 |
| Evil Dead. Official UK Cover Art. DVD version. |
Evil Dead 2013.
The Premise.There does seem to be a lot of confusion amongst fans and viewers alike about what the Evil Dead 2013 actually is, so if your interested I will try to clear up what it is and where it stands so far as the original 1981 version and it's sequel are concerned. One other thing also ...YOU REALLY NEED TO SEE THIS FILM!!!
I can tell you it is not a "remake" of the original, it is in fact a very cleverly paced and placed continuation and instalment of the first and second film, so really it should be classified as Evil Dead 3. After now seeing the UK DVD review version a few nights ago and letting it "sink in" a little, I can whole heartily give it a great big "thumbs up" as a new addition and a new film in it's own right, which stands up and out, all by itself, that adds and asks many new questions as to what is and where has the Necronomicon, "The Book Of The Dead" come from, where is it going and what does it ultimately seek?
 |
| Evil Dead. Official UK Cover Art. DVD version. |
Fans of the original, not myself I must add, have over the years since a new version was proposed been highly sceptical and as I have said earlier in my two other analysis's of the the original and reboot prospects, been quite angry that such a classic of the horror, splatter, gore genre, be even touched by it creator's, so far as concerning an updated addition to, Sam's, Bruce's and Robert's original idea and version.
What Bruce, Sam, Rob and Fede have achieved with Evil Dead 2013, is spectacular, an all new episode of "The Book Of The Dead's" evolution throughout time.
The only thing that I noticed about the film, to help me or say you, date the films time period, are the cars used. You could almost say to a certain degree, that the events in the new film, could look like it is maybe the 1990's, there are no lap-tops, no mobile phones, no mention of Social Media or Networks, which I thought was clever and an intelligent move, so apart from the characters cars, you would find it quite difficult to place them in a certain time frame or decade. What does happen and what you will notice through the film as the story unfolds is, that this is definitely sometime later after the events of the first two films setting, the shack has been renovated a little to, it could be ten years later, it could be 20 or even in fact the 30 it supposed to be?
There are many of the original films elements, reinvented and portrayed by Fede's direction and Rodo Sayagues screenplay, included in the film, which fans of the original two films will enjoy and pick up on straight away but there are also many new avenues and possibilities explored not present or tackled by the first two's screenplays, story and films in the original Evil Dead and Evil Dead II.
So these are new characters, at a later date coming to the shack in the woods, for new reasons who discover The Book Of The Dead for their first time as well and it is this idea and concept which ties everything together and makes the whole thing work.
If you do not want to find out what happens, do not read any of below!!!
 |
| Evil Dead. Official UK Cover Art. Blu-ray version. |
Evil Dead 2013. The Review . Part 1. "Kunda"!
From the onset and prologue scenes it moves along very quickly into the action, the characters are introduced and so is their reason for being in the woods and at the shack, quirks, nods and similarities to the first film are presented, with craft and efficiency for the watcher to "trains spot", you will, if you know the original film, be saying to yourself at points "Oh there's the porch swing", "There's the old car" and "There's the tool shed".
At first all seems bright and clement outside the shack, as the five friends discuss their important purpose for being in such a remote place, which is to help their friend, Mia. They soon discover the old shack has been broken into and once inside they find the atmosphere is dark and foreboding and they soon become aware of a strong and very unpleasant smell coming from the basement.
 |
| Evil Dead. Official UK Cover Art. Blu-ray version. |
When they explore it, dozens of rotting dead animals are found suspended from the ceiling, there is a desk there also and on it's top is a shotgun, some shells and what appears to be a square object, wrapped in an old plastic sack, secured by barbed wire. The friends all think it's strange at first glance but due to the urgent problems faced by Mia, they move on back upstairs and discuss the likely hood of their success with helping her.
Mia (Jane Levy) is a substance dependant addict resigned to kicking her habit for good, after a recent overdose nearly killed her outright, her brother David (Shiloh Hernandez), his friend Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) and his girlfriend Olivia (Jessica Lucas) and David's girlfriend, Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) are all there at the remote shack, determined to help her do this, some of the girls have a small amount of medical knowledge which David hopes they can employ to help Mia get clean.
As Mia's withdrawal symptoms begin to escalate, she tries to cope by going outside into the wood for a while, back in the shack the strange package is removed from it's wire wrapping, by Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) it becomes apparent it is a book of some kind, the kind of which he is not sure of, it looks bound in human skin, it has dark menacing drawings in it and certain texts look as though that they have been written, scrawled in blood. At this point Eric begins to examine the unusual book. Looking through it he starts to recite and read out loud some of the inscriptions within it. As he speaks certain words something from deep inside the woods, moves swiftly up and through the air, flying towards Mia which invisibly enters her back, causing her to vomit uncontrollably. From here on in the atmosphere becomes instantly more dark and menacing within the wood as it starts raining and night begins to fall.
The wood itself, as in the first film, is also a character, it looks primordial, ancient, with unusually stunted and slimy looking trees and fauna. Large area's of stagnant marsh water occupy the wood's landscape, that are themselves wreathed in a cloudy foggy mist. As Mia's withdrawal symptoms appear to be increasing to her four friends, they are in fact the onset of Demonic possession by the Evil Dead and once again she tries to escape out through the wood, only to be confronted by a horrible hallucination of herself. As Mia tries to escape, vines wrap around her wrists, holding her firm as the evil hallucinatory version of herself flies towards her vomiting a projectile of what looks like a slimy, living black mass of roots.
All the early out door wood location photography is well presented and it's stranger elements are utilised and exploited to give a feeling of claustrophobia and spooky malevolence. The upside down camera shots under the credits at the beginning induce a feeling of nausea as the friends car, which is minuscule up against the size of the forest appears to be swallowed up like a tiny insect by the massive expanse of dark green pine trees all around it.
So the stage is set clearly, profoundly and with a detailed precision in the first 20 mins. Once the Evil Dead spirits are woken from their confines and released by Eric, citing the words "Kunda" and Mia's near instant possession. it's a non-stop hell for leather roller coaster ride with brill gross-out, set piece scene after scene special prosthetic effects, of demon vomit, gallons of blood, graphic bodily dismemberment, gruesome self-harming and mad demoniacal "Deadite" howling.
 |
| Evil Dead. Official UK Cover Art. Two Disk Collector' Exclusive to Sainsbury' |
Evil Dead 2013 DVD Review. Part Two. "One By One We Will Take You".
A Tour De Force of "old skool" style prosthetic gore effects await you in the "middle" section of the film as probably most of the budget of Evil Dead 2013, "goes on the gore". If your squeamish, now is probably the point when you might feel a little sick in places, but this is not just any old gore for gore's sake, oh no, you get swept along at a breakneck speed like the characters do, as they all nearly fall prey to the evil demonic spirit, one by one. The spirit can only travel by body to body, not all at once, so it needs a way to enter any new body before it can move on to another.
This it does, in several different ways, the girls are all the first to go, that I will tell you, as in the original, once possessed they start to play with your mind and sentimentality's by feigning normality, only quickly to revert back into the evil version and then proceed to shoot you in the face with a nail gun or stab you in the head with a hypodermic needle, over and over, again and again, whilst cackling with demonic laughter. Cringe worthy special effects, will have the toughest of you taking sharp intakes of breath, as all of your panic, cruelty and pain buttons are pushed by the special effects team, top marks from me for that.
 |
| Evil Dead. Official UK Cover Art. Two Disk Collector' Exclusive to Sainsbury' |
You will feel particularly sorry for them in their discomfort as well, Olivia has most of the gore limelight in scenes your not likely to forget for a long, long time, trust me, the poor girl suffers and self inflicts some of the most hideous wounds to herself, John Morghen, the man of a thousand deaths, (Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Apocalypse, The House By The Cemetery) himself would be proud. Eric, also has a particularly hard time of it and probably thousands of dollars worth of budget spent, to say he becomes a human pin cushion is an understatement. Wincing is the name of the game, as flesh is penetrated by many nasty things and in a variety of ways, it is also sliced, crushed, cut, split and amputated, so if the idea of any of those would upset you, what on earth are doing reading my review of one of the most gob smacking, jaw on the floor, gory and scary horror films for many a year for ?
 |
| Evil Dead. Official UK Cover Art. Limited Edition Steel-Book only available on line at Zavvi. |
Evil Dead 2013 UK DVD Review. Part Three. "Never Trust A Deadite".
The finale of Evil Dead goes into over-drive as poor Eric returns from an excruciatingly painful and prolonged death as a full blown Deadite, superbly portrayed by Lou Taylor Pucci, as he appears round the door to attack David, his horrid, shocking appearance and demeanour are expertly lit and filmed, the lighting used has a "milky" like translucence from their camping light, and as the shadows play over Eric face making him look even more evil, is just superb, one of a many classic old style smoke, mirrors, tricks, movie moment's that have been achieved there by Fede and the crew in Evil Dead 2013, awesome just awesome.
As also is Mia's scene being buried alive by David with her head in the plastic bag, talking back to him, it's just plain creepy, really creepy, no cgi, no gory effect, just expertly intuitive lighting combined with good, understanding performance, in a very uncomfortable situation from Jane, these two scenes almost help to add or invoke a Gothic feeling/look into the film, which I thought was expertly realised, introduced and handled by Fede.
The final battle against the higher form of Deadite Demon, takes up nearly all the action towards the end with some "sit up from my chair", wait for it ... ani-matronics of an enlarged spinal column thrusting up from it's back, as it crawls out from the earth, top, I thought, no one's done that sort of thing mechanically for years, everybody goes down the easy root with such an effect by using cgi, not here, not Evil Dead 2013, no cgi cop-out here, quaint, but updated, old fashioned with a modern edge ani-matronic prosthetics, wow, it is short but it certainly is sweet to see.
Jane Levy's performance as Mia, returned to normality from a "Deadite" by David's experiment using his knowledge gained and his own interpretations of how to purify the soul of the possessed, by using one method of the three kinds of death for a "Deadite" described in The Book Of The Dead, is inspired and a very stoic, dedicated performance is given by Jane Levy as Mia, as she battle's the hideous, "Deadite" super demon as it begins to actually rain gallons and gallons of blood from the sky, there are only a couple of scenes in other films I can think of where that much of the red stuff was ever used, one is when the lift doors open in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" for example and secondly I thought, it's probably the most effective use of a chainsaw by a Female character* in a horror film for a very long time since Caroline Williams as "Stretch" in Tobe Hooper's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre II".
There is a sequel in the works already for this new instalment and a new Army Of Darkness sequel, with Ash (Bruce Campbell) coming up, so there is lot more to look forward to so far as inventive horror cinema and quirky special effects are concerned, so I do confidently say to you, get behind this film and support it, because that support will help to guarantee at least two more enjoyable mainstream horror films from Sam, Bruce and Rob and everybody over there at Ghost House Production's, who really know what scare's us. I look forward to the two new films coming, because and based on the quality of this one, I can take a big sigh of relief now, knowing ...
The filming location this time is in Auckland, New Zealand as Evil Dead 2013 received some funding from the country and it's Large Movie Budget grant.
Evil Dead is available to own on Blu-ray™ (£22.99) DVD (£17.99), Download or watch On-Demand from August 12 2013.
· A 2-disc collector’s edition available at Sainsbury’s on DVD and Blu-ray http://bit.ly/122Ofgo
Rating's from UK "Glossies";‘The Best Horror Film in Years’. NUTS Magazine. *****. ZOO Magazine *****. HEAT Magazine ****.
LOADED Magazine *****. DAILY STAR Magazine *****. DAILY TELEGRAPH Magazine *****.
METRO ****. SUNDAY MIRROR ****.
Directed by Fede Alvarez.
Starring Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Elizabeth Blackmore, Jessica Lucas.
On DVD, Blu-ray, Limited Edition.
Double play Steelbook & EST.
AUGUST 12th, 2013.
2 Disc Sainsbury’s Exclusive available.
On DVD & Blu-ray.
Directed by Fede Alvarez.
Starring Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Elizabeth Blackmore, Jessica Lucas.
On DVD, Blu-ray, Limited Edition.
Double play Steelbook & EST.
AUGUST 12th, 2013.
2 Disc Sainsbury’s Exclusive available.
On DVD & Blu-ray.
Official Synopsis + full release specs;
horror film The Evil Dead, produced by the original team of Rob Tapert,
Sam Raimi (Spider Man 3), and Bruce Campbell (Spider Man 3) featuring a
fresh young cast. Evil Dead is a bone-chilling film that combines all the raw
excitement and gleeful gore of the acclaimed original with a series of
shocking new twists. It was a number 1 US Box office smash and already has
a sequel in the works.
Five friends gather at a remote country cabin to help one of them, Mia
(Jane Levy: Suburgatory) kick her drug habit. Joining Mia is her brother
David (Shiloh Fernandez: Red Riding Hood), his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth
Blackmore: Legend of the Seeker) and their childhood friends Olivia (Jessica
Lucas: Cloverfield) and Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci: Carriers).
Inside they are shocked to discover that the abandoned cabin has been
broken into. Eric becomes fascinated with an ancient book he discovers
there. In thrall to its mysterious contents, he reads aloud from it, never
suspecting the terrifying consequences he is about to unleash.
As Mia’s withdrawals worsen, she begins to unravel and attempts to flee,
but is turned back by a frightening vision. At the cabin, her behaviour
becomes so violent that her friends are forced to restrain her. Trapped by a
dangerous storm raging outside, they begin to turn on each other one by
one. As the brutality of their attacks increases, David is faced with an
unimaginable choice.
DVD/BD/Steelbook Extras:
- Making Life Difficult: The Intense and Physically Exhausting Creation
of the Film (7:53).
- Being Mia: The Physical and Psychological Transformation into “Evil
Mia” (8:49).
- Directing The Dead: Director Fede Alvarez re-imagines a cult horror
classic (7:05).
- Commentary featuring Jane Levy, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas,
Director Fede Alvarez and Writer Rodo Sayagues.
- Featurette Unleashing The Evil Force: Exploring the origins and design
of the new “Book of the Dead” (4:55).
- Featurette Evil Dead the Reboot: Cast Rehearsals, Bruce Campbell,
Deadites and more (9:26).
"Groovy".
*The Chainsaw of course along with the sawn off double barrelled shotgun was Ash's choice of weapon against the Deadite's in the original but it is seldom wielded by the ladies # (check my review for Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers) in horror movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment