I’ve been waiting for this moment for quite a long
time. I was looking forward to this
about as much as I was looking forward to the McRib Sandwich coming back, and
if that isn’t love then I don’t know what is.
This remake (but not really) of Evil Dead follows the story of Mia, a
druggie who appears to have watched a little too much breaking bad, who goes out with a group of friends into the woods
so she could go Cold Turkey with a support group. Everything was going well for the friends
until they saw that someone in the basement hated cats about as much as I do,
and it was there they found a book that is surrounded by pure evil, and I’m not
talking about Hitler’s Autobiography, or the British Book of Dentistry, I’m
talking about a book that summons a demon that likes to make trees violate
random people. Of course someone with
nerdy glasses had to read the book, thus causing the tree violating demon to
posses and kill everyone in the Cabin!
The Good: First of
all, let it be known that EVIL DEAD 2
is my all time favorite movie, and that unlike some people who dismissed this
movie right off the “get-go” because it’s a remake, I welcomed this new movie
like I welcome chocolate chip covered pancakes covered in syrup. What I liked most about this EVIL DEAD is that it took all that I love
about the original movie including the loss of limbs, the demon woman in the
basement, and the abundant amount of gore, and created a completely different
story with new characters that I could see get killed off. Now, my wife may mention that I need a
psychological evaluation, because during this film I smiled a smile that
resembled a child’s joy at Christmas, while everyone else was shrieking in
disgust like they were watching a bikini contest featuring Rose O’Donnell. There was one scene in particular when a girl
cuts her arm off because it was bitten by the possessed Mia, and the entire
theater screen was red with blood for an entire minute; I was so overwhelmed
with joy that I almost cried like a 12-yr old girl at a Bieber concert.
The Bad: You’ll get a bunch of butt-munchers out there who will try to compare this one to the original, which is completely impossible because it plays by a completely different set of rules with new characters. Some are upset because Ash isn't in it as well, but if you think about it by adding Ash into the story it would make people uneasy because they would be measuring it up to the impossible standards of the original. Now although I thought the new EVIL DEAD was a near perfect experience, the one downfall I noticed (which really wasn't a downfall at all), was the absence of gory-goodness in the first 20 minutes.
The Ugly: I am a genuine freak in that my joy lies in seeing
people lose limbs and get decapitated, and I understand that others may not
share that obsession… namely my wife and brother. I would even say that if they weren't being
blocked by a rather large Sikh, they would have walked right out of the theater
to go throw up the popcorn in the trash can.
Now, for those individuals out there who enjoy seeing a bunch of people
die horrible deaths in an isolated cabin, the new EVIL DEAD movie is heaven!
5 out of 5
I am so ridiculously glad that you loved it too. I had the same smile of child-like joy on my face the whole friggin time too. It has some flaws and minor gripes (like Mainguy McDumbface's smother-her-then-defribulate-her plan that somehow succeeded in pulling the deadite out of her), but MAN!! Such amazing GORE!!! GORE GORE GORE Wonderful gore!! The original movies, especially Evil Dead II, are what made me so interested in movies in the first place, and I think they did about as perfect a modern take as could be. The story was smart, the characters (for the most part) reacted intelligently, and it paid perfect tribute to Sam Raimi without being a spoof. If Fede and Sam Raimi get together for an Army of Darkness II....I will joy puke black and green bile all over my room.
ReplyDeleteI had heard they were gonna use all practical effects for the movie which seemed cool, but possibly gimmicky. When I went into the movie, I didn't know what to expect. Until they drove up to the cabin....and I got chills for about 20 minutes. The cabin, the shed, the PLYMOUTH!! In a lot of ways, this movie is superior to the college-student film we all love from Raimi's no-budget days. The characters actions seem more believable, a deeper backdrop to the story, and even superior practical effects. It may not have the "heart" of the original, but that's impossible to reproduce. This one feels different in tone, but every bit as good. What I'm most excited about is that I do NOT fully accept the presence of certain things like the Plymouth and the identical cabin/shed/weaponry/etc as mere homage. I am hoping that this movie is gonna somehow tie in to the original timeline. As in, this movie happened 30 years later in the same cabin, after Ash was sent back in time. Although, Evil Dead II and ArmyofDarkness sort of have their own timeline from the first movie already. If we establish that Raimi's Evil Dead exists in a different timeline from his two sequels, this movie would fit in perfectly. For a hopeful merging of ArmyII and Fede's remakes, it'll be a bit tougher.
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