Evil Dead (2013 film)
Evil Dead | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Fede Alvarez |
Screenplay by |
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Produced by | |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Aaron Morton |
Edited by | Bryan Shaw |
Music by | Roque Baños |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | TriStar Pictures (USA) Sony Pictures (Int'l) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 92 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $17 million[2] |
Box office | $97,454,981[2] |
Evil Dead is a 2013 American horror film co-written and directed by Fede Alvarez. It is the fourth installment of the Evil Dead franchise, serving as both a reboot and as a loose continuation of the series. It is the first not to be directed by Sam Raimi.
The film is the feature debut of Alvarez, whom Raimi selected. It was produced by Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Robert G. Tapert: the writer-director, lead actor, and producer of the original trilogy respectively. The film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest festival on March 8, 2013. On March 9, 2013, it was announced that the film will have a sequel, followed by a crossover with the original trilogy. Evil Dead was announced on July 15, 2013 to be adapted into a live experience as the first maze announced for Universal Studios Hollywood's & the second maze for Universal Orlando Resort's annual Halloween Horror Nights event for 2013.
Plot
Captured in the woods, an injured girl (Phoenix Connolly) is restrained in a basement with many people present. Upon revealing she is demonically possessed, her father, Harold (Jim McLarty), sets her on fire and shoots her dead.
Subsequently, a group of friends, Mia Allen (Jane Levy), her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez), Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), Olivia (Jessica Lucas) and David's girlfriend, Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore), arrange a getaway to an old, remote cabin in the woods, in order to help Mia recover from a severe heroin addiction. At the cabin, a foul stench leads them to the cellar, where they discover dozens of rotting animal corpses, a double-barreled shotgun and a book titled Naturom Demonto, a Sumerian variation of the Book of the Dead. Ignoring warnings scrawled on the book's pages, Eric reads a passage aloud, summoning a demon which enters Mia's body. Terrified, Mia pleads to leave, but the group refuses, believing her to be making up excuses while suffering from withdrawals. She decides to head out alone, but a possessed girl suddenly appears in the rain-drenched road, and Mia steers into a flooded ditch, disabling the car. Attempting to return to the cabin on foot, Mia becomes entangled in branches and briars that seem to have a life of their own. One coils around her neck, nearly choking her. The demon girl reappears before her. A snakelike, braided vine emanates from the girl's mouth and winds across Mia's leg before heading under her dress to assault her. Mia reappears at the cabin, and tells David that something in the woods attacked her, and that it's in the cabin with them. David believes Mia's fear is an effect of the withdrawal, but Mia sees the possessed girl in the corner when David leaves the room. After discovering that Mia has murdered his dog, David walks in on her scalding herself in the shower, which Eric recognizes is prophesied in the book. David rushes to get her to a hospital, but a flood blocks the roads.
Upon returning to the cabin, Mia shoots David in the arm with the shotgun, attacks Olivia and vomits voluminous amounts of blood on her, and tells the group, in the demon's voice, "You're all going to die tonight." She then passes out, and the group puts her in the cellar. In the bathroom, Olivia falls prey to the demon, catching a glimpse of her own mutilated face in the mirror, which then shatters. Responding to the noise, Eric finds Olivia carving her face with the broken glass. She stabs him repeatedly, first with a shard of mirror, then with a hypodermic needle, before he crushes her skull with broken porcelain from the toilet. While David tends to Eric's wounds out in the shed, Natalie hears noises and finds the cellar door open. A crying Mia lures Natalie into the cellar and bites her on the hand.
Meanwhile, Eric attempts to burn the book, hoping to put an end to the nightmare, but discovers that it won't catch fire. Though it's written in an ancient language, Eric has found enough translations and notes in the book to learn a few details. It describes a prophecy in which a demon called the Taker of Souls will possess a human and consume five souls, thereby releasing from hell a being called the Abomination.
In the kitchen, Natalie's arm has begun to rot rapidly, leading her to cut it off above the elbow with an electric knife. David and Eric return to the cabin and tend to Natalie's wounds, then discuss their next move. Eric explains that Mia must be "purified" via burning, live burial or dismemberment. Suddenly, they are attacked with a nail gun by now-possessed Natalie. She shoots them multiple times before nearly severing Eric's hand with a crowbar. David blows off Natalie's other arm with the shotgun, and the demon leaves her body as she bleeds to death.
David decides to set fire to the cabin, with Mia locked in the cellar, but cannot bring himself to do it. He enters the cellar with tranquilizers, but Mia attacks him, nearly drowning him before being saved by Eric, who finally dies from his wounds. and David immobilizes Mia and buries her alive in a shallow grave outside the cabin. After Mia dies, he digs her up and uses an improvised defibrillator to revive her. Back at the cabin, David is attacked by Eric, whose body is now possessed by the demon. Mortally wounded, David gives Mia the car keys and locks her out of the house. When Eric warns David about the Abomination's arrival, David shoots at the gasoline can, engulfing the house in flames and killing them both.
Outside, the final stage of the prophecy begins. It begins to rain blood and the Abomination crawls out of the ground and chases Mia. During the pursuit, Mia is forced to rip off her hand when it becomes pinned under David's Jeep. She manages to kill the Abomination with a chainsaw, and its remains sink into the ground. Dawn breaks as Mia wanders away from the aftermath, the blood rain stops, and the Naturom Demonto, on the ground nearby, closes by itself.
Audio from the original film, in which Professor Raymond Knowby recounts his discovery of the Naturom Demonto, plays under the closing credits. Then, in a brief post-credits scene, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) utters his iconic line from Evil Dead II, "Groovy", under dim light, and suddenly turns to face the camera.
Cast
- Jane Levy as Mia Allen
- Shiloh Fernandez as David Allen
- Lou Taylor Pucci as Eric
- Jessica Lucas as Olivia
- Elizabeth Blackmore as Natalie
- Phoenix Connolly as Teenager
- Jim McLarty as Harold
- Sian Davis as Old Woman
- Stephen Butterworth as Toothless Redneck
- Karl Willetts as Long Haired Redneck
- Randal Wilson as Demonic/Abomination Mia
- Rupert Degas as the Demon (voice)
In addition, using audio from the original film, Bob Dorian plays Professor Raymond Knowby during the credits and Ellen Sandweiss plays a voice cameo as Cheryl Williams. Bruce Campbell plays Ash Williams in an uncredited cameo appearance.
The initial letters of the five main characters' names (David, Eric, Mia, Olivia, Natalie) form an acrostic spelling out the word DEMON.[3]
Production
Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues co-wrote the script, which was then doctored by Diablo Cody in an effort to Americanize the dialogue since English was not the writers' first language.[4] The film was produced by Raimi, Campbell, and Robert G. Tapert — the producers of the original trilogy.
Raimi and Campbell had planned a remake for many years, but in 2009, Campbell stated the proposed remake was "going nowhere" and had "fizzled" due to extremely negative fan reaction.[5] However, in April 2011, Bruce Campbell stated in an AskMeAnything interview on Reddit.com, "We are remaking Evil Dead. The script is awesome [...] The remake's gonna kick some ass — you have my word."[6]
On July 13, 2011, it was officially announced, via a press release, that Ghost House Pictures would team up with FilmDistrict to produce an Evil Dead remake, with Diablo Cody in the process of revising the script and Fede Alvarez directing.[4] Actor Shiloh Fernandez was cast in the lead male role of David.[7] Bloody Disgusting reported that Lily Collins would play the lead female role of Mia, but on January 24, 2012, she dropped out of the role.[8][9]
On February 3, 2012, it was announced that actress Jane Levy, star of the television series Suburgatory, would replace Collins in the lead female role as Mia.[10] Lou Taylor Pucci, Elizabeth Blackmore, and Jessica Lucas later joined the cast.[11][12]
In January 2013, Alvarez commented on the ambiguity of the film's relationship to the original:
Now, the way I personally like to see Evil Dead (2013), it's as a story that takes place 30 years after The Evil Dead ended. The car is there, the cabin is there (a family bought it and did some work on it more than 20 years ago) and the book has found its way back to the cabin... New kids will encounter it and suffer its wrath. Is Evil Dead a sequel then? Maybe. But the problem with the sequel theory would be that there are too many coincidences between the events on The Evil Dead and the ones on Evil Dead to have happened on a continuous story line [...] But if you believe the Naturom Demonto can force these things to happen... then it could be a sequel... and I do believe in coincidences.[13]
Alvarez, who also has a background in CGI, also confirmed in an interview that the film does not employ CGI (except for touch-ups): "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."[14]
Sam Raimi's 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 can be seen in an opening scene with David and Mia as they arrive at the cabin. The 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 has appeared in almost all of the movies that Raimi has been involved with over his career.
Release
TriStar Pictures released the film theatrically on April 5, 2013 in the United States.[15] Alvarez tweeted on January 28, 2013 that the film first received an NC-17 rating, which prompted cuts in order to obtain the contractually obligated R-rating.[16] The film has been rated uncut as an 18 by the BBFC for containing strong "bloody violence, gory horror and very strong language".[17] Evil Dead premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX on March 8, 2013.[citation needed] The music for Evil Dead, composed by Roque Baños, was released by La-La Land Records in a 40-minute digital form and a 70-minute physical release, on April 9, 2013.[18] The release of the film in Australia is restricted to five cinemas due to its Australian R18+ rating; one in Sydney, one in Brisbane, one in Melbourne, one in Adelaide, and one in Perth.
Home media
Evil Dead was released on DVD and Blu-ray, on July 16, 2013.[19] The Blu-ray exclusives include commentary from three of the cast, and screenwriters Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues, behind the scenes and a featurette, while the regular DVD will include three other featurettes.[20]
Reception
The film brought in $26 million in its opening weekend[21] and became a box office success, grossing over $54,239,856 domestically and $43,303,096 internationally, for a worldwide take of $97,542,952.
Evil Dead has received generally positive reviews. The film has since earned a score of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 154 reviews with an average rating of 6.2/10; the consensus states: "It may lack the absurd humor that underlined the original, but the new-look Evil Dead compensates with brutal terror, gory scares, and gleefully bloody violence."[22] On Metacritic, the film holds a 58% rating, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[23] Criticism focuses on the characters and some of the story being spoiled by the trailers for the film.
Evan Dickson from Bloody Disgusting reviewed the film at SXSW, and went on to say that "Evil Dead is amazingly gory and fun" and gave the film 4/5 stars.[24] Chris Tilly of IGN gave Evil Dead 9/10, and called the movie a "terrifying, exhilarating and relentlessly entertaining new chapter in the Evil Dead story".[25] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review, calling it a "remake that will win the hearts of many of the original's fans."[26] Independent horror review site HorrorTalk gave the film four stars out of five saying it is "the most unrelenting and bloody horror film to come out of a major studio in a very long time".[27] 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."[28] Matt Singer called the film "an assault on the senses" and "a success, one that out-Evil Deads the original movie with even more gore, puke, blood, and dismembered limbs. It may not be wildly inventive, but it is effective, and plenty faithful to the spirit — and tagline — of the first 'Ultimate Experience in Grueling Terror.'"[29]
Richard Roeper rated the film one star out of four, criticizing the film's unoriginality, the characters' lack of intelligence, and the films 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?"[30]
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
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2013 | Golden Trailer Awards[31] | Best Horror TV Spot | TriStar Pictures and mOcean for "Everything's Fine" | Nominated |
Sequel
At the SXSW premiere event, Alvarez announced that a sequel is in the works.[32][33] In addition, Sam Raimi confirmed plans to write Evil Dead 4 with his brother; it was later specified that this film would be Army of Darkness 2.[34] At a WonderCon panel in March 2013, Campbell and Alvarez stated that their ultimate plan was for Alvarez's Evil Dead 2 and Raimi's Army of Darkness 2 to be followed by a seventh film which would merge the narratives of Ash and Mia.[35]
References
- ^ "EVIL DEAD (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2013-03-13.
- ^ a b Evil Dead at Box Office Mojo
- ^ "Review: Zeitgeists & Demons: Fede Alvarez's 'Evil Dead'". 20 April 2013.
- ^ a b McIntyre, Gina (July 13, 2011). "'Evil Dead' remake: Diablo Cody polishing script for first-time director". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Bad News: No 'Bubba Nosferatu'. Good News: No 'Evil Dead' Remake!". JustPressPlay.net. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
- ^ "ImBruce Campbell comments on I'm Bruce Campbell: AMA". Reddit. April 12, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
- ^ "Fernandez to haunt 'Evil Dead'". Variety. February 2, 2012.
- ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Two Possible Lead Actresses for 'The Evil Dead'". Bloody Disgusting. January 4, 2012.
- ^ "'The Evil Dead' Remake Loses Lily Collins". IndieWire.com. January 24, 2012.
- ^ Fleming, Mike. "Jane Levy Is New Star Of 'Evil Dead' Remake". Deadline.com. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
- ^ Sneider, Jeff (February 10, 2012). "Lou Pucci in talks for 'Evil Dead'". Variety. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
- ^ "'Melrose Place' Actress Joining 'Evil Dead' Remake". The Hollywood Reporter. March 7, 2012. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
- ^ Vespe, Eric "Quint" (January 7, 2013). "Quint visits the set of Evil Dead and holds the book of the dead, sees a ton of gore and even spots a classic cameo!". aintitcool.com. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
- ^ Dickson, Evan (January 6, 2013). "No CGI At All In The New 'Evil Dead'?!!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
- ^ Evil Dead Official Website, Sony Pictures (January 20, 2013). "'Evil Dead' Rating". MPAA. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
- ^ Fede Alvarez, Twitter (January 28, 2013). "'Evil Dead' Rating". Twitter. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
{{cite web}}
:|first=
has generic name (help) - ^ "EVIL DEAD | British Board of Film Classification". BBFC.CO.UK. 2013-03-13. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ "'Soundtrack Details for Evil Dead Revealed, La-La Land to Distribute'". Bloody Disgusting. March 27, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
- ^ "Evil Dead Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
- ^ "'Evil Dead' To Bloody Up Blu-ray On July 16th!! -". bloody-disgusting.com. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
{{cite web}}
: Check|url=
value (help) - ^ "'Weekend Box Office Numbers'". April 8, 2013. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
- ^ "Evil Dead". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 2013-04-05.
- ^ Evil Dead at Metacritic
- ^ "[BD Review] 'Evil Dead' Is A Thrillingly Gory Blast". BloodyDisgusting.
- ^ Chris Tilly 9 Mar 2013 (2013-03-09). "Evil Dead Review - IGN". Ca.ign.com. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Evil Dead: SXSW Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 2013-03-09. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ HorrorTalk.com, Website (March 13, 2013). "Evil Dead 2013 Movie Review". Retrieved March 14, 2013.
- ^ Simmonds, Emma (March 26, 2013). "Fede Alvarez's horror remake doesn't better the original, but is still satisfyingly gory". The List. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ Singer, Matt (March 9, 2013). "Evil Dead Review". Screen Crush. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
- ^ Roeper, Richard (April 03, 2013). "Evil Dead'". rogerebert.com. Retrieved April 05, 2013.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|accessdate=
and|date=
(help) - ^ "The 14th Annual Golden Trailer Award Nominees". Retrieved 3 May 2013.
- ^ Douglas, Edward (2013-03-09). "No Evil Dead 4…. Army of Darkness 2!". Shock Till You Drop. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ "Evil Dead Remake: New Characters, New Story, & Bruce Campbell Cameo". Screenrant.com. 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ "Sam Raimi's Next Project is Army of Darkness 2′' Not Evil Dead 4". Screenrant.com. Retrieved 2013-03-17.
- ^ Fischer, Russ (March 30, 2013). "Bruce Campbell and 'Evil Dead' Director Fede Alvarez Would Love to Merge Original and Remake Storylines". slashfilm.com. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
External links
- 2013 films
- The Evil Dead
- 2013 horror films
- American films
- American horror films
- English-language films
- Directorial debut films
- Films set in Massachusetts
- Films shot in Michigan
- Horror film remakes
- Splatter films
- Supernatural horror films
- TriStar Pictures films
- Films directed by Fede Alvarez
- FilmDistrict films
- Reboot films
- Demons in film