The new Evil Dead movie is coming out in less than a week. I've heard things ranging from "Oh my god! I can't for that movie!" to "Oh my god! That movie looks fucking terrible!" I fall more into the camp of the former. A lot of my friends are on the other end of it, and at this point I feel like I need to defend the new movie.
Step One: What It's Doing
This movie is taking elements from the first two Evil Dead movies (I'm basing this entirely off the trailers I've seen. I generally avoid looking too far into movies until I've seen them first). We've got tree raping, cutting possessed hands off, beheading of a woman, the cabin (the fucking cabin! We've seen this thing all over the place. See: The Cabin in the Woods), demons in the cellar, and the skin-bound book that awakens evil. That's quite the list of goodies.
What we do not have: Ash.
This is a big letdown for people because Bruce Campbell carries the original movies along. We have the low budget effects and the paper thin story, but then we add the Chin and we've got ourselves a goddamn movie! He is iconic with his boomstick, chainsaw arm, and spot-on one liners. This is the kind of perfection that you don't want to mess with. Pyscho is a prime example of a bar set too high. The original movie is a masterpiece, while the Van Sant's remake is a trainwreck. The producers of the new Evil Dead (Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. What?! Oh, would you look at that!) knew that Ash was something too holy to recreate on screen, so they've taken the smarter path of avoidance. There is a new protagonist and a new set of characters. Maybe we'll see more depth in the supporting players (whereas we saw nothing from them in the past), and that can only help the movie. Having fully rounded characters will only elevate the movie as a whole, making it better and scarier.
Not putting Ash in: Great idea. Good job, producers.
So they've made an Evil Dead movie without a big part of the originals. But based on the trailers, they've still been able to harness that element of gore and grittiness. We're still going into the theatre and we're going to see trees getting frisky, blood pouring out of walls, and demons shouting from the basement. People will say that it is missing that slap-stick comedy from the second movie (I'm the one saying this), but you need to look past number two and go back to the first one. The first one is missing those comedic elements, too. I think we can all agree that Evil Dead isn't really that scary of a movie. There are some creepy demon elements, but overall it's a hokey, low budget, gore flick (and I love it, don't get me wrong). Raimi was doing his best to make a fucking scary movie, but it just wasn't quite there. The new Evil Dead is almost like his second shot at making a truly scary movie, and not just a starting point for Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness.
Step Two: What It's Going to Do
Army of Darkness II !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even if Evil Dead sucks and I'm left depressed and let down, it will all be worth it to see Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi back in the throes of deadites. I haven't read that there is any correlation between the new Evil Dead and Army of Darkness II, but come on--they announced that Raimi will start writing it right before Evil Dead premiered at SXSW. The timing is too perfect. If anything, this flick is bringing a new generation on board for the franchise. And because of this we'll get to see a lot more.
Check out the trailer for the new movie:
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