Anghus Houvouras reacts to the first trailer for the upcoming horror remake Evil Dead...
![]()
Let me first say this. I'm a huge fan of the original. If you asked me to list my top ten films of all time, Evil Dead would be on the list. I'm under no delusion that the film is a marvel of technique or storytelling, but there are few films I find as infinitely and endlessly enjoyable as the Sam Raimi directed nightmare. How big a fan you ask?
I own the different versions of the DVD. I have read every book on the subject of the production. I can tell you every anecdote about the terrible conditions under which it filmed. While filming a feature in Tennessee, I ventured out to find the location of the cabin from the original film. I've visited the locations used for the filming of Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn. There are few films that have caused me to devolve into random fandom. Evil Dead is one of them. So trust me when i tell you that the idea of an Evil Dead remake is not something i would file under 'great ideas'.
The greatness of the original Evil Dead is the fact that the film was a low budget labor of love. A manic, over the top, hyper energetic effort from a group of guys who didn't have a clue. The film's lack of polish is one of it's most endearing qualities. The same kind of lack of luster that makes the original Night of the Living Dead a classic. The Evil Dead is the horror film in its most pure, untouched state. Made independently well outside the Hollywood system by a creative team that truly understood what makes the genre tick. A little pugilism, a little humor, and a whole lot of blood.
![]()
I've heard a lot of early reactions drawing comparisons to The Cabin in the Woods, which seems almost insulting to me. I suppose there are people out there that have no idea that Cabin basically cribs the plot of Evil Dead for its set up. While I enjoyed Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon's meta deconstruction of the genre, it pains me a little to hear people citing comparisons to a film which is basically a spiritual successor to Sam Raimi's classic.
The new trailer hits a lot of the right notes for me. The images look appropriately hellish. There's a disgusting, blood soaked sense of terror throughout the trailer that seems very much in tune with the original's aesthetic. Several shots seemed to mirror Raimi's kinetic filming style. I liked what I saw, even though the thick, stylized layer of polish seems a little strange for a movie with the words 'Evil Dead' in the title. But times change. Lets just hope this doesn't end up in the boat with the other slew of high polish, low thrill horror remakes like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Amityville Horror, The Omen... Has there been a good horror film remake?
The one thing that's difficult to gauge at this early juncture is the characters. By now, everyone that's seen the original knows that Evil Dead is carried by Bruce Campbell's endlessly brutalized Ash. Early reports indicated Ash had been replaced by a female protagonist. But there's no real sense of character in the trailer. We get the premise: the book of dead, an evil incantation, all hell breaks loose. There's not a lot there for those of us familiar with the story. For the unfamiliar, there's a cavalcade of brutality and nightmarish visions. The trailer does a good job of establishing just how gruesome the film can get. And I think that's why I find myself endorsing the remake.
The horror genre's been in a funk for some time. We've endured a decade of awful Saw sequels and this found footage phenomenon that has turned scary movies into boring home videos. It's time to bring back a good, old fashioned brutal horror film that's not afraid to get it's hands, feet, and every other surface dirty. Even though it's a remake, there's still the potential for the horror film to get back to their down and dirty low budget roots.
Anghus Houvouras![]()
I own the different versions of the DVD. I have read every book on the subject of the production. I can tell you every anecdote about the terrible conditions under which it filmed. While filming a feature in Tennessee, I ventured out to find the location of the cabin from the original film. I've visited the locations used for the filming of Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn. There are few films that have caused me to devolve into random fandom. Evil Dead is one of them. So trust me when i tell you that the idea of an Evil Dead remake is not something i would file under 'great ideas'.
The greatness of the original Evil Dead is the fact that the film was a low budget labor of love. A manic, over the top, hyper energetic effort from a group of guys who didn't have a clue. The film's lack of polish is one of it's most endearing qualities. The same kind of lack of luster that makes the original Night of the Living Dead a classic. The Evil Dead is the horror film in its most pure, untouched state. Made independently well outside the Hollywood system by a creative team that truly understood what makes the genre tick. A little pugilism, a little humor, and a whole lot of blood.
I've heard a lot of early reactions drawing comparisons to The Cabin in the Woods, which seems almost insulting to me. I suppose there are people out there that have no idea that Cabin basically cribs the plot of Evil Dead for its set up. While I enjoyed Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon's meta deconstruction of the genre, it pains me a little to hear people citing comparisons to a film which is basically a spiritual successor to Sam Raimi's classic.The new trailer hits a lot of the right notes for me. The images look appropriately hellish. There's a disgusting, blood soaked sense of terror throughout the trailer that seems very much in tune with the original's aesthetic. Several shots seemed to mirror Raimi's kinetic filming style. I liked what I saw, even though the thick, stylized layer of polish seems a little strange for a movie with the words 'Evil Dead' in the title. But times change. Lets just hope this doesn't end up in the boat with the other slew of high polish, low thrill horror remakes like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Amityville Horror, The Omen... Has there been a good horror film remake?
The one thing that's difficult to gauge at this early juncture is the characters. By now, everyone that's seen the original knows that Evil Dead is carried by Bruce Campbell's endlessly brutalized Ash. Early reports indicated Ash had been replaced by a female protagonist. But there's no real sense of character in the trailer. We get the premise: the book of dead, an evil incantation, all hell breaks loose. There's not a lot there for those of us familiar with the story. For the unfamiliar, there's a cavalcade of brutality and nightmarish visions. The trailer does a good job of establishing just how gruesome the film can get. And I think that's why I find myself endorsing the remake.
The horror genre's been in a funk for some time. We've endured a decade of awful Saw sequels and this found footage phenomenon that has turned scary movies into boring home videos. It's time to bring back a good, old fashioned brutal horror film that's not afraid to get it's hands, feet, and every other surface dirty. Even though it's a remake, there's still the potential for the horror film to get back to their down and dirty low budget roots.
Anghus Houvouras
