Remake that doesn't quite make the cut

Rating: 6/10 (28 July 2013)

There are two things for certain regarding the 2013 remake of 1981's The Evil Dead. First, the film's advertising tagline "The Most Terrifying Film You Will Ever Experience." is, not surprisingly, a lie. Second, if you have no tolerance for blood, gore and accompanying viscera, then you would do well to avoid Evil Dead. That being said, Evil Dead is not a horror film to be trifled with, that's for sure, although while it has it's moments of unease and shock, the underlying sense of terror and suspense is largely missing. Evil Dead is designed as an endurance test, can you make it past the next major set piece without turning it off, and on that front Evil Dead certainly makes an impression.
Five friends, Mia (Jane Levy), her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez), Olivia (Jessica Lucas), Eric (Lou Pucci) and Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) are at David's family cabin in the woods to engage in an intervention for Mia who is a recovering heroin addict. In the basement of the cabin, the group discovers a book that is full of satanic imagery and Eric reads a passage from the book, resulting in demon spirits being unleashed. The spirits possess Mia and one by one the possession begins to spread to the others who then engage in attempts to dispatch the still human survivors in rather violent, gruesome ways. Trapped by a washed out bridge, the group must try to find a way to stop the onslaught from the possessed souls, even as their number dwindles.
The original Evil Dead has earned a place in the popular zeitgeist, partially for introducing the character of Ash, portrayed by Bruce Campbell, to the general American audience, and for spawning a number of increasingly comedy oriented sequels. But, it's easy to forget that the first Evil Dead was largely a straightforward horror film, and a fairly scary one, in my opinion. There is certainly no trace of goofiness in the remake. It is a solid, no holds barred serious horror film, although there is a moment or two that does elicit a chuckle every now and then. Directed by first time filmmaker Fede Alvarez and co-written by Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues, Evil Dead pulls no punches in it's attempts to shock. From copious vomiting, people being attacked by nail guns, crow bars, shards of mirror and various electrical power tools, Evil Dead is intent on pushing the envelope of violence, leaving no stone unturned in its search for gory scenes intended to test the audience's willingness to keep watching.
However, the reliance on violence proves one of the film's downfalls. It is so wrapped up in assaulting us with its gore that it doesn't put enough effort into the other elements of what makes a good horror film, such as suspense. Evil Dead isn't without it's moments of making us feel uncomfortable or uncertain of what comes next, but those are fewer and far between than the gore. Evil Dead is trying to make us feel terrified, but it succeeds more often in just making us feel uncomfortable as limbs and other body parts are hacked off.
This remake does not directly rehash characters from the original film and manages to provide a slightly different setup for the story. The character of Mia takes on an unusual position of serving as, at times, both protagonist and antagonist, being both the lead character and the first to be possessed by the demon's of the title. By introducing the plot thread that Mia is a recovering heroin addict going through withdrawal, the screenplay attempts to play with the idea that the things Mia sees at first are all in her head, but that is quickly dropped because you can only explain so much from the concept that she is going through a bad withdrawal, and speaking in demonic voices and causing your housemates to start slicing off their own flesh doesn't really fall into that category. Lead actress Jane Levy provides a good performance as Mia, both as the tortured former addict trying to get herself clean, and then as the chilling demonic version, taunting the others both physically and verbally. Shiloh Fernandez is solid as her brother, trying to make sense of the world that is rapid crashing around him as strange things keep happening. Lou Pucci gives a bit of comic relief and also serves as the film's token "geek" who seems to be the only one understanding what is going on and coming up with answers on how to escape. The other two female roles are fairly underdeveloped and the characters fail to register much with us.
Evil Dead missteps in it's last act, with an ending that fails to really provide any significant payoff to what has come before and that also seems to be something of a head scratcher in terms of the film's internal logic. Needless to say, being a remake of a horror film that launched a franchise, there is room left open for a sequel (look, its the Evil Dead, you can more or less count on them being available for another round, right). So, when all is said and done, is this Evil Dead remake successful? Yes and no. The filmmakers were certainly trying their best to take the series back to its horror roots, and if you are looking for a hard core gore fest, you can't do much better than this. Where Evil Dead falls a bit flat is in making the whole experience scary and affecting. It gives it a shot, but doesn't quite grasp the brass ring. You can do worse for remakes, but you can also do better.