Nordling here.
For many horror fans, Sam Raimi's THE EVIL DEAD remains the entry point into the genre. Still awesome and scary after all these years, the following films are also just as great but the original film still has that undeniable power. It's still genuinely frightening. And if the people at Moviehole are correct, that's what the filmmakers are going for in the reboot.
Moviehole has an exclusive take on the new film, which looks like will be shooting in New Zealand. According to the article:
"This sounds like a good horror movie. Is it THE EVIL DEAD we know and love though? With the quick quips, camp humour and cool-as-ice hero? Nope. Not at all. In fact, from what our contact tells us it’s much more akin to THE SHINING."
The article goes on to describe the story - about a group of friends trying to help their best friend Mia detox from drugs and alcohol, who go to the fated cabin, find the Book of the Dead, and all hell breaks loose as the demons torment Mia in the cabin, trying to force their way into our world. No Ash here - these are just normal people thrown into something far beyond their frame of reference. The story sounds like it's more a straight-up horror film than the horror-comedy hybrid of Raimi's later EVIL DEAD films, but I think people seem to forget that that first EVIL DEAD was straight-up horror as well. It had moments of humor, but Sam Raimi made it fully with the intention of scaring the hell out of its audience. It's only with the sequels that it became what we remember it as today.
Honestly, the story doesn't sound that terrible, but it doesn't sound very inspiring, either. The idea of a girl going through withdrawal having terrible visions as the demons try to possess her sounds promising, but what always struck me about the demons of THE EVIL DEAD is that they weren't subtle - they brutally attack anything that comes into contact with them, and spare no one. I think what makes the first film so scary is that Raimi almost defies the slow build of horror films of this nature and just pummels the audience. It's a mode of horror that I find very effective even today. If anyone's going to remake that film, they'd do well to remember that. Diablo Cody is working on the script, and judging from the synopsis I can see her influence on the material. I like Cody as a writer and hope that she nails that aspect of the original films.
Check out the link for more information about the reboot - if it's accurate, I imagine many EVIL DEAD fans will be disappointed - but I'll reserve judgment until I see the final product.
Nordling, out.
