Disc-ussion: The most hyped horror film of the year arrives this week to scare the living hell out of you. But can this latest instalment (Sequel? Remake? Reboot? – more on that later) of the infamous video nasty series live up to the high expectations?
The poor Forest Dwelling. Ever since the Wolf was surprised by a girl in a red cloak and the Witch was roasted alive by hooligan twins with a sweet tooth, this most humble of abodes has suffered from a bad rep, not at all helped by the gory mayhem of the original Evil Dead. Since that fateful night (32 years ago and counting), the unassuming address has played host to wave after wave of copycat demonic possessions, maniacs, zombie hordes and even the odd flesh-eating-virus until last year’s eponymous (and excellent) Cabin in the Woods gleefully blew the entire concept to smithereens.
So in what bold direction can this new, shiny addition hope to take the story? The answer it seems is not much of anywhere at all, as for the most part it smoothly follows the well-worn grooves of its older cousins. A group of college kids (Mia, her brother, and some others – don’t bother to learn their names) arrive at a secluded cabin, discover a dastardly book and unleash all manner of hell as they pick eachother off one by one in increasingly gruesome ways. There’s fire. And guns. And needles. And knives. And a nail gun. And a particularly disturbed tree. And, of course, a chainsaw.
The gorehounds will be more than satisfied as the levels of carnage escalate until it is literally raining blood, but those more serious about their scares may find themselves left wanting. The influence of the “torture-porn” phenomenon is strongly felt throughout as events are played out with brutally sadistic, voyeuristic clarity, and the OTT, cartoonish splatter of the 80s is discarded in favour of surgical precision. At least with Evil Deadcreator Sam Raimi on board as producer the vast majority of effects do away with cheap-looking CGI and go back to bloody basics.
But the true success of any horror flick depends on its ability to scare you, and the feeling of genuine dread that accompanied the original visit is mostly absent. The posters are wrong - you won’t be sleeping with the lights on after this one.
Also missing (and missed) is the dark, often absurd humour of the earlier outings, with events this time playing out as deadly serious. There are some half-decent ideas and a few moments of ghoulish humour scattered throughout, but the clunky plot seems to discard each of them just as they might lead somewhere in favour of another “twist” or an excuse to make the audience squirm.
Lead actress Jane Levy isn’t too bad as the only deadite with at least half a brain, but the rest of the cast are as awkward and disposable as their possessed limbs – no bad thing in regular low-grade trash but this is supposed to be aspiring to be something bigger than the sum of its undead parts.
Like the sequel-remake argument of the first two films in the franchise, the relationship between Evil Dead 2013 and the others will remain a hot topic of debate among horror fans for a while yet, and is not easy to define. The best way is to look at it as a spin-off adventure, related in fundamental ways but different in others. A sequel is confirmed, along with Army of Darkness 2(and the return of Ash!) before the storylines are set to merge in the demonic equivalent of Avengers Assemble. For now, though, we’ll have to make do with this middle of the road origins story and hope they get back on track with the next one.
Evil Dead is released 18 April rated 18.
By: Versais Demauve
