THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Usually, a horror film would overstay its welcome when the marketing team claim it to be the most terrifying and doesn’t meet expectations. So you bet your ass how surprised I was when Evil Dead, a remake of the 1981 classic, exceeded them.
PLOT
The film follows David Allen and his girlfriend Natalie accompany his sister Mia at an old cabin to help the latter overcome her addiction to heroin. They are also accompanied by close friends Eric, a high school teacher, and his nurse girlfriend Olivia. Once their stay begins, Mia quickly gains withdrawal symptoms, complaining over a strong scent of decay and quickly begs to leave. They choose to ignore her claims and pleas in order for her to overcome her symptoms. As the day progresses, David & Eric explore the cabin's cellar for the first time and the latter finds the book known as the 'Naturom Demonto'. Ignoring Olivia's request to leave it, he curiously decides to read it which only awakens a malevolent force. After he reads the incantation, Mia begins to see the said force in the form of a woman in the woods. This scares her so much that she tries leaving on her own by taking Eric's car. She doesn't get too far as she crashes into a swamp. When she gets out of the damaged car, she sees the demon up close in the form of her, who decides to possess her. When she returns to the cabin, no one believes her when she claims to be attacked by the woods. David finds his dog Grandpa beaten to death with a hammer and when he tries to confront Mia, he only finds his sister scalding herself in the shower. When he caves in taking her to the hospital, the road is blocked due to a rainstorm. Still possessed, she shoots at him with a shotgun and vomits on Olivia, which passes on the obsession. Eric contains her by locking her in the cellar. Olivia's obsession results in her mutilating herself and Eric sadly deciding to kill her when she tries to take his life. Mia lures Natalie into the cellar and bites her after cutting her own tongue with a box cutter. David pulls his girlfriend out of there before she can do any more harm. Eric does explain to him that it's his fault due to reading the book, and the incantation will require five souls to fully unleash the abomination that tends to destroy the world. The only way this can be undone is if the possessed Mia is killed. When Natalie sees her arm becomes infected and decides to amputate it with an electric carving knife to avoid possession, which only takes her life via loss. She would then reawaken as a Deadite and shoot at both men with a nail gun. David would then defend himself by shooting her down with a shotgun, which kills her for good. He then decides to douse the cabin with gasoline, but is hesitant to kill Mia. He changes his mind with the intent to bury her instead. She does retaliate by trying to drown him, only to kill Eric when he intervenes. This gives David the chance to sedate and bury her, but due to his pile of grief, he revives her with his own makeshift defibrillator. When he returns to the cabin to get his car keys and leave, he is attacked by Deadite Eric. He chooses to protect his sister by shooting at the gasoline, which not only destroys the cabin, but also the lives of himself and his friend. Both deaths fully unleash the Abomination that takes the form of Mia once again. The final girl tries defending herself by severing the legs of her doppelgänger with a chainsaw. The demon retaliates by pinning her down with David’s car, but she quickly breaks free with the sacrifice of her left arm. She finishes off her adversary by bisecting it’s head with the same chainsaw. Defeating it results in its corpse being suck into the ground and stopping the rain. The film ends with Mia finally leaving the woods in hopes to find help, unaware that the Naturom Demonto is still intact.
THOUGHTS
At the time of its release, I was blissfully unaware that this remake was in the same franchise as the original trilogy. And due to not seeing those films until a few years later, I had no idea what I was in for until seeing this one firsthand. What I got was a shockingly gruesome experience. Of course nothing will top Sam Raimi’s vision, but Fede Alvarez still leaves a good impression by taking advantage of its modern setting and making it just as wild as the past. It's very different for eliminating the franchise's humor and goes straightforward with being dramatically horrifying. Just when you thought you could handle dismemberment, you'll be having second thoughts as the imagery is worse than you remember. Aside from hitting familiar beats, this one leads a good impression because it becomes the most effective on expressing how important it is to face your own personal demons before they face you. It's a common theme that is never less important, but felt much powerful in the setting's circumstances. If we never let go of the past and accept it as is, then we can never evolve like we hope to. In other words, you need to be able to accept that there are things we cannot control, thus we cannot hate ourselves when uncontrollable events occur. In a creative standpoint, you feel that through the perspectives of both lead siblings. Both Shiloh Fernandez and Jane Levy show David & Mia as people who are emotionally crippled due to the loss of their mother. David abandoned her because he couldn't accept the inevitable and Mia went through her addiction because she didn't know how to live without her. This reunion brought them together for better and worse because while they redeem themselves by becoming selfless, they literally go through hell to gain such an accomplishment. It sucks when David dies because had he lived, he would've taken his sister with him to the new life he was trying to build. Wherever she goes outside those woods, you can only hope she continues to set a right path from there on. While both siblings are indeed central to the story, I believe the supporting characters keep things interesting as well. Jessica Lucas made a good impression of Olivia because she was the only one that was firm one willing to help a friend. As a nurse, she's seen many people lose their lives to drugs and the last person she wanted to see go through the same fate was Mia, hence being heavily strict towards her throughout their time before her own tragic demise. In a way, seeing her get vomited on implies that some things cannot be forced/rushed to happen. When I think about Eric, Lou Taylor Pucci portrays him as a guy whose curiosity gets him and his friends in deep trouble. Since the damage was done, nothing could undo his great mistake. But what I did respect from him is that he does admit it's his fault and he lasted longer than anticipated. Now, it is easy to say that there is not much to be said about Natalie because Elizabeth Blackmore makes her the most neutral: She doesn't really know anyone the way David does, but that doesn't mean she won't try to care of the stakes at hand. And like Eric, she proved to have a strong will, quickly deciding to cut her arm off to avoid possession. Despite it backfiring, you respect how she acted fast rather than waiting for the worst to come. Last but not least, I thought it was clever to see Bruce Campbell to have a guest appearance in the post credit for basically nodding approval of the final cut by infamously saying ‘Groovy’. Although I admire this film for being better than anticipated, it doesn’t excuse the multiple issues I had within the story. For instance I got nothing against Natalie, but I think it was a bad move for David to invite her for Mia's detox weekend because she as well as Olivia & Eric hardly know her, making it the worst time to try being part of the inner circle. Now I respect Olivia for challenging Mia for having her stay in the cabin, but did they ever try any rehab facilities? You could say Olivia wanted to play it both ways, but seeing how strict she was, I’m surprised she doesn’t bring it up at all. And it is a given for the characters to go into the cellar, but how was that the first time for David to go down there? That cabin was revealed to be their summer home due to seeing their memorabilia, and I don’t buy it that their mom or dad would avoid checking this out if they were gonna be there every other summer. And it is bound for the book to be read to get the horror officially started, but why doesn’t Olivia take the book from Eric? If she wanted him to take serious of helping Mia, she should’ve taken it. Also, she should've hid the keys if she knew Mia would want to try to leave on her own. And I am totally on Mia's side when she says something reeks. Look at where they are and don't doubt there'd be something as bad as she says. Again I know the story can't happen without the book, but if someone was able to wrap it in barbed wire to prove it should be left alone, why didn't they bury it? You know you can't destroy it, so burying it would've been easier of a decision because it would be harder for others to find it. Trust me when I say I don’t want Mia to die, but why didn’t Mia die from blood loss after losing her arm? It kinda doesn’t sound fair since Natalie died from the same condition. I don't even blame Natalie for checking on Mia when she hears call for her, but in logical sense, would that really be appropriate if she just vomited on Olivia and claimed everyone was gonna die? I'd take Olivia's advice at that point to not listen to her. And there is no kidding that the climax was a blast, but I lost it when I spotted a continuity error. At one shot, Mia is in the clear when the car flips, but she is not by the next shot. I understand that Mia being vulnerable boosts the suspense, but those takes ruin it for me. Other than that, nothing will stop you from the terror you witness. To wrap up, Evil Dead is an excellent horror film for living up to the hype of being purely terrifying throughout. If you are a fan of the original trilogy, don’t hesitate checking this out.
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