Director: Fede Alvarez
Writer: Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues (Screenplay)
Starring: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore, Phoenix Connolly
Plot: Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods.
Tagline – Fear What You Will Become
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Splatterfest
Story: Evil Dead starts when five friends Mia (Levy), her brother David (Fernandez), Eric (Pucci), Olivia (Lucas) and Natalie (Blackmore) head to a remote cabin in the woods to help Mia finally shake her drug addiction.
As the weekend goes on, we see how Mia starts to suffer the withdrawal symptoms, which soon become paranoia as an evil force starts to take over her body and mind, before moving onto her friends.
Thoughts on Evil Dead
Characters – Mia is the one that friends are there to support, she has been a drug addict for the past couple of years and this intervention is her last chance, she has nearly died from overdoses before. She struggles with her withdrawal symptoms before being taken over by the evil around the house. David is the distant brother of Mia’s that has missed previous attempts at an intervention, he will do anything for his sister though no matter the damage it could cause. Eric is the smartest of the group, well he understands the Latin reading from the book to release the problems on the guests. Olivia and Natalie complete our line up and apart from Olivia being the best friend who has seen the failed interventions before, the two are not that different.
Performances – The performances in this film are interesting because we have talent in this film. Jane Levy takes the leading role and she has been making an impact in the horror genre of late, the same can be said for Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci and Jessica Lucas, sadly they don’t get much to work with as most of the film is about the quality behind the effects.
Story – The story here is meant to be a new vision for the Evil Dead idea, a more modern one if you like, so we know the core ingredients involved. We know the book is the key to unleashing the evil and one character will be used to infect the rest. Now what made the original fun was the fact we got elements of humor about what was going on, this one remains serious from start to finish, focusing on blood, gore and shock value over any substance in the story. The biggest insult comes from Mia being the new version of Ash, she is the one character that mostly likely shouldn’t be surviving on the goodness the others have shown before. Looking back on the franchise this does feel out of place because, sure it brings us a new vision for the world, only it doesn’t go anywhere after this story as we return to Ash’s battles.
Horror – The horror in this film only tries to give us gore and blood shock value over any suspense, this will only scare you if you get disturbed by these parts of the horror genre.
Settings – The film does keep us in the remote cabin in the woods, which works just how it is meant to for the film which is a reimagining of the Evil Dead film.
Special Effects – This film is based on just how brutal it wants to make the effects, which shows body slashing, cutting, burning and a re-work of the tree raping. We follow the film go for such extremes just to get their point across, which will make people happy but also disappoint the ones who want a story.
Scene of the Movie – Chainsaw time.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The gore over story.
Final Thoughts – This is one film that I think could be classed as a fantastic cabin in the woods movie, but it is a poor Evil Dead movie, it didn’t need the branding of this title, when it could have been its own bloodbath movie.
Overall: Senseless gore.
Rating
