Evil Dead (2013)

Director: Fede Alvarez
Genre: Horror
Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore
Certificate Rating: 18
My Rating: 5/5

Pure Gore Factor
(Warning: Expect Spoilers)



Remake of Sam Raimi's 1982 film 'The Evil Dead'. The film follows five friends who stay in a cabin, one of the girls, Mia, being a recovering drug addict vows to quit drugs with the help of her brother and three friends. When the friend go into the basement, they find horrifying things down there and a book wrapped in barbed wire. The Book of Demons. Which, if the words are spoken aloud, releases the demons.

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After telling myself I did not want to see this film. I saw it. I have to say the effects are far better than the original due to change in technology and special effects in the film industry. This was pure gore, no CGI or anything just old school effects - which totally worked! I have to admit it wasn't necessarily a scary film, but gory is an understatement. The faces of the possessed were pretty creepy, reminding me of the Exorcist face (which I don't plan to see anytime soon). I found myself watching the movie through my fingers when the faces were on the screen as I did not like those creepy faces. I went with my friend to see this and she didn't like their voices and I didn't like their faces. Creepy.

One thing I did notice, and so has IMDB, is that the characters first names spell DEMON. If you take the first letter of their names: David, Eric, Mia, Olivia, Natalie.

The other great thing about this new Horror is that it goes against the conventions of the horror genre. For example:
1. Mia - the recovering drug addict - being a girl not stereotypically a boy, is the first to be possessed, which is understandable as in horrors its always the wrong doers that get punished first. However later on in the film her brother David saves her, returning her to her usual self, human and not possessed. To which she survives and following Carol Clover's theory she becomes the "Final Girl".
2. Eric - the geek - everyone knows the stereotype of "geek" means they're meant to be smart. But not in this film. Eric finds the Book of the Dead, wrapped in a bin liner and barbed wire (you would definitely not touch it) and he unwraps it and opens the book. Not following the obstructions "Don't read any further", so what does the Geek do? He carries on reading, stumbles across scribbled out words, uncovers the words and says them out loud, bring the demon to life. Well done Geek! It is no surprise that he ends up possessed and dying. Which shows a change in the convention of horror and geeks usually save the day.

Now let's talk about the gore in the film:
- Slicing mouth open with shattered mirror glass - the effects were pretty awesome if you can look at the face without pulling a disgusted face and the teeth showing and the blood and flesh dripping.
- Eye being stabbed with Needle - this bit made me cringe when Eric pulls the needle which the possessed Oliva stabbed him with out of his eye.
- Arm Chopped off with meat chainsaw thing - when Natalie realises that the only way to prevent the possession is to chop off her arm was rather a lovely sight to watch. Not.
- Nail gun - the scene where the possessed Natalie has the nail gun and is shooting it at David and Eric was another cringe moment when you saw them attempting to pull the nails out of themselves. Especially when they had been shot in the head.
- Arm ripped off by car - when the Abomination pushes the car onto Mia, trapping her arm, Mia has to try to escape as the Abomination draws nearer. Now I don't know its it possible for you to rip your arm off from under a car but it was a very disgusting thing to witness and shows how amazing the effects are for the film. The skin ripping like meat (duh!) was rather gruesome!
- Chainsaw - The end had to be the best scene of the film. Raining blood, the Abomination is (leglessly) crawling towards an one armed Mia who is carrying a running chainsaw, in which Mia stabs the chainsaw straight through the Abomination. Talk about girl power! She splits the Abomination in half and you know the worst of it is over. All though gory and disgusting you have to love the feeling of the film being nearly over.

Overall if you were in their position and you found that stuff in the basement. I would have head back as soon as possible and if the bridge of over flowed with water by then I would have risked floating down the river in a make shift boat. Anything to get away from that place.

What did you think of the film?

Enjoy x

IMDb:  Evil Dead