Evil Dead (2013 remake)

Everything's gonna be fine?  Nothing's fine.  I don't know if you noticed this, but... everything's been getting worse... every second. - Eric

So, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert did what many fans thought was unthinkable: they remade one of Raimi's most popular films of all time.  No, not Darkman!  Not Spider-Man, either, that one was already redone.  Nope, the film that was remade this time was Raimi's 1981 cult classic The Evil Dead.  Instead of starring in it as Ash, Bruce Campbell joins Raimi and Tapert as a producer on the film.  So, how does the film hold up, both on its own and against the original?

In this film, we have a similar dynamic to the original: five friends, two of which are brother and sister, head out to an old cabin.  This time, however, the brother and three friends are staging an intervention attempt for the sister, Mia, to try to get her off of drugs after she nearly overdosed.  While in the cabin, the group finds evidence of a black magic ritual in the cellar, including a strange book wrapped in plastic and barbed wire.  When one of the group, Eric, opens the book and reads an incantation from it, all hell starts breaking loose, Mia becomes possessed by something a little stronger than drug withdrawals, and the group starts succombing one by one to the evil presence taking hold over the area.

I watched this film with a friend and he was absolutely critical over everything in it.  He disliked the departure from the original film's somewhat more simplistic storyline, criticizing the intervention storyline.  I, on the other hand, thought that it added a bit more depth to the somewhat single-dimension characters we had in the original film.  They aren't just there to have a good time in this one, they have a purpose.  Also of note, there wasn't a person named Ash here at all.  There were several instances where a character acted similar to how Ash would have, but I think this worked to the film's benefit.  Anyone playing Ash would have a big chin... er, big shoes... to fill!

Jane Levy played Mia, the poor girl who becomes the initial instrument of the Deadites.  She did really well with the part and brought alot of intensity to it.  Jim McLarty played Harold in the opening sequence, father to another possibly possessed girl.  In addition to several roles on various seasons of Power Rangers, he also had small parts in films like The Tommyknockers, Meatballs, and The Frighteners.  Shiloh Fernandez plays Mia's brother, and probably closest Ash variant, David.  He's also played in Deadgirl and Red Riding Hood.

For the most part, all the special effects seem to be practical, with a few things going to CGI.  One thing I noticed, in the scene where possessed Mia shows her true colors, a voice clip of the original film's Cheryl can be heard, briefly, reciting the curse she places on the group.  All in all, a good mix of new material as well as an homage to the original films (there's stuff here that made me think of all three movies!).

In my opinion, this gets a 5 out of 5.  In comparison to the original, I give it a 4 out of 5.  Even with the higher budget, more detailed storyline and all that, it just doesn't have Ash.  But it might!  There's talk of three more films: one a sequel to Army of Darkness, one a sequel to this, and a third that would tie the two versions together.  We'll see what happens when we get there, though!  Tune in tomorrow for a look at the second of the "lost" articles of Happy Horror, one of the films I didn't get to review before.  We'll be looking at Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.  Until then, take care of yourselves, and this is Red Hawk signing out!