Freddy's 31 Days of Horror Day 21: Fede Alvarez's Evil Dead
The Evil Dead franchise is my favorite horror franchise of all time. As a young man getting into horror not much scared me until I watched Evil Dead for the first time. Even in the brightness of day it disturbed me as I had to take a minute to breath after being visually beaten by a force that is unstoppable and can infiltrate every aspect of your soul and life. Of course as the series goes on we are treated to the slapstick comedic stylings of Raimi and Campbell's Ash character. I'll never forget how amazing that first viewing experience was though. I love all the aspects of the series in all it's forms so like many fans I of course was harshly skeptical of a remake. What gave me hope was the involvement of the original filmmakers Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and star Bruce Campbell on producing capacities. They were indeed working on a fourth Evil Dead but discovered a great filmmaker by the name of Fede Alvarez. He was a commercial director from Uruguay who made a short film called Panic Attack, a movie about a giant robot invasion in the city. It was done so well that many major studios and producers including Steven Spielberg came to him to make his first film. Sam approached him to produce his first film with Fede having complete creative control over the project. Through production they discussed Evil Dead of course and Fede pitched his idea of what he would do which impressed Sam so much he decided to go straight for a remake. Fede went straight for the gut and decided to make his movie similar in tone with the original's gruesome aesthetic and visceral attitude. 
Mia (Jane Levy) has developed a horrible drug habit after the death of her mother that she has tried to kick time and time again. This time her two friends, brother and his girlfriend take her to their childhood cabin in the woods to keep her there over the weekend to keep a close eye on her and help her kick her drug habit. They walk into the cabin and it seems to have been broken into and much of it has been destroyed. Her estranged brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) hasn't been there for her and he's trying to make it up to her but it's very difficult as Mia was left with her dying mother while David was too busy to help. Within the first night, Mia goes through major withdrawal, trashing her room and wanting to leave. She smells a horrid smell that she can't take and keeps telling the others about it but they don't believe her until they discover a basement door with a huge bloodstain on it underneath the rug. As they venture into the basement they discover a graveyard of cats and something bound in a bag and barbed wire. Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) who is a professor, is intrigued by the item and undoes the wiring and takes the bag off and a book is revealed. He begins reading some incantations and the Evil Dead is unleashed. The spirit of evil strikes Mia and she begins seeing a demonic version of herself in the woods. She grabs the keys to the car and drives off leaving her friends there who question her sanity. She crashes the car seeing the demon again and runs off into the forest, which attacks her. She is found crying in the forest by her friends and taken back to the cabin where the evil unleashes itself upon all of her friends until all five souls are claimed! 
There are so many homages to the original in here. Sam Raimi's iconic car that Ash drives in all the movies can be seen in the background of the woods, the exact same clock from the original Evil Dead was flown onto the set to be showcased in the same daunting style as the original. The Raimian demon swoops and zooms are still there flying through the woods at the characters taking them over! My personal favorite homage is throughout the movie, if you listen closely you can hear the chants of the deadites from the original film. Even in scenes where the force has not been unleashed yet, the moment we get to the cabin there is a faint chant of "Join us." To be heard in the wind. My other favorite is when the force hits the cabin head on and all the windows and doors blow open bursting throughout the cabin with lightening and sounds, the original dialogue deadite Cheryl speaks is heard, "One by one we shall take you." While there are plenty of homages, Alvarez definitely makes this film his own. His deadites are in no way playful, they are less supernatural in a sense as well. The way they are portrayed here is every body they take over is essentially a bag of meat to be used to fling at people and pick up objects to harm others. These deadites are far more psychological with their body horror as they inflict pain on their own bodies to scare the victims more as they are hurting the victims friends. The deadite dialogue is very reminiscent of Regan from the Exorcist, with much more violent and profane lines.
The most genius thing about this film is nothing dates it. Most modern remakes try so hard to showcase technology or the time period which can sometimes hinder the simplicities of older horror movies. They built this into the story Mia is getting clean so they haven't brought any technology to the cabin and their clothes are pretty generic, there is no way for you to place this film in a time period. It is just pure unfiltered horror with these people bare in the woods with nothing but each other and their wits. This also helps the idea that this might not be a remake but set in the same universe as the other films. Especially with the way the book of the dead is done. In the other films, the book of the dead has been battered and burned every which way. This version of the book is also bound in human flesh but the book has been scribbled in and written in with notes everywhere as if this book has passed many hands before they find it in this film. People have experienced the horrors of this book before and have passed on their experiences scribbled in the book for whatever poor soul finds it next. The book too has many references to the original evil dead mythos but my favorite part is there is an image on one of the pages that is directly the original poster for the original Evil Dead that in the movie is said to represent the ultimate evil!
Jane Levy is one of the most amazing actresses of all time. She plays four different versions of Mia in this film. She starts off as the pitiable sad Mia who is trying to kick her habits and diving into the withdrawals of being a junkie. Once she is attacked in the woods and returns to the cabin, her facial expressions and reactions to every little sound and person is truly horrifying. I have never in my life seen anyone person so scared in a film, which after you see the tree attack you are almost as scared as her and completely understand. Then there's deadite Mia who loses herself in the entity that is trying to take over all their souls. She mangles and destroys herself, speaking twisted things for the most psychological horror dealt in the movie against all her friends and it is very unsettling. In the end our Mia returns and becomes one of the most badass scream queens ever committed to film, conquering all her fears and doing anything and everything to save her friends. Jane Levy has earned her place as one of the best horror heroines in cinema.
For me to praise a remake as much as I do this film is a big deal for me especially one of one of my greatest passions, The Evil Dead. But this is so original and different but with the right amount of love and reverence to what came before it, it stands as it's own film. More of a sequel than anything it enhances the mythos and even gives us a way to cure the curse which is the most genius thing I have seen in a long time. I highly recommend you cringe and cry watching this movie as it literally ends in a rain of blood that keeps you watching into and after the credits which gives a great homage to the original Professor Knoby recording. 10 More Days til' Halloween Halloween! 10 more days til Halloween! Silver Shamrock!
