Evil Dead Lives Again!

Due to being a spoiler geek, I was able to secure tickets for myself and a friend to see an advanced screening of: “EVIL DEAD (2013)” 8 days before release. So, on the 28^th of March we sat in a full AMC auditorium to watch a horror classic either be honored in retelling, or blasphemed in a soulless, Hollywood money grab! It brings me great pleasure to report that not only is Evil Dead a fantastic horror film, but a worthy addition to the franchise!

I’m a huge fan of the original classic: “THE EVIL DEAD (1981)”, as well as the two sequels: “EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN (1987)” & “ARMY OF DARKNESS (1992)”, and knowing a remake of my favorite of the original three was in the works made me very nervous. I mean the original is to this filmmaker the truest example of what low budget filmmakers with love for their work and a lot of imagination can do! How can Big Hollywood ever manage to capture that? They haven’t with many other remakes! Then the news that the original creative team was on board in a big way, shaping the new crew as to the ways of Evil Dead making. I relaxed and decided to give this a shot, even knowing Bruce Campbell wasn’t starring this go round.

While this film has its drawbacks, the number of things and references it gets right far outweigh any negative I can mention. This remake manages to not only draw inspiration to the original, but BOTH sequels in ways that are reminders of the classics, while still managing to create its own identity. Never do these little (or sometimes huge) nods slow the movie down with nostalgia, or worse yet, make you think how much better the previous films were.

The Plot is simple: group of kids retreat to a cabin to help their friend get over a drug addiction. Once there, they find an ancient book of evil which due to a stupid kid reading the translated part unleashes unspeakable evil upon the cabin and its occupants! You know the usual weekend in the woods. While the plot remains basically the same as the original, (as well as 900 other horror films for that matter) it’s not the focus of the film. This film is all about the 2 C’s: Character and Carnage!

The Characters:
There are five twenty-somethings at this cabin, but only three stick out as worth anything:
Mia the drug recovering main character played by Jane Levy, her brother David played by Shiloh Fernandez and Eric the friend who is dumb enough to read from the Book of The Dead played by Lou Taylor Pucci.

Jane Levy is our Bruce Campbell stand-in, NOT replacement! She manages to be not only a very sympathetic character pre-and-post possession, but scary during her possession which is the bulk of her screen time. I can easily see her becoming a cult horror actress with a long career.

Shiloh Fernandez plays what I can only describe as the stupidest character in all horror films ever! No matter how bad things get, this guy refuses to accept that they have entered the supernatural realm and his logic means diddly!

But then there is Lou Taylor Pucci as the guy who instigates the whole mess, but redeems himself by being the ONLY PERSON who knows what is going on and how to fix their situation! Seriously, once things begin heading Hellward he starts studying the translated book for answers. The sad thing is even though he finds the answers, which aren’t pleasant by any means; nobody has the guts to survive! Oh well, it just leads to…

The Carnage:
Words to describe the sheer magnitudes of gore in this film boggles the mind in ways that approach Lovecraftian levels of unexplainable! It’s so in your face, but it never transcends into comedy in its excess. I was not let down in this area and I believe the biggest reason for this is the effect work is film, with the exception of one gag, is pure, old fashioned practical effects! Limbs are severed, burns are caused, and all of it is on-set trickery. That alone sold this film for me. It was that extra attention to still do things for real that shows that good can still come from Hollwood! Director and co-writer Fede Alvarez did good by sticking to his guns about keeping it real, literally! It also helped to have Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell on board keeping things on track. These masters of this genre have proven that the new generation of nightmare makers aren’t as incompetent as people believe them to be. And for this I say thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Short-Story-Long:

On April 5^th Evil Dead opens to the public. I urge every horror fan to give this remake a chance, I doubt everyone will be pleased, but the majority will be. It is everything we’ve been wanting and more! Plus its success has been promised to get us “ARMY OF DARKNESS II” and it’s safe to say WE ALL WANT THAT! And to echo every other review of this film I HAVE to urge you to stay for the credits! Not just the credits themselves which are fantastic, but for…something “groovy” afterwards!

~_M.H._~

Follow me on Twitter: @MHSmith22

Oz The Great And Powerful At The Box Office!

Sam Raimi has struck box office gold again! His Disney sponsored venture in the Land of Oz is making serious bank all across the world and in the hearts of people everywhere! This is because Disney knows the dark secrets to market anything. You see, 2013’s “OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL” is less a prequel to “THE WIZARD OF OZ”, then it is a water test for their own impending remake of the 1939 classic!

Don’t believe me? Look at the trends of remakes in the last few years as well this film itself.

The TRENDS:

As I sighted in my review of: “THE THING (2011)”, Hollywood has learned about the backlash that can arise from remaking beloved classics, so the tactic of “we will set it before the original and toss just enough references in to make it seem like it will line up to confuse average movie goers into buying a ticket”! All they had to do in this instance is get a super talented cult director and well-known actors to green screen act, then count all that glorious money that rush in faster than flying monkeys!

The FILM ITSELF:

As just a movie, Oz The Great And Powerful is a fun, wonderful, silly fantasy film! Worth seeing as an entertaining way to kill 2 hours. As what it was billed as: “a prequel to the 1939 classic” it is WAY OFF! People have told me I’m getting picky over little details, but it’s too many little details to ignore!

For instants:
-Glinda: The Good Witch of the South…oh wait, shouldn’t that be the North?
-Why are their other beings living in the Munchkin village?
-Why are the flying monkeys baboons now?
-The Wicked Witch of the West’s fall into evil was too fast!
-WHY DOES THE WIZARD’S PROJECTION HEAD LOOK LIKE HIM AND NOT THE GREEN, BALD FREAKY HEAD FROM THE ORIGINAL?!?!?!
-Ruby….Slippers!

And then there’s the moral of the film: “Telling AND COVERING UP a lie is totally cool, if it’s for a greater good! There’s nothing wrong with tricking possibly millions of Oz fokes into thinking this guy is a real wizard, they needed it!”

I know my rants seem crazy, so let me explain myself. I enjoyed this film on a fan of movies level. I enjoyed this film on a Sam Raimi fan level. I HATED this film on a fan of the original Wizard Of Oz level! I felt this would have been much better had it be marketed as a new franchise that has nothing to do with the original film.

I mean let’s look at the positives this film’s got going for it:

ACTUAL LITTLE PEOPLE AS THE MUNCHKINS!!!!!!!

That fact ALONE redeemed all my issues, because I have very strong feelings when it comes to characters that are supposed to be “little people” and what we get are “big” actors digitally shrunk down and/or special make up’ed into the role. It’s just wrong!

Short-Story-Long:

It’s flawed out the wazoo, but ACTUAL LITTLE PEOPLE AS THE MUNCHKINS!!!!!! So you should see it. Besides there’s already a sequel in the works which we all know is what this film was bracing us for: The Wizard Of Oz: The Remake!

~_M.H._~

Follow Me on Twitter: @MHSmith22