Review of Evil Dead (2013) by August C — 12 Oct 2013

At last, people, the "Evil Dead" saga see it's long-awaited comeback in this remake... reboot... sequel... prequel... or something. Jeez, and I thought that 2011's "The Thing" had a very confusing role in its series, but as all over the place as this film is with its handling of its classic mythology, it sounds more like a remake of "Evil Dead II". I don't know, each installment in the "Evil Dead" series is so contradictory to its predecessors that this may very well be an official continuation of Sam Raimi's vision, or at least Raimi's answer to "The Amazing Spider-Man". Those wise guys at Marvel think they can go and kick Sam the man out of the film franchise that he brought to life, well he's just going to go off and become involved in rebooting another big film series for him... just not as director or screenwriter. It seems like no one trust Raimi to handle series reboots, except maybe "The Wizard of Oz", and even then, plenty of people were still throwing out complaints that I, quite frankly, can't see too clearly. Forget y'all, I liked "Oz the Great and Powerful"; this reboot, on the other hand, well, I'm not really digging on it. The horror fans who are actually liking this film for whatever reason can go on resting easy... or uneasy, or whatever it is they do after watching scary movies, but I'm not particularly satisfied, which isn't to say that there aren't a couple elements that I'm satisfied with.

With this film, veteran Spanish score composer Roque Baños finds his big break in America, and while his efforts are pretty formulaic as far as scores for films of this type are concerned, they're generally worthy samples of Baños' talent, marrying a distinctly Spanish taste in haunting, subtle piano-driven minimalism with a subtly intense brood in order to craft a score that is effective on both an atmospheric level and aesthetic level, kind of like Aaron Morton's cinematography, whose near-unique tastes in color and lighting prove to be both unconventionally handsome and thoroughly complimentary to the harshly gritty, deeply unnerving tone that this film boasts, at least on paper. The artistic touch-up for the intensity is perhaps more effective than the intensity that it conceptually merely compliments, and while that is unfortunate, the fact of the matter is that the aesthetic elements of this thriller do about as much as they can in pumping up atmosphere, as surely as the effects do about as much as they can in pumping up the imagery that drives much of the chills in this film. I wouldn't doubt it if the producers had some pretty intense debates with Hollywood over the technical aspects of this film, because where this film could have cheaped out and relied a little too heavily on digital effects, most of the effects are practical, and therefore more buyable and effective in a lot of ways, which is good, seeing as how much of this film is driven by the convincingness of its disturbing imagery, particularly the gory ones that, I must say, stand out in this film. It's debatable whether or not the gore in this film is more effective than the more dated gore in the previous "Evil Dead" series installments, largely because this film gets to be too reliant on its disturbing imagery to be all that effective, thus making the disturbances all the more unnerving, but if you're looking for well-funded and creative gore, it's hard to not give this film a lot of respect, not simply for its seriously brutal, morbidly nifty violence and gory, but for its having the audacity to be as brutal as it is. You really do have to see the film to believe what it gets away with doing when it comes to gore, so the technical aspects of the film, like the stylistic aspects, are more effective than the substance is on paper, and yet, with that said, I can't completely dismiss the core of this thriller, because as trite and misguided as this film's telling of a minimalist story concept is, there are some refreshing takes on this familiar story that refresh some of your investment, especially when director Fede Alvarez's ambition becomes realized enough to play up disturbing imagery and offputting atmosphere just enough to draw tension, and quite a bit of it. When Alvarez fails to deliver, or even over-delivers, the film kind of falls apart under the weight of underwhelmingness, but there are effective moments, and they punctuate a consistent impressiveness within the score work, cinematography and gory special effects that, if backed by more inspired substance, would have made for a pretty decent and effective horror flick. Sadly, in the final, the final product falls short, having plenty of decent moments, but not enough to be decent on the whole, which isn't to say that there aren't plenty of limitations to potential.

Whether it be because it's trying a little too hard to be much more serious as a horror film than previous "Evil Dead" films, including the relatively straight-faced original of 1981, or whatever, this film's story concept could perhaps be meatier than the story concept of '81's "The Evil Dead", at least in concept, but it's still not that meaty, being built around a minimalist scope, with only so much depth to compel, particularly when it comes to the characters, who aren't interesting enough to be all that endearing, especially when they go so underdeveloped. Now, what really undercut 1981's "The Evil Dead" in a lot of ways was tremendous development shortcomings, which went so far as to eliminate background information and minimalize gradual exposition almost as much as possible, so, to be honest, this film's characterization feels more fleshed out, but it's limited even in immediate development, and once the conflict really kicks in, exposition all but halts, reducing the characters to not much more than meat for the grinder, whose compellingness are hardly saved by the performances. Now, right quick, when acting material does kick in, more often than not, the performers deliver with an adequately convincing intensity that flavors up a sense on danger, but on the whole, there's nothing really special about the acting in this film, with "Suburgatory" star Jane Levy being often pretty hammy and unconvincing, while the other performers fail to produce enough charisma to compensate for characterization and acting material limitations, so when it comes to the human elements of this character-driven thriller, there are some serious shortcomings, most of which can be found in the writing, which, of course, offers more errors. Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues turn in a script that isn't as messy as it could have been, but is still mighty messy, even when it comes to dialogue, which ranges from bland to really weak, typically when it becomes about as trite as most every other major element in this film, which may interpret its legendary story concept a little uniquely, but is, on a general level, generic something fierce, being anchored by characters who are as familiar as they are undercooked, as well as by plot elements that have been done time and again since "The Evil Dead". Even for a reboot that aims to pay a good deal of respect to its roots, often in very unsubtle ways, this film is way too familiar, at least on paper, within a script whose conventionalism is considerable to the point blanding up chills, which are perhaps most undercut by trite efforts, not in writing, but in direction. Like I said, when Alvarez, as director, delivers on playing up disturbing imagery and a brooding atmosphere just right, you get a pretty clear glimpse into a more realized and effective thriller, yet those effective moments break up cheap thrills, powered by an overbearing overemphasis on violent imagery (Could it be some kind of a competition to outdo the gore of the classics?) and, of course, jump scares that undercuts potential for effective thrills more than it does it justice, which is a shame, because when you take into account how disturbing this subject matter is and how audacious this film is with its exceedingly disturbing imagery, there's quite a bit of potential for profound scares, ultimately betrayed by, of all things, a desperation to fulfill potential. The ambition that Alvarez pumps into this film has a charm about it, sure, and often evolves into inspiration, but there are so many flaws here, and ambition emphasizes them all, maybe not to where you can ignore the strength, but certainly to where you, or at least I, find difficulty in getting invested in this film that comes close to decency, but ultimately falls short as just another mediocre splatter feature, just one with more potential to waste than usual.

When the book is closed once again, at least for now, atmospheric score work, chillingly sharp cinematography, outstanding special effects, - especially those behind creative and unapologetically hardcore gore - and really scary highlights in direction bring the final product to the brink of decency, but natural shortcomings secure the standard for compellingness as limited, while considerable underdevelopment and underwhelming performances behind uninteresting characters, hopelessly trite storytelling and generally ineffectively cheap attempts at thrills solidify Fede Alvarez's "Evil Dead" as a borderline decent, but ultimately misguided attempt to revitalize a classic saga, and a mediocre misfire by its own right.

2.25/5 - Mediocre.