Evil Dead
Dustin Chase
What is it about cutting off body parts, evoking pools upon pools of blood and killing each other that excites our culture so much? Horror films have long been one of the most beloved and fascinating genres of American cinema; maybe it’s because those who love the gore and violence get to watch and relish murders, killings and evil they don’t have in their lives otherwise. Evil Dead is the anticipated remake of the 1981 classic that spawned the career of Sam Rami (Oz the Great and Powerful). With star of the original and now producer Bruce Campbell behind this remake directed by first timer Fede Alvarez, their goal was to make ‘the scariest horror movie ever’, and they certainly failed at that.
Five friends had to be there for their friend Mia (Levy), who has decided to give up heroin cold turkey. Joined by her brother David (Fernandez), who she hasn’t seen since their mother’s death, they begin fixing up the old family cabin when they discover remnants of a satanic ritual underneath the house. Eric (Lucci) opens the forbidden book and begins reading through it, summoning their doom. The friends become possessed and start killing one another with chainsaws, meat slicers, nail guns, frying pans and everything else imaginable.
Evil Dead isn’t scary, exciting or suspenseful.
As if there wasn’t enough blood spilled in Cabin in the Woods (last year’s opening night film at SXSW), Evil Dead, which could certainly also have been called Cabin in the Woods and opened at SXSW, understands that it’s audience wants to see the exact same thing over and over and gives it to them in buckets. Evil Dead isn’t scary, exciting or suspenseful because, like most horror movies, the focus isn’t on developing the characters; they are only pretty faces the audience wants to see torn apart in the most morbid of ways as the audience cheers and claps for murder.
Alvarez directs his first film like a kid who has just been given free access to a candy store. As someone who likes a little more substance, meaning and cause to their films instead of just human flesh being mutilated, I find, on average, one good “horror film” each year and those films, like Sinister, The Gift, or The Last Exorcism, make you think instead of just showing you images and sounds to make you move. Evil Dead won’t appeal to anyone but those who enjoy violence for violence’s sake.
Final Thought
Cabin in the Woods 2