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. The evil presence possesses them until only one is left to fight for survival.
Director: Fede Alvarez
Writers: Fede Alvarez (screenplay), Diablo Cody (screenplay)
Stars: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas
Release Date: 5 April 2013 (Not Ireland!)
Budget: $14,000,000
Taglines: The most terrifying film you will ever experience.
Evil Dead
Reviews and thoughts by Thepuremassacre (myself), my brother PC74 (that’s his real name, weird huh) and my wife aka The Wife (who I dragged to see the film). Two horror freaks and an innocent woman along for the ride; Evil Dead in their own words. Enjoy!
Thepuremassacre
9/10
Evil Dead opens to a frantic scene involving a group of apparent backwoods hillbillies chasing a very distraught young woman. She is mercilessly hit in the face and subdued by the deranged attackers, awaking sometime later tied to a post in a dark and rotting cellar. Urgent dialogue is spoken in a foreign language by a maniacal old crone as her hideously mutated – and obviously inbred – offspring look on with dire trepidation. The old hag mentions an evil book and insists that the young woman must be purified; purified by fire. Her father steps forward, pours gasoline on his daughter and sets her ablaze, awakening an evil inside her that laughs and taunts him, calling her own mother a whore. He aims a shotgun at her and blows his burning daughters head off……. thus begins Evil Dead.
I’m sure most of you reading this are familiar with Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series of films starring the much beloved king of the B movies, Bruce ‘The Chin’ Campbell as Ash, the ass kicking, chainsaw armed, shotgun wielding hero. Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness will always have a special place in the hearts of old school horror fans; outrageously funny and gruesomely violent, the franchise is a staple in any horrorphile’s collection. Now we fast forward 20 odd years hire a young director named Fede Alvarez, give him a fourteen million dollar budget, a modified script, put Campbell in the producers seat and see what happens. Magic! Horror fucking magic. The humor of the original was violently stripped away in favor of dark brutality; and it works. I for one prefer my horror serious, relentless and disturbing – sans the comedy.
The five friends in question are, Mia (Jane Levy), David (Shiloh Fernandez), Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), Olivia (Jessica Lucas) and Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore). Why go out into the middle of a forbidding looking old forest to spend an unspecified amount of time at the worlds most evil looking run down cabin you ask? Well to kick heroin, naturally. It seems our group of friends have assembled at the cabin from hell to help Mia get over her heroin addiction. With help from her brother David and Olivia (a registered nurse), Mia settles in for a long night of hallucinations, vomiting, paranoia, random fits of rage, frequent outbursts, pacing, screaming and general unpleasantness. Vowing to stick it out until the end her friends mistake (with grave consequences) Mia’s symptoms as mere withdrawal issues; little do they know that Eric stumbled across a certain book in the cellar that has the nasty habit of summoning demons from the pits of hell. A book he stupidly decides to decipher and read aloud. What book you ask? Why none other than the blood scrawled, skin bound Necronomicon! Through Mia’s weakened state she becomes possessed by malevolent spirits and all hell breaks loose.
The brooding atmosphere of an old damp forest, with it’s gray and dreary tones lent an overall sodden feel to the film that was a visual treat for the eyes throughout. Limbless trees supported by gnarled and exposed roots, a thick and damp mist hanging in the air and a perpetually overcast sky create a real sense of dread in the film. The old dilapidated cabin was just as menacing as it was in the original; a damp and mouldering entity in it’s own right, concealing dark and earthen secrets in the festering cellar. From the dirty and starkly lit interior to a moss covered damp exterior, the atmosphere of the film was absolutely spot on; brooding and oppressive. I felt dirty watching it!
As the demonic possession of Mia intensifies and spreads throughout the group, the real essence of the film rears its ugly head. Scene after bloody scene of brutal carnage ensues, as each of the characters meets his or her grizzly fate. Alvarez cranked the gore up to maximum and didn’t hesitate to show every cringe worthy scene in glaring detail. Limbs are chopped off, limbs are torn off, flesh is cut from bone, bludgeoning, pummeling, stabbing, burning, vomiting, splitting and hacking round out a truly gory spectacle. Mia is raped by the forest (well really a thicket of brambles) during one scene that sent shivers down my spine, and I swear I could hear the groans of disgust by numerous female audience attendees! Now that’s horror. By the time the twisted climax of Evil Dead is finished, everything and I mean absolutely everything is covered in blood. I guess the MPAA rating “Warning: Brutal Horror Violence” was correct lol!
Overall Evil Dead, remake or not, is pure and brutal horror at it’s finest. A dark and gory reboot with a few subtle nods to the original. In my opinion this is a near perfect horror film. Well done, well done indeed.
bludgeoning, pummeling, stabbing, burning, vomiting, splitting and hacking
-Thepuremassacre
PC74
9/10
As we walked into the bowels of the shadowy darkness they call Barrie Cinema 7; with it’s faded blue walls and orange and rusty brown floor tiles straight from the back far corner of some 1970’s flooring company’s warehouse, we were silenced by the overwhelming feeling of childhood memories, bringing both my brother and I back to a time of innocence, Friday night 7:00 pm showtimes, and the sounds and smells of fresh popcorn being popped just beyond the old, chipped Pac-Man arcade game sitting on it’s own, over there in the corner beside the bathrooms. This was exactly what we needed. This is what not only theater movie watching was all about, but, what the Horror genre needs more of; the vortex in which Evil Dead will bore a nugget into our movie watching memories for years to come!!
As we navigated the twists and turns, searching for our #5 theater, our eyes and smiles only widened as we entered “the last room on the left”……
Will this flick tear my soul?? Will I want to cut my own arm off?? Will I have an overwhelming, and uncontrollable urge to turn to my brother and stick a needle in his eye? ABSOLUTELY!!!!! This film had everything I needed to keep that freakin’ smirk on my soulless face the entire time, and literally finished my large popcorn in the first 20 minutes! The feel, and color of this film nailed it! The first scene of the cabin grabbed me, and didn’t let go. It was so fuking disjointed, that it even creeked visually lol….the forest, the river, the vines, the sky; I would never, ever, be tens miles from a place that looked that way!! And I don’t scare easily! Fuk CGI, this film needed not apply!! I’m not sure how many cows and pigs were needed to produce this much movie blood, but it was probably the whole farm LOL. I even added a point in my film rating just for the simple fact that REAL effects were used! You know, the Fangoria type 🙂
Look, I loved this movie, and the premise was great, and more believable than the original. The reasons why the group were there at the cabin, the reasons for not being able to leave, and the holy shit reasons why there was a slim chance anyone was ever leaving the woods at all! I am not one to go on and on about the actual movie details, but there were a few scenes that just felt perfect!!!! And the possessed were possessed perfectly!!! There is always one thing that gets me in these types of flicks, and that is the neck cracking, bone cracking, and contortion of a possessed person…….this had enough possessed bone crack/twitching to keep me smiling 🙂
See it; enjoy it; but never read shit out loud from the Necronomicon…….especially if it’s bound in human skin
-PC
The Wifey
7/10
To be honest, I’m glad I finally saw this movie. Not because I was dying to see it, but because the anticipation from my horror-holic hubby was becoming to much. After my hubby MADE me watch this trailer months ago (several times) I had absolutely no intention on watching this movie. The trailer alone haunted me for days. Aside from the odd scary flick I’m not much of a horror movie lover. Don’t get me wrong, I have watched my fair share of them in the past to satisfy hubby’s thirst for blood but now I’ve learned that I can sleep through them instead.
It’s not very often that a movie like this is released in theaters (how am I going to fall asleep during the opening credits?) and of course hubby is determined to go opening night. So like the good wife I am, I reluctantly go. I have to say I was somewhat nervous to see this one. If the trailer was that spine-chilling what was the movie going to be like? With popcorn in hand, we find our seats in the back row and the movie begins.
The hazy gray background tones were a nice touch. Everything wasn’t bright and vivid like your typical Hollywood blockbuster. Definitely gives you that hair-raising feeling. It doesn’t take long before the unnerving twists and turns start. I was about 3 handfuls of popcorn in and that was it, appetite gone. My only thought was, “is the rest of this movie going to be this repulsive?” The answer? Yes, yes it was. There was one intense scene that I could literally feel. That image is still burned into my brain.
For those of you who crave and can stomach disturbing pure brutality, extreme gore and oceans of blood, this is the movie for you. If not, go to the next theater and watch G.I. Joe where I should have been. I barely survived this movie and almost threw up in my mouth numerous times. I would turn my head to look at hubby when I couldn’t bare to watch them pulling their teeth out or sawing their arms off and he had a pleasant grin on his face the whole time. We definitely have different taste in movies. With that said, this is a must see for all you horror freaks!
this is a must see for all you horror freaks!
-The Wifey
Overall
Evil Dead is a relentlessly violent update of the classic Sam Raimi film. Bloody, gory and gruesome; Evil Dead delivers the goods on every level. A must see for any horror fan.
pure massacre 
Haven’t talked to you in a while! Awesome stuff bud, I loved this movie. Brought back so many memories. Can’t wait to see it again. Jane Levy was incredible.
Good to hear from ya! I loved it as u can tell lol. I’ve seen it twice and yes Jane Levy was amazing! Psycho!
Good stuff!! Just skim read it as Im trying to avoid as much info as possible before I see it 🙂
Ya no doubts! You will enjoy it!
Okay, I’m down with a more serious horror flick of multi-possession and a dark entity of the woods. But, the question is, did it need to be called Evil Dead?
The setting, the necronimicon and the possessions are all intertwined with the original series; with a few subtle nods here and there. And besides the dead in the film are evil, lol. They could have called it The Happy Good Time Friends and it would still be the same brutal bloodbath. Cheers thanks for stopping by.