EVIL DEAD

US, 2013, 92 minutes, Colour.
Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pulci.
Directed by Alvarez.

Horror fans have put the 1981 original The Evil Dead, directed by an as-yet-to-be-discovered Sam Raimi, near the top of their horror cult classics. Small-budget, gory, brutal and a mish-mash of supernatural and demonic eeriness.

Bigger budget this time and slicker production values. Mixed reviews, but the devotees of the original have not always been persuaded.

Of course, this is a film only for horror fans. Anyone not on this wavelength wandering Evil Dead by mistake will be exiting the cinema quick smart. Horror films like this intend to be as visually striking (and sometimes disgusting) as they dare or as their imaginations will let them. This usually means a diminishing cast, dispatched in frightening circumstances, capitalising on stunt work and special effects.

And, that is what happens here. It takes itself seriously, not really doing the ironic or tongue-in-cheek thing, though there are moments when fans will gasp and laugh. Unlike the old slasher films, this is not a group of young people going into the woods where they let their capacity for sleazy behaviour loose. This group is much more serious, trying to help a friend to go cold turkey. Unfortunately for them, their cabin in the woods (there are always cabins in the woods) is the site for witchcraft (which we see in a pre-credits’ sequence).

The group find a book of the evil dead and let the demons or whatever evil it is take over and destroy them.

To the extent that the characters are a little more rounded and interesting than usual, to the extent that the gore, slashes and amputations are splashed with large blood spurts, then mission accomplished.

1. A satisfactory remake? Interpretation of the original?

2. The status of the original? The work of Sam Raimi?

3. The title, the evil book? Credibility? The skin cover? The crude illustrations, language? Powerful evil?

4. The prologue, the father, the daughter and her being executed, coven, the fact that she was possessed? Witches, burning, shooting? Setting the tone?

5. The group of young adults, the seriousness of their concern, joining to help Mia and her addiction? Her story, relationship with David, his absence, the dying mother and her calling for him, Mia pretending? Drugs, addiction, depression? Overcoming the problem and failing again?

6. David, his relationship with Mia, his feelings of guilt about his mother’s death, his job in Chicago, his not coming? Making up to Mia and trying to help her? Believing her performance even when she was possessed?

7. The nurse, her initiative, her helping Mia, the attack, her transformation?

8. The girlfriend, relationship with David, her observing what was going on, the attack, her transformation, her aggressiveness?

9. Eric, as a friend, his reading the books, speaking the incantation out loud? His trying to help, his being injured, his death?

10. The cabin in the woods, a place for cold turkey, the sinister basement, the smell, the dead animals, the book? Mia and her driving away, the crash? In the woods at the time of the incantation, the rush through the woods, the evil spirit?

11. The mayhem, the range of injuries, weapons, nails and saws, the sufferings of each character, amputations, blood? The emotional ties between the group? The ultimate pessimism.

12. A fable of the presence of evil in the world?