I believe this is my first ever re-review. I actually reviewed Evil Dead back in 2013. Those were my early days, so that review is terrible. If you're not embarrassed your past self you're not improving as a person or a critic, I suppose.
When it came to Fede Alvarez's Evil Dead movie, I was really mean to it. Savage, in fact. "What else does it have besides whole fuel tankers full of bodily fluids? Absolutely nothing." That was one of my kinder comments.
History has not been on my side on this one. I have seen Evil Remake listed very often on lists of people's favorite horror movies. People really love this movie. So I figure that there is a good chance that I was just an asshole. Maybe seven years later I could appreciate Evil Dead more.
To be fair to myself, I should give some context to 2013 me. Evil Dead came out at the tale end of a historic plague of horror remakes. The years 2007 to about 2014 were real bad times to be a horror fan. Evil Dead also came out only a year after Cabin in the Woods, a hilarious and more creative spin on the original Sam Raimi idea. Finally, The Evil Dead is one of my favorite horror movies of all time. There was no reason to remake it in 2013, and no movie will ever be able to hold up to the original.
Okay, so now with fresh eyes and a more mature heart, how did I like Evil Remake?
Well, I'm going to be less furious with this movie now. I was being really unfair to Fede Alvarez and everybody involved in that project with that first review. I'm sorry. Alvarez and his star, Jane Levy, went on to make Don't Breathe. That movie rules. I still don't think Evil Dead is a great movie though. It has fantastic visuals. It has even more fantastic gore. It's characters suck. Evil Dead is much less fun than it needs to be.
The original Evil Dead is a cheaper movie and a sillier one. But it is a fucking terrifying movie. I believe Evil Dead is a perfectly example of how camp and less realism can actually make a movie much scarier. The effects look nothing like reality and that only adds to the weird mood, that you'd stepped out of your sane reality to an insane world that laughs at you. Laughs at your fear. Evil Remake has no camp at all and all the budget to make its horror real.
I still disagree with those choices in comparison. I cannot help myself. I wish I didn't have to compare Evil Remake to the original at all. It feels unfair. However, it is a fucking remake! I have no choice. I wish Fede Alvarez had just made "Freaky Forest Cabin Movie" instead with no connections to Sam Raimi at all. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil doesn't have this problem. Cabin Fever doesn't have this problem. Evil Remake does.
Moral of the story: never remake one of the greatest horror movies of all time, it only makes your movie worse.
Anyway, in terms of actual quality and trying to ignore the remake issue, Evil Dead is doing great work. The gore is believable and lands hard. Mia (Jane Levy) licks a box cutter and slices her tongue in half. That's pretty extreme and pretty awesome. Evil Remake deserves credit for that. The tree rape now has unmistakable penetration, that's horrible and intense. Pure cringe and pure shock are impressive in their own ways. Not as impressive as Sam Raimi -and oh fuck, there I go again. I can't help myself.
Jane Levy's Mia is the best part of the movie. She is so good she ends up being both the hero and the Final Boss. That is because the cast is not given much to do. Lou Taylor Pucci as Eric gets a lot of great work to do as the Shaggy of the group. That's where the good ends. It is strange how little characterization they are given. There's plenty of time to develop them but Evil Dead simply does not. Mia's brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) outright sucks and has no personality. He is so boring and I'm glad he is only a Fake-Out Ash, not a true Bruce Campbell replacement.
There is an attempt with greater context since Mia is a drug addict trying to recover. I cannot say this idea is much development. Deadites are not a metaphor for drug addiction. Maybe this movie needed inspiration from Frank Henenlotter's Brain Damage. But that would require camp value and unfortunately, Evil Dead is extremely anti-camp. This movie it way too serious all the way through. And that really is my ultimate problem with this movie.
It just isn't enough fun. If Evil Remake were a more fun movie it would be a scarier one. I can appreciate Evil Dead (2013) more, I suppose now. If Fede Alvarez can ever get an Evil Dead sequel off the ground, I'll watch that. Most likely, though, I'll probably never love his take on the franchise. However, I can be grateful that Evil Remake eventually led to Ash vs. Evil Dead, a really fun show. Groovy.
Next Time: The Witches (2020), another remake, just releasing to HBO Max today. I don't think anybody is going to list this among their favorite horror movies.
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