The original Evil Dead was nothing short of a horror phenomenon. A micro-budget shocker about a demonic book that unleashed hell on a group of vacationing teenagers, the film made a mint at the box office globally, spawned two hugely successful sequels, and launched the careers of director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell.
So it’s with understandable trepidation that fans will approach this re-imagining of the cult classic. But feel free to leave your apprehension at the theatre door, as this new chapter in the Evil Dead story is quite simply astonishing – a vicious assault on the senses that is every bit as good as the originals, and one that will trigger a whole new set of nightmares for those who like their horror both unrelenting and unforgiving.
The film kicks off with a bloodied and bruised girl being chased through a forest. Quickly caught by her assailants, she’s blindfolded and taken to a cabin in the woods
But when her hood is removed, she isn’t faced by the mysterious men who were chasing her, but rather her own father. And that’s when the real horror starts, even before the credits have rolled.
In beginning with such a bang, the film immediately takes a detour from the original, and this continues when we are introduced to the twenty-somethings at the heart of this Evil Dead. For although also heading to a cabin, partying is the last thing on their mind, as they are there to support their friend Mia (Jane Levy), whose life has been destroyed and very nearly taken by her addiction to drugs.
So with the help of brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) and friends Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) Olivia (Jessica Lucas) and Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore), she ceremonially dumps what drugs she has left, and prepares for a weekend of cold turkey.
But while Mia is confronting the very real horrors of withdrawal head-on, her friends are making unpleasant finds of their own, including a cellar-full of mummified animals, and a mysterious book which is bound in barbed wire.
The group is understandably perturbed by such a discovery, but Eric quickly becomes fascinated with the tome, prying it open, ignoring the warnings plastered all over its pages, and instead reciting the bizarre incantations therein. As with the original, it’s at this point that proceedings take a dark and demonic turn, as Eric’s words unleash hell in the shape of malevolent spirits who want to first possess the living and then feed on their souls.
Chaos then reigns for the remainder of the movie, as a storm prevents the group from leaving the cabin and forces them to fight amongst their possessed selves and face up to true horror contained within the pages of The Book of the Dead.
The film therefore has a similar structure to its predecessor, and it wholeheartedly embraces these similarities, with sounds, imagery and dialogue harking back the 1981 version. Hell, even the beat-up Oldsmobile makes a cameo.
Yet this isn’t some lazy cover version of a beloved original. Instead, screenwriters Rodo Sayagues and Fede Alvarez – the latter of whom also directed the movie – cleverly subvert expectations at every turn, most notably in the film’s final third.
The addiction angle adds an intriguing layer to proceedings, with Mia’s fears and warnings blamed on paranoia brought about by her withdrawal, which a later revelation from her past only compounds. The screenwriters also have fun with the audience’s presumed prior knowledge, granting us an early and knowing glimpse at power-tools that we know will come into play late on, and even recreating the controversial tree rape from the original, this time with their own twisted (and no less tasteless) spin.
The 1981 Evil Dead isn’t the only influence on proceedings, with the well-worn tropes of J-horror yet again rearing their ugly head, and the film featuring several nods to The Exorcist, most notably during several foul-mouthed bouts of possession. The film does suffer from a lack of Bruce Campbell however, his charismatic and somewhat deranged presence in the originals so much a part of their success.
This new take is a more somber affair however, and the cast do solid work throughout, most notably Jane Levy as the put-upon Mia, and Lou Taylor Pucci, who supplies much-needed light relief as Eric’s obsession with the book causes him to make some very bad decisions.
But the real star of the show is the horror itself, and on this front Evil Dead is a master-class from start to finish. Kicking off in foreboding fashion, the film then speeds from brutal set-piece to brutal set-piece, the violence becoming more graphic and the scares ever-more effective.
An orgy of puss, piss, puke and blood, Evil Dead also features body horror most foul, especially in a brilliantly choreographed bathroom sequence that will appall and exhilarate in equal measure. And credit should go to director Alvarez for pulling off much of the horror in-camera. There’s very little CGI on display here, with practical effects making the brutality that much more believable. This aspect of the film is helped by luminous lighting which creates a marvelous sense of texture and mood, and astounding sound design which truly brings proceedings to life. Score and editing are also spot-on, with everyone involved seemingly at the top of their game.
That said, Evil Dead does briefly lose momentum as the finale nears, making you fear that the film might have plateaued. But Alvarez and his team brilliantly snatch victory from the blood-stained jaws of defeat, the concluding sequence a clever nod to the past that also suggests the potential for great things in the future.
The result is a perfect marriage of old and new, with Fede Alvarez staying true to the essence of the original while at the same time updating it with new ideas, stories and characters that serve to make the Evil Dead mythology that much richer.
And with Raimi, Campbell and Co. getting to complete their own trilogy first time around, one hopes Alvarez will get the opportunity to do the same, if only to see just how the hell he plans to top this.
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Today is a very good day. Everyone go see this when it comes out.