Film Review - EVIL DEAD ★★★½☆☆

Like many fans my age, my early years of enjoying the horror genre were partly shaped by director Sam Rami's micro-budgeted 1981 cult horror classic The Evil Dead (as well as the two subsequent entries in the series). The good news is we can breathe a huge tense sigh of relief regarding this update of the iconic film. Rest assured, this version will not intrude on fond memories regarding the original, but will firmly take the experience to a whole new level with its blacken heart tone and no expense spared attitude on guts and gore.

Many of us cried 'blasphemy' at the prospect of revisiting the series without Raimi at the helm, who is now decades past his low budget roots and off making some of the biggest films in Hollywood. But he and Dead's irreplaceable original star, genre icon Bruce Campbell didn't give up their keys to the castle and are both on board as producers.

Thankfully not a shot for shot remake, director Fede Alvarez does retrace over many familiar plot points and appropriately adjusts, improves and upgrades in other areas (visual effects have improved slightly since 1981). Evil demons once again take brutal vengeance on five unsuspecting weekend visitors to a remote cabin on the woods.

Heroin addict Mia (played by a rock solid Jane Levy) is taken to a secluded family home for a tough love cold turkey retreat by her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez), his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore), and childhood friends Olivia (Jessica Lucas) and Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci). The basement of the cabin is discovered not only to be a dungeon of sacrifice with hanging dead animals, but also the resting place of the Book of the Dead. Needless to say Eric obsesses over the mysterious book that reeks not only of trouble, but forbidden incantations. As expected, Eric foolishly reads passages from it while sifting through the pages written in human blood. To merely say demons from hell are then unleashed is an understatement..

Mia, physically and emotionally broken from her drug deprivation,  proves an easy target for possession by the rampant evil suddenly set free to prey on human souls. Following a revisit to the infamous demonic tree attack scene from the original, Mia returns to the cabin on the brink of paranoid madness, though her friends assume she is merely playing desperate to get out of dodge now that the DT's are ravaging her body from within.

Mia's terrifying descent into a darkness takes a heavy physical lead from Linda Blair's Regan from The Exorcist, and it becomes a blood drenched battle for the rest of the group's souls once that evil completely engulfs her. A huge plus for the film is its brisk pacing. It wastes no time in getting us to where we need to be. The audience is waist deep in the thick of it barely fifteen minutes into the running time, and Evil Dead does not let up from there for one tense second. 

One by one, each of the cabin mates' survival skills are successively put to the test in the most cringe worthy of scenarios, and I consider myself painfully desensitized to most of what Hollywood presents on the big screen nowadays. Thankfully the horror genre has endured and transcended its fleeting affair with torture porn, and though I would never put Evil Dead in that category, the filmmakers have similarly spared no expense in going toe to toe with that genre's penchant for pushing its hard R rating with gore and mutilation.

Frankly I applaud PG-13 rated thrillers like Insidious that actually pack effective psychological scares without relying on shock and awe gory scare tactics, but Evil Dead is the furthest from being subtle in anything it does. Be forewarned and well prepared to repeatably squint and squirm in your seats.

In the crucial role of Mia, Jane Levy simply knocks it out of the ballpark. She anchors the film with the necessary range to play a troubled character who falls all over the emotional map both in and out of crazed demonic possession. Her standout work on ABC's Suburgatory speaks for itself, and her gripping performance here, which could easily have turned into high camp, will be another huge step forward for this rising star.

By the time the dust settles, old school fans will appreciate the many clever homages to the source material, some more subtle than others. But the deviations are not without merit or border on blasphemous towards the original. Wisely, there is no literal attempt to bring Bruce Campbell's Ash into this version, but Mia's brother David is the closest serviceable at best placeholder for that.

Director/screenwriter Alvarez and director of photography Aaron Morton set a near perfect mood for all the dark grisly action, from the abysmal depths of the cabin's cellar, to the murky rain drenched forest, to the multiple low lit settings. Also you'd be fooling yourself if you think some of Raimi's signature unsteady hand held POV tracking shots don't make a welcome return. The balls out mayhem of the blood soaked final act should leave you short of breath and gripping your seat firmly.

Even in the wake of last year's tongue-in-cheek The Cabin In The Woods, which took its primary joy in deconstructing decades worth of familiar cliches found throughout the horror genre, and specifically set its sights firmly on The Evil Dead franchise, this update firmly holds its ground even if the plot is a tried and true formula.

While some reboots are welcome and slide by, very few are great, and most today are just terrible. Evil Dead is a relentless and unforgiving worthy successor to the Raimi and Campbell legacy, which is a legacy not easily challenged. Be on guard for plenty of intense cringe worthy moments and prepared to bear witness to what will unquestionably be the most no-nonsense horror thriller of the year. And it might be worth your time to stick around for the credits.

WARNING: This is the RED BAND trailer below. NSFW, and much like the film, NOT for the squeamish.

Evil Dead opens in theaters on April 5th.

REVIEW RATING: ★★★½☆☆
Directed By: Fede Alvarez
Starring: Jane Levy, Jessica Lucas, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Elizabeth Blackmore
Studio: TriStar Pictures
Rated: R
Running Time: 91 minutes

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