Evil Dead 2013 (May contain SPOILERS)

Well, finally sat down with this one. Kind of a mixed bag. Remakes in general are a double-edged sword. Studios like them because the name recognition is there already. However, they are doomed to be compared to the originals, and in some cases, this is an impossible set of shoes to fill. Such is the case here. What he have is a film that on a technical level is beautifully executed, with great cinematography, wonderful visuals, great gore.

However, I just can't get into an Evil Dead movie without Bruce Campbell. Some of the nods to the 3 previous movies are interesting (the tree scene from ED 1, the hand amputation from ED 2, the fight in the pit from AoD).

What made the evil cool in the first 2 films was that it was faceless, and could be anyone. It was an un-killable force of nature. In this one, it manifests into human form at the end, and is chainsaw-ed in the face, apparently killing it.

Again, if it was called anything else, it would be a solid horror film. But IMO it's just not Evil Dead.

To me, it's less the absence of Bruce Campbell and more the seemingly absent tongue-in-cheek nature of the film. Now granted I've not seen the new Evil Dead (I hate gore for gore's sake, and the scene with the knife in the previews immediately put me off the film entirely), but it doesn't seem as "fun" as the originals were.

It was the same problem with the Total Recall remake. Yes, it's technically the same story but it removed everything that made people love the film. In Total Recall's case, it was the cheesy one liners and over the top action. In Evil Dead's case - it's was the fact they were a basement quality low grade horror film and were aware of that fact.

The best "modern" picture that evokes Evil Dead would have to be Jason X. A premise so over the top and cliche (Even back then, sending Horror icons into space was typically a franchise ender)...and the film embraced it and mocked itself incessantly and became - at least to me - the greatest Jason film in the series.

You're right. It wasn't just that Bruce wasn't in it, it was that for better or worse, it was a totally serious horror flick. No humor whatsoever, just gore and more gore. There was some decent drama, and good acting, but no tension breaking whatsoever. Bruce in my mind kind of represents this smirking jester character, there to lighten things up. Especially in part 2. He practically turned and winked at the camera in that one.

Remember when horror films had at least SOME humor in them, rather than relentless bleakness? It was like what Marcus Nispel started with TCM 2003. At least the F13 remake had some humor. I understand the desire to make it scary. I really do. But in the horror fan zeitgeist, humor and Bruce Campbell are forever linked to the name 'Evil Dead'. I find that like Rust said, its charm was in its lack of budget, and the creativity it forced the film makers to come up with. It's just not fun anymore.

I have to join this discussion to make a few points.

1. the very first Evil Dead was much like this Remake, devoid of a lot of the humor you found in part 2 and Army of Darkness. While I did love those movies, this Remake did actually stay true to the original movie, not the sequel.

2. the Evil Dead series, and Army of Darkness, is one of the few Horror movie franchises that was built around a man being the survivor. Almost every other Horror movie or Franchise is built around the iconic "survivor girl" (the notable exception being the Child's Play series which is a child surviving each time).

This Remake deviated from this formula, and for me, just became another Horror movie. The girl's brother in this movie was much more sympathetic than she was, and for awhile, I was hoping he was the new "Ash". however, they turned him into a drooling idiot towards the end, which reversed the roles, and allowed her to survive. I didn't like the Actress, the character, or the whole story Arc of her being a drug addict and that's why they were out in the woods (every time she did something when she was possessed, they just shrugged it off and saying she was having withdrawals, which made me groan)

3. This Remake was better than most remakes out there, by staying true to the makeup effects and no cgi effects rule (unlike the Nightmare on Elm Street remake). While this isn't the best remake in my opinion (Rob Zombie's Halloween 1 is top of my list) it's still a lot better than most remakes I have seen, and I wouldn't mind seeing the sequel to this, which they are planning.

The question is, when they do the sequel, do they turn it into comedy like they did with the original Franchise? Bruce Campbell was the reason why the comedy worked, and I just don't see this Actress pulling it off (I thought the only time she did a good job in this movie is when she was playing the demon). They have already stated they want to lead up to a crossover between her and Ash in the same movie. Interesting, if they actually get there.

Seen this and was really disappointed. Yes some of the effects were good but the plot and acting was headless ( no pun intended). Give me groovy Bruce Campbell any day over this shadow of a film, and what I want is a prequel featuring Bruce to the third Sam Riami film Army of Darkness not a regurgitated pavement pizza car crash money making excuse.

whotothecore wrote:

Seen this and was really disappointed. Yes some of the effects were good but the plot and acting was headless ( no pun intended). Give me groovy Bruce Campbell any day over this shadow of a film, and what I want is a prequel featuring Bruce to the third Sam Riami film Army of Darkness not a regurgitated pavement pizza car crash money making excuse.

Raimi is currently writing Army of Darkness 2