Remakes Done Right- 'Evil Dead'

So last week I started a five-part series on remakes, specifically ones that manage to somehow live up to or surpass the original. Last weeks film was Nosferatu the Vampyre, the 1979 remake of F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu. This week, I'll be looking at something a bit more recent which may come as a bit of a surprise considering how poor a lot of remakes in the past decade have been. Whether you liked it or not, it's fair to say that Evil Dead is a lot better in comparison to a lot of modern remakes, managing to honour the original film without soiling its good name. Gloomy, visceral, and full of gore, Evil Dead managed to reinvent the story of the original without knocking it out of the canon, and while it may have lacked the signature slapstick humour that made the original trilogy so distinctive, it was still a real treat for diehard Evil Dead fans and newcomers alike.
Needless to say, there are spoilers ahead if you haven't seen Evil Dead.

The Original

The Evil Dead was a 1981 horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. Based on Raimi's original short film Within the Woods, the film follows five college friends on vacation in an old cabin, who become terrorised by demonic forces after reading from the mysterious book of the dead. Raimi and Campbell were childhood friends who had been making films together for years, but The Evil Dead would be their first feature-length theatrical film, the first of many at that. It was a very low-budget production, with crew members resorting to makeshift equipment in order to shoot certain scenes. In order to shoot the POV scenes for the demonic entity, the cameras were fixed to pieces of wood and given to camera operators who would then sprint around the woods to give that shaky-cam effect. 

Despite the cast and crew having little experience, the final result was a gruesome and gut-wrenching piece of independent horror cinema that gained immense acclaim from the likes of horror maestro Stephen King. It was followed up by two more humorous sequels, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, which were both equally popular among horror fans who praised its mix of dark imagery and slapstick comedy. The Evil Dead trilogy had become a cult sensation.

The Remake

In 2011, 30 years after the release of The Evil Dead, it was announced that a remake was in the works and that it would be produced by both Raimi and Campbell. Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez co-wrote the script along with Rodo Sayagues, with Alvarez attatched to direct as well. Instead of beginning the entire Evil Dead story over again, as remakes usually do, Alvarez would take a slightly different route with this one. This was not an updated version of the original story but instead saw a new group of teenagers arriving at the same cabin, years after the events of the original. In certain ways, Evil Dead is technically a continuation of the original, but because it follows the same general formula of the original and incorporates a number of common tropes from the franchise, it is considered a remake. Jane Levy was cast in the lead role of Mia, with Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas and Elizabeth Blackmore as Mia's friends. 

While it was criticised for its pitch-black tone, omitting the cartoonish humour that made the original trilogy so iconic, Evil Dead was generally well-received by fans and critics alike, with particular praise towards its use of practical effects. It was dark, it was fun, and at times it was genuinely scary, the more updated practical effects were highly effective in comparison to the now dated effects in the original. It also had a surprise post-credits scene for Ash fans everywhere.

What it Done Right

First of all, the fact that Alvarez decided to place the film within the same canon of the original trilogy was a very clever move. It shows that the filmmaker is not only a fan of the original films, but also that he has a high level of respect for them as to not erase them from the canon altogether with his remake. From the cabin itself, to more subtle Easter eggs such as Raimi's Oldsmobile Delta 88, there are a number of references to the original that help to establish this film within the same universe. Bruce Campbell himself even appears in a cameo role after the credits as Ash, delivering his signature catchphrase 'groovy' to the audience. Speaking of Ash Williams, Evil Dead never attempts to do a re-hash of that character, Mia is her own character with her own personality, she is much more vulnerable due to her struggle with addiction. At no point does she ever try to be Ash, a wise decision due to how iconic a character he is. Although I must say, the chainsaw-hand scene was a nice throwback to our boomstick-totting hero from the original trilogy.

One of the films finest features is its extensive use of practical effects, with minimal CGI used to touch up some of the sequences in post-production. Practical effects were such a huge part of the original Evil Dead, so to remake that film and jam it with CGI would just be plain disrespectful. Not only that, but practical effects just look much finer when it comes to gore, it makes the more violent sequences look much more natural, which in turn is way more effective for the audience. Limbs are torn off, faces are slashed, and then there's the infamous tongue-splitting scene that was particularly unsetlling. While the original film was packed full of bloody violence, the limited budget leaves the effects looking somewhat dated by today's standards. This film had a much bigger budget however, allowing for more polished and realistic practical effects. The scene where Mia's arm gets stuck under the fallen truck and she is forced to pull off the rest of her arm still makes me squeam when I watch it. This film has by far some of the best uses of practical effects in modern horror cinema.

While the film does follow the same general formula as the original Evil Dead, Alvarez throws us some curve balls every now and then so as to make things less predictable. First of all Mia, the protagonist, the character who we are told to root for right from the start, is the first character to become possessed. While Ash Williams experienced his fair share of possession in the sequels to The Evil Dead, the choice to make Mia the first host for the deadites was a bold one at that. However, it works. The fact that she spends a lot of the film possessed makes things a little less predictable and there are times when we begin to wonder if it will be her brother David (Fernandez) who walks away as the lone survivor. Sure, it's obvious from the start that Lucas and Blackmore's characters are gonners, but the way Mia's character is handled here is very clever and gives us the sense that nobody is safe here. I mentioned earlier Mia's drug addiction, this is a big part of the story as it acts as the gangs motivation to visit the cabin in the first place. Their reason for heading to the cabin in the first place is to provide an intervention for Mia and help her in her struggle against addiction, it's not just some holiday in the woods, these characters have genuine motivation for staying in this old cabin. Now one could read further into this and take the literal demons in this film as metaphors for Mia's personal demons, but that's an analysis for another day.

Call it a remake, a reboot, or a continuation, Evil Dead may lack some of the qualities that made the original trilogy so iconic, however, it is by no means a bad film. It shows a high level of respect for Raimi's films, keeping itself within their canon while never referencing them too explicitly. The story may remain close to that of the original, but Fede Alvarez does enough to surprise the audience every now and then, even hardcore Evil Dead fans. With its gloomy visuals, striking practical effects and a wonderful performance from Jane Levy, Evil Dead sticks close to the formula of the original and includes enough subtle references to honour it appropriately. However, Fede Alvarez brings enough of his own material to the table to establish this as quite a different film from Raimi's trilogy which allows it to stand out on by itself. That is why Evil Dead is a remake done right.