Evil Dead Remake (Film Review)

2013 TriStar Pictures
Directed by: Fede Álvarez; Written by: Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues (uncredited dialogue rewrite by: Diablo Cody)
Starring: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, and Elizabeth Blackmore
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 92 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Rating: 9/10

Mia Allen's friends have decided to try to help her kick her heroin habit one last time. This last ditch effort involves four of them (including Mia's brother, David) taking Mia to a secluded cabin in the woods to detox. Unbeknownst to them, the cabin's got a hidden cellar, holding numerous rotting animal carcasses, a shotgun, and a book bound in human flesh. When one of the group reads an incantation from the book, strange things begin to happen. Mia (played by the always great, particularly in a Fede Álvarez film, Jane Levy) starts to freak out and swears she's seeing things out in the woods around the cabin. Her friends attribute this to her trying to get out of detoxing...but then the blood...and bile...and guts...and tongues...and limbs start flowing.
You better have a damn good reason to remake a classic horror film. Even though the original Evil Dead is often regarded as the weakest film in the original Evil Dead trilogy, it's still a very good, iconic film. Fede Álvarez, with the blessing (and producing assistance) of original Evil Dead creator, Sam Raimi, decided that the best bet for remaking Evil Dead would be to phase out almost all of the humor, and phase up the horror and gore elements to the extreme. While I have no idea how Álvarez convinced the MPAA to bless this film with anything less than an NC-17 rating, his absolutely gonzo approach to this material works.
Álvarez' Evil Dead is an absolutely brutal Grand Guignol of terror, with a seemingly endless river of blood, gore, and bodily fluids running roughshod throughout the majority of its runtime, until by the end, blood is literally raining from the sky. If you're even the tiniest bit squeamish, this film is not for you. Human bodies are damaged here in inventive and horrific ways that have never yet been put to celluloid. So many limbs are ripped, shot, and slowly sliced off, I lost count. This film is so relentlessly over-the-top, any viewer along for the ride will inevitably be trapped in the flow. I planned on splitting the film into two viewings, and instead just stayed up really late, almost wanting to put Evil Dead on again as soon as it ended.
Part of the brilliance here is never knowing exactly who the central protagonist will be, who will be the last person standing, and if there will even be a "final girl." While some may complain that there are few strong characters here, the more undeveloped nature of most of them makes it nearly impossible to guess who the film will end up focusing upon as the hero. When it does, holy cow, does that person acquit themselves well. Meanwhile, Álvarez relies on an endless array of practical effects, shying away from CGI to portray this endless roller-coaster of the macabre. This helps to continue the spirit of the previous films, even as Álvarez shies away from their humor. Indeed, the laughs only come when the gore becomes so over-the-top, the remaining viewers have no choice but to go along with the infinite viscera Álvarez is shoveling at them. My "ewww!"'s and "nooo"'s eventually evolved into (nervous) laughter by the final 20 minutes, and finally jubilant whoops. This movie rules.
Most importantly, at least on a personal level, Evil Dead has stuck with me. It's rare at this stage in life that a film is still bouncing around my head even a day after I've watched it, but all I want to think about right now is this movie. And on a final note, for some reason, Evil Dead's score, composed by Roque Baños, is absolutely beautiful. Yeah, it's scary too, but when things get very dramatic, especially near the end, his work is gorgeous.