ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - April 5th
"EVIL DEAD" released in 2013
Five friends who isolate themselves in a desolate cabin only to find themselves fighting for their lives - and souls, after they unwittingly unleash angry demons from the passages of an ancient book, in Fede Álvarez's re-imagining of Sam Raimi's cult classic horror film, Evil Dead!
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David (Shiloh Fernandez) and his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) arrive at a cabin in the woods, where the pair meet up with David's younger sister Mia (Jane Levy) and his friends Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) and Olivia (Jessica Lucas). After an awkward greeting, it is revealed the group plans to stay at the cabin to help Mia overcome her addiction to heroin; a fact David feels intense guilt over as he left Mia to care for their dying mother alone years before. That night, the group discover the cellar, littered with rotting animal corpses, a shotgun, and a book called the Naturom Demonto. Eric, having some knowledge of witchcraft, begins studying the book and, despite written warnings, he reads aloud an incantation and awakens a malevolent force that finds Mia standing outside alone. Mia begins seeing things, and when the group refuse to leave (believing Mia is simply suffering from withdrawl), she steals the keys to the truck; but a mysterious girl causes her to crash in a swamp. Emerging from the mud of the swamp, the demonic girl chases Mia through the woods, until she stumbles into a circular opening to a thorn bush and becomes entangled by vines. The girl, a demonic form of Mia, emits a black tar-like thorn vine from her mouth that slithers inside and possesses Mia! Returning to the cabin, Mia is locked in the cellar by the others, but not before being possessed herself and is later killed by Eric. Eric explains to David that, according to the Naturom Demonto, the unseen demon - known as the Taker of Souls - must claim five souls in order to unleash the Abomination. Soon, the remaining survivors are either possessed or killed, until David is the only one remaining to fight the demonic spirit. Alone , David makes one last deperate effort to save Mia before the fifth victim is claimed that will make the Abomination arise and blood rains from the sky!
[as the Deadites take possession of Mia]
Cheryl: You will die! Like the others before you, one by one, we will take you!
[Mia becomes eerily calm]
Mia: You're all going to die tonight.
Top and Above: Recovering addict Mia (Jane Levy) is attacked in the woods by an unseen demonic spirit!
When producer Rob Tapert suggested the possibility of an Evil Dead remake to Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, Raimi responded the most favorably, whereas Campbell was the least enthusiastic of the three. Raimi thought that The Evil Dead was exactly the sort of film that could be successfully updated and re-imagined by a new generation of filmmakers, while Campbell was not happy to pass on his iconic role of Ash. Campbell later relented when he heard that the film would feature a new set of characters, and the role of Ash would not be re-cast. But after years of development, Campbell stated in 2009 that the proposed remake was "going nowhere" and had "fizzled" due to extremely negative fan reaction. Then in 2011, it was suddenly announced that Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Álvarez had been contracted to direct and co-write the remake. Having signed a $30-40 million production deal with Ghost House Pictures after the extremely popular YouTube release of his earlier short film Ataque de Pánico! (Panic Attack), Alvarez began writing the script with co-writer Rodo Sayagues. Screenwriter Diablo Cody would later come on board to "Americanize" the dialogue since English was not the writers' first language.
Initially Lily Collins was scheduled to play the lead female role of Mia, but eventually dropped out of the project in January, 2012. Jane Levy replaced Collins the next month, in her first major horror role. Actor Shiloh Fernandez was cast in the lead male role of David, with Lou Taylor Pucci (who wanted to wear old style glasses and long hair as a tribute to the early 1980s when the original film was made), Elizabeth Blackmore, and Jessica Lucas later joining the cast. Interestingly, every girl in this film leading the cast is a scream queen; Elizabeth Blackmore is best known for The Vampire Diaries (2009), and Jessica Lucas has previously appeared in The Covenant (2006), Cloverfield (2008), Amusement (2008) (while Levy would also work with Alverez again in his follow up horror film, Don't Breathe in 2016).
Initially Lily Collins was scheduled to play the lead female role of Mia, but eventually dropped out of the project in January, 2012. Jane Levy replaced Collins the next month, in her first major horror role. Actor Shiloh Fernandez was cast in the lead male role of David, with Lou Taylor Pucci (who wanted to wear old style glasses and long hair as a tribute to the early 1980s when the original film was made), Elizabeth Blackmore, and Jessica Lucas later joining the cast. Interestingly, every girl in this film leading the cast is a scream queen; Elizabeth Blackmore is best known for The Vampire Diaries (2009), and Jessica Lucas has previously appeared in The Covenant (2006), Cloverfield (2008), Amusement (2008) (while Levy would also work with Alverez again in his follow up horror film, Don't Breathe in 2016).
[Mia traps the Abomination Mia under a truck]
Abomination Mia: I will feast on your soul!
[Mia revs her chainsaw]
Mia: Feast on this, motherfucker.
Top: Olivia (Jessica Lucas) is one of the first to be possessed;
Above: As the blood rain falls, Mia prepares her chainsaw to face the risen demon, the Abomination!
Principal photography on Evil Dead began on April 11th, 2012 on location in Muriwai Beach, Woodhill outside Auckland, New Zealand, with most of the film being shot in chronological order. The filmmakers decided of this approach as most of the action takes place in a controlled environment and the level of blood and violence gets worse and worse as the film progresses. Also by shooting in order, they can throw blood on the walls and not worry it will mess up another shot where it needed to be clean.
Although he has a background in CGI, Alvarez chose to go with practical effects for the film's visuals, mainly out of tribute to what Raimi achieved on a very limited budget back in 1982. This allayed some fears of fans of the series that the remake would resort to CGI rather than practical effects. However, some CGI was used to add fire, & remove wires and equipment used for the effects. Alvarez later stated in an interview that, "We didn't do any CGI in the movie [...] Everything that you will see is real, which was really demanding. This was a very long shoot, 70 days of shooting at night. There's a reason people use CGI; it's cheaper and faster, I hate that. We researched a lot of magic tricks and illusion tricks."
Before they moved on to make Ash vs Evil Dead (2015), Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell confirmed that this film is set in the same continuity as the original trilogy and their plan was to make Army of Darkness 2, a sequel to this film starring Mia, and one final film with Ash and Mia teaming up to fight Deadites. Since Universal Studios passed on Army of Darkness 2, with Ash's adventures now being told in Ash vs. Evil Dead, and the sequel to this film appearing to have been shelved, it is doubtful that this team-up will ever happen.
Although he has a background in CGI, Alvarez chose to go with practical effects for the film's visuals, mainly out of tribute to what Raimi achieved on a very limited budget back in 1982. This allayed some fears of fans of the series that the remake would resort to CGI rather than practical effects. However, some CGI was used to add fire, & remove wires and equipment used for the effects. Alvarez later stated in an interview that, "We didn't do any CGI in the movie [...] Everything that you will see is real, which was really demanding. This was a very long shoot, 70 days of shooting at night. There's a reason people use CGI; it's cheaper and faster, I hate that. We researched a lot of magic tricks and illusion tricks."
TRIVIA: According to reports in the press, the film used 70,000 gallons of fake blood. In an interview, Fede Alvarez said they used 50,000 gallons for the final scene alone. This is compared to the 200-300 gallons used in the original.
Top: Co-writer/director Fede Álvarez on set with Jane Levy;
Above: Actor Lou Taylor Pucci preparing to shoot a scene reading from the dreaded Naturom Demonto.
Evil Dead first received an NC-17 rating, which prompted cuts in order to obtain the contractually obligated R-rating by distributor TriStar Pictures, despite Alvarez and Raimi's original intention to keep the higher MPAA rating (despite this, the film was still banned in Ukraine for its extreme violence!). After premiering at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas on March 8, Evil Dead was widely released on April 5th, debuting first at the box office with a gross of almost $26 million. Evil Dead would go on to earn a little under $100 million worldwide, making the Evil Dead remake a financial success.
Critics were also mostly positive about the reboot, with John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter calling it a "remake that will win the hearts of many of the original's fans." Evan Dickson from Bloody Disgusting reviewed the film at SXSW and went on to say, "Evil Dead is amazingly gory and fun" and gave the film 4/5 stars, while Emma Simmonds of The List commented, "Evil Dead has ample cheap shocks and few bloodcurdling frights but it builds to something gorily bravura and, if that's your bag, you'll come away satisfied. It's a while before anyone picks up a chainsaw, but boy is it worth it when they do." Richard Roeper, however, rated the film one star out of four, criticizing the film's unoriginality, the characters' lack of intelligence, and the film's reliance on gore for what he felt were cheap scares. He concluded his review by saying, "I love horror films that truly shock, scare and provoke. But after 30 years of this stuff, I'm bored to death and sick to death of movies that seem to have one goal: How can we gross out the audience by torturing nearly every major character in the movie?"
Critics were also mostly positive about the reboot, with John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter calling it a "remake that will win the hearts of many of the original's fans." Evan Dickson from Bloody Disgusting reviewed the film at SXSW and went on to say, "Evil Dead is amazingly gory and fun" and gave the film 4/5 stars, while Emma Simmonds of The List commented, "Evil Dead has ample cheap shocks and few bloodcurdling frights but it builds to something gorily bravura and, if that's your bag, you'll come away satisfied. It's a while before anyone picks up a chainsaw, but boy is it worth it when they do." Richard Roeper, however, rated the film one star out of four, criticizing the film's unoriginality, the characters' lack of intelligence, and the film's reliance on gore for what he felt were cheap scares. He concluded his review by saying, "I love horror films that truly shock, scare and provoke. But after 30 years of this stuff, I'm bored to death and sick to death of movies that seem to have one goal: How can we gross out the audience by torturing nearly every major character in the movie?"
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 61%
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