long movie that drags out either. Hopefully that answers what I thought of the new Evil Dead movie. I enjoyed it and I look forward to more since a sequel and even potentially a crossover with the original trilogy is in the future since this did well enough despite some fans not quite liking it (but let's be honest, those that didn't like the idea of a remake in the first place already dismissed this). Does this mean we'll actually see Ash, albiet older, finally back on the movie screen? Who knows, but in the meantime, I can give this a bloody and "groovy" recommendation.