[h2]10. Evil Dead[/h2]
I walked out of Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead feeling as if I needed a long, intensive shower – or several, for that matter – and I mean that as an absolute complement. The amount of gore on display in this exquisite remake is not just shocking, but weirdly admirable and undeniably exhilarating. It may the single bloodiest film ever given a wide, commercial release in the United States – poor Jane Levy is probably still working hard to get all that fake blood out of her hair – but what makes the film work so surprisingly well is that Alvarez has an extremely strong sense of how to pace the bloodshed. The movie does not open with blood literally raining down from the sky. It builds to that point, and builds steadily, and because of that, the gore is never desensitizing, but impactful.
The movie is tremendously scary from start to finish, legitimately unsettling in both its violence and strong sense of danger and atmosphere (helped immensely by a terrific score from Roque Baños). Yet the DNA of Sam Raimi’s original is also a major part of the proceedings, with an underlying current of playfulness helping to distinguish the film as something special (just look at how much damage is doled out on the poor bastard who reads the Necronomicon). It would be a blast to see Alvarez and Raimi actually realize their vision of bringing original protagonist Ash and the remake’s main character, Mia, together in a crossover at some point in the future, but for now, Evil Dead is simply a damn good horror film of its own accord. If it is not one of 2013’s ‘greatest’ films, it certainly stands among the most fun and memorable, earning its spot on this list.
Listen to this episode of our podcast, WGTC Radio, where we discuss the film in depth.
Evil Dead is now available digitally through iTunes, and arrives on DVD and Blu-Ray July 16th.
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Published: Jul 10, 2013 09:02 am