The most terrifying film you will ever experience? Clearly, SOMEONE has never experienced Batman and Robin before….
Hello everyone! It’s your resident comic book nerd, Richard, here! Today, I present to you my first written movie review! Exciting stuff, right? I bet you’ve never seen a review about a movie on this site before? So, in case you don’t remember, last October I attended the New York Comic Con. I had the time of my life there. Bought some amazing merch, met/saw some of the most brilliant comic creators and film makers, and I got to do press work for two big horror remakes coming out this year. One of those very flicks just released last Friday, and that flick was Evil Dead. And so, I figured since I covered the movie at NYCC…I might as well review it too.
Anyways, as mentioned, Evil Dead is a remake of the cult classic horror movie The Evil Dead from 1981. The plot of both Evil Dead films is pretty easy to summarize. A couple of people hit up a cabin in the woods, and eventually they find an evil book that starts possessing and killing the people in harsh ways. Actually, harsh is too soft a word to describe what happens to these people. Correction: The book starts possessing and killing the people in incredibly f*%ked up ways. Yea, that works much better. Now, there are a few differences between the original and the remake, plot wise. In the remake, The people go to this cabin they own to help their friend kick a drug addiction. In the original, kids were just looking to party for the weekend in a rented cabin.
Now, when it comes to remakes of horror movies, It’s hard to even think of one that’s been done well. Seriously, before I even started this review, I was trying to even think of one that I actually thought was at least okay. Eventually, I thought of 3 movies: The Crazies, Dawn of the Dead, and Fright Night. That’s only 3 of about 70 some horror movies that have been remade. Not a great track record. At least, not with me. So, the question is, does Evil Dead belong with the good remakes? or the bad ones? Thankfully, I left my theater with a big smile on my face. I really enjoyed my time with this remake.
I think the thing I enjoyed most was that the remake retained the B-movie nature of the original. I was truly worried the film would end up being another annoying big budget torture porn style horror movie. I guess I should have just taken Bruce Campbell at his word when he said the remake didn’t have a single frame of torture porn in it. Damn me for doubting the great and groovy one! Sure, the movie is pretty gory at times, but everything has a reason for why it happens. Plus, just like the original, some of the gory moments were kind of funny. I mean, it’s not a B-movie if there isn’t some cheesy humor in the gory scenes. Hell, it wouldn’t be Evil Dead if there wasn’t some cheesy humor in the gory scenes.
I also enjoyed this movie because I kind of related to it. Mainly to the making of it. One of the things that makes this remake stand out from others is that the original film makers were heavily involved. Sam Raimi, with the help of director/co-writer Fede Alvarez, wanted to bring back the original vision of Evil Dead with the remake. In a some what similar fashion, I had made a horror/comedy short film called Spectre Quest that wasn’t good in any way.
There were a lot of on set problems, plus we had a really poor script. In fact, the original wasn’t even a horror/comedy, in the end. So, I decided to remake the movie I wanted to do. I wrote the script myself, shot it over the summer, and now I’m proud to say I made a movie called Specter Quest. Sound some what familar? Anyways, at the end of the day, Evil Dead was fun time at the movies. It’s gory, It’s funny, but most of all….it’s groovy!
I’m going to give Evil Dead a 4/5!
PS: Stay till after the credits. Especially if your a big Evil Dead fan!
