The general consensus about “Evil Dead” is that Fede Alvarez’s film is mightily gory but hardly the corny schlock fest that was Sam Raimi’s cult original “The Evil Dead.” Well sadly, I haven’t seen “The Evil Dead” quite yet (I know, hate on me in the comments), but that’s all the best because I’d rather judge “Evil Dead” on what’s actually to be found here, a dumb, gruesome, blood fest without a hint of irony.
I guess it’s clear Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard had the original in mind when they made “The Cabin in the Woods,” as “Evil Dead” follows that set up to a tea. The five soon-to-be victims are all conveniently under lock and key thanks to Mia’s (Jane Levy) cocaine addiction. The foursome will do anything to keep her from leaving and falling back off the wagon, even when she starts projectile vomiting blood on her housemates.
Much of the plot and character development isn’t lacking as much as it seems to be missing altogether. The bookworm character resembling John Lennon is the bookworm presumably because he wears glasses, and he recites a demonic prayer within an evil book entirely on a whim. Said book isn’t even used as a foreboding plot device but as something that unnecessarily confirms, “Yes, shit is going down.”
It makes me wonder what “Evil Dead” is actually about. It grasps at straws in terms of family commitments and making hard choices, but piles on more gore in place of substance.
And yes, this is a hyper violent film executed with the finest special effects, a far throw from the B-movie, low budget props of Raimi’s version. And although “Evil Dead’s” excessiveness bugs me, the fact that this violence comes about with no rhyme or reason is even more irritating. Ceramic skull bashings, nail guns to the arms and chainsaws to the forehead are some of “Evil Dead’s” visceral pleasures, but their heavy handed use is hardly winked at, nor looked at plausibly.
I wonder if the actors in “Evil Dead” realize how awful and idiotic they look. Several instances of characters using duct tape to seal life-threatening wounds should feel intentionally corny, not accidentally ridiculous.
But “Evil Dead” suffers on the whole. It’s a horrific mess of grotesque violence without the irony or the message to support this kind of exploitation.
1 ½ stars
Good review Brian. It was fun in the way that it allowed it’s blood and gore to go crazy, but it wasn’t a big step in the right direction for the horror genre. Now, Cabin in the Woods was.
Allow me to clarify I didn’t think this movie was any fun at all. I also don’t think Cabin in the Woods works nearly as well as it thinks it does.