The Evil Dead (1981)



Evil Dead opens April 5th

Evil Dead, the highly anticipated remake of the seminal 1981 horror, made its premier at the 2013 South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas on March 9th.

Almost seven years in the making, the film opened the year's festival in front of a packed house of rabid horror freaks waiting to get their first peek at the reboot to one of the most important and popular - and gory - cult horror franchises.

Hardcore Evil Dead fans, also known as "Deadites," in reference to the possessed demons from the film, expressed concerns over how their beloved series would receive the royal Hollywood treatment. Directed by Fede Alvarez, who is taking the helm for his first film, worries of another pointless remake was eased with the inclusion of the original film's creator and director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell, who both joined on to produce the project. Preliminary reviews from the hordes of eager fans has been generally positive, and trailers and TV spots for the film have shown potential for the new film to rival the ferocity of the original, but there still remains mixed feelings strewed across the fan base. Compare the trailers below and decide for yourself.

WARNING: the following videos or photographs will be of graphic content. Proceed at your own risk.

The news of a remake comes as no surprise to aficionados of the horror genre.  Within the last decade horror classic after classic has been slaughtered by the money making machine of big budget Hollywood production companies trying to take a big, nasty bite out of the original film's popularity. These "new" movies even go as far as to label themselves as "re-imaginings," as in to not destroy any credibility of the originals reputation among hardcore fans.

But we horror fiends are no women in distress - we know what happens to those characters - and we sure as hell know better than to accept the pathetic self-justifications of some Hollywood movie producer. Fact is, these shitty remakes will be permanently linked to these horror films with entries in the film's series. The most terrifying horror story is that a new generation only know of the remakes, as the originals are slowly receding into the shadows.

Cult horror films from the 70s and 80s cashed in on minuscule budgets, innovative storylines, grandiose scenes of gore, and a philosophy of keeping things simple: small crews emphasize the blood, sweat and tears (mostly blood!) of crafting a unique film experience unlike any other.



1981 Theatrical Poster

The original Evil Dead, which was released to theaters in 1983, is the epitome of a cult horror film: filmed in 1981 for a mere $350,000, it grossed nearly $2.5 million at theaters, and its reputation became even larger once released onto the home video market.

Based off his short film Within the Woods, Raimi (Spider Man, Oz the Great and Powerful) waited two years until he secured funding to turn his amateur short film into a feature full length film, then another year until the film was picked up for distribution rights following a screening at Cannes in 1982.

The plot to the remake doesn't deviate too far from the original: Five friends vacation to a cabin deep in the woods of Tennessee only to discover an ancient book bound in human flesh. The five friends, unbeknownst to them, unleash a powerful, demonic spirit laying dormant in the woods into their world - and it won't rest until it has taken over every soul.

The original Evil Dead's reputation rests solely on the excess amounts of gore and the original story. Horror films of the 70s and 80s are renowned for their use of special effects, which was still in its infancy stage. The Evil Dead is the epochal splatter film, representing the first in a string of gory movies turning the horror genre bright red, and the amount of blood in this film is more than the human body can contain - or the stomach can handle.

When I heard of a forthcoming remake, I initially thought, "Here we go again," after having my guts ripped out by remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, 2003) and Halloween (1978, 2007), seminal films in the evolution of the horror film as we know it. The Evil Dead is one of those films.

A positive that The Evil Dead remake has going for it is it's the first of these remakes to incorporate members from the original production team. Raimi, Campbell, and Rob Tapert, who produced the original, have all publically stated their enthusiasm over the new film for its ability to push viewers to the edge of their seats in pure terror - and disgust - much in the same way the original did 30 years ago.

Horror films of the last decade have relied heavily on the use of CGI for blood and dismemberment effects as an effective way to bring innovative creativity to the screen. CGI costs more than creating hand-made prosthetics, and with the advent of high-definition technology, some makeup effects can come off rather cheesy and fake in appearance.

The original Evil Dead falls into the latter, but it's these highly unrealistic effects that make the film all the more endearing to its fans.

Rob Tapert in an interview with Movieweb.com said, "Fede has decided to buck the recent trend of using digitized blood, instead opting for a more tangible substance just like back in the good old days."

But let's look at a scene that is represented in both versions of the film:

1981

2013

"We didn't do any CGI in the movie," said director Fede Alvarez in an interview with Shock Till You Drop. "There's no CGI in the movie. Everything you will see is real, which was really demanding."
Maybe it's just me, but the makeup from the new film, specifically the eyes and teeth, look like CGI images. This observation  is only validated when watching the trailer for the film as the facial movements seem artificial.

Whatever the case may be, first reports from the SXSW Festival say that ending lives up to the Evil Dead moniker, and an estimated 50,000 gallons of blood was used for one day of shooting.



Ashley J. Williams

Another aspect that makes me hold my breath over the remake is the character of Ashley J. Williams. Portrayed by Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice) in 1981, Ash has become an iconic character of the Evil Dead franchise and a cult horror movie hero. The new film doesn't feature Ash as a main character (there is a cameo by Campbell reprising his role), and that's a good thing.

Ash is a cowardly, bumbling and likeable character, burdened with having to ward off and kill his loved ones once they become possessed by the evil spirits. Ash was named 24th on Empire Magazine's list of the Greatest Movie Character of All Time for his humorous one-liners and knack for slapstick gags. He's even noteworthy for his famous chainsaw appendage, which he adopts after cutting off his demon possessed hand, transforming him into one badass zombie killer.

I think it's wonderful that the new film doesn't include a character of Ash's stature. But the fact is that if there is no Ash, then there's no Evil Dead. The character of Ash is what propelled The Evil Dead ahead of the knockoffs that followed. Without him the film was another silly horror film. And without some element as likeable or comparable to Ash, Evil Dead is just another useless remake.