Evil Dead Review (2013) – Brandon's Horror

My History With the Film:
I love The Evil Dead franchise. It was one of my most beloved franchises growing up and I spent years waiting for a Bruce Campbell led sequel to Army of Darkness. Instead, I was treated with a re-make of the original film (which had already happen in Evil Dead 2) and I was not excited at all.

One very slow day at the movie theater I worked in, my fellow manager told me to go watch Evil Dead while she covered the floor. So, I obliged and I loved it.

I don’t think I realize how much I loved it until a couple years later when I re-watched it and realized it checked off all the boxes of stuff I love in horror. The sound editing was amazing. The music was frightening and overpowering. The gore was over the top. The story was solid and the acting was above par. I was so worried that I could never enjoy a movie like this again after Cabin in the Woods came out, and I was thankful Evil Dead made sure that wasn’t the case.

This is my favorite horror movie of all-time.

What The Film Is About (Non-Spoiler):
A group of friends take a young girl to a wooded cabin to help her detox. While in the cabin, they discover The Book of the Dead and release the deadities.

What I Liked About It:

-I love a horror story with a realistic explanation and Evil Dead presented one right off the back: our main character Mia (Jane Levy) is detoxing and her friend’s don’t believe her when she says weird things are going on. This is very haunting to me and allows the story to progress quite a bit before everyone catches onto the evil that has come.

-The performances all around are amazing, especially Jane Levy (Mia) who can do no wrong in my eyes.

-The gore is unsettling at times, without being stupid and I love that.

-The thing I love most about this film is the sound. It’s so loud at times and the music is so disorientating it really taps into something that frightens me. Not many horror movies give me that overwhelming sense of dread, but Evil Dead does every time I watch it.

-The opening scene is dirty, gritty, depressing, and amazing all in one and really sets the tone of the rest of the movie.

-The movie uses a ton of practical effects, which I think also enriched my enjoyment of it.

What I Didn’t Like About It:
-Nothing.

Additional Notes:
-The filmmakers used 70,000 gallons of fake blood and used 50,000 gallons in the final scene alone.

-Fede Alvarez (Director) also directed Jane Levy in his follow-up feature Don’t Breath.

-Most of the film was shot in sequence so that the crew would not have to worry about cleaning up blood or gore, they could just leave it on the walls as the story progresses.

-An extended cut was aired on British television in 2015 for one day and has never been seen again.

Rating:

I keep waiting for the time I watch Evil Dead and don’t enjoy it as much, but that day hasn’t happened yet. In fact, every time I watch it I fall even more in love with the film and that is why its risen up on the ranks to my favorite horror movie of all-time.

I rate Evil Dead (2013) a five out of five and say it’s a must see.

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