If someone glanced at this weekend's box office, they could be forgiven for thinking they accidentally stepped into some kind of time portal. After all, films called 'Evil Dead' and 'Jurassic Park' were in the top five.
When are we to be held accountable for the way we react to what's on screen, and how much of our reaction is to be blamed on the director's failure to communicate clearly? For this we look to the new 'Evil Dead,' 'Tyler Perry's Temptation,' 'The Host' and 'Spring Breakers' -- four very different movies, but all with something in common.
There are a million reasons why an 'Evil Dead' remake shouldn't work. So many, in fact, we won't even start listing them all here. And yet this 'Evil Dead' remake is still a success (read our 'Evil Dead' review here). How is that possible? And how did they do it without the help of CGI, which is far-too-prevalent in horror movies these days? We sat down with director Fede Alvarez, producer Rob Tabert and a guy you might have heard of named Bruce Campbell, to talk about remaking one of the most beloved horror movies of all time.
Star of the original 'Evil Dead' (and producer of this remake) had one thing to say to the new cast as they prepped to begin shooting: this is going to be miserable.
Between the prosthetics, the contact lenses, the running, the screaming, the getting vomited on...there were some long days on the 'Evil Dead' set for sure. We talk to the 'Evil Dead' cast in this exclusive video about the worst part about filming, what makes it all worth it and what they know about 'Evil Dead 2.'
"Let's hope this still works," says David (Shiloh Fernandez) as he puts a key into the door of his family's old cabin in the woods. But of course he's not just talking about the key; he's talking about the idea of remaking 'The Evil Dead,' the 1981 cult classic that launched the careers of writer/director Sam Raimi, producer Robert Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell and remains close to the hearts of discerning horror fans everywhere. Between the original film and its two sequels, 'Evil Dead II' and 'Army of Darkness,' Raimi, Tapert, and Campbell created one of the most iconic horror franchises of all time. But that was thirty years ago. Times change; tastes change. And in the interim, 'Evil Dead' has been ripped off by so many other movies its plot smells about as fresh as a fruit cellar full of rotting cat corpses. Forget hoping it still works; you'd need the mother of all prayers, and maybe a blood sacrifice or two, to make an 'Evil Dead' remake click.
This is an idea so nutty that we're not even sure it's possible: what if the upcoming 'Evil Dead' remake is actually a sequel to the original film and is heading toward a crossover with the "old" films for 'Evil Dead 7,' which will see Bruce Campbell's Ash, fresh out of the recently announced 'Army of Darkness 2,' teaming up with the new characters? If you're not a horror fan, that surely reads like gibberish. If you are a horror fan, your brain may have just exploded.
So much of the fun of 'Evil Dead' is squirming in your seat. The plot - while there are some new updated devices - is largely something you should feel familiar with but the bloody parts? Those are something new and they're executed in a way (without CGI) that will impress even the most hardened gorehounds among you. To help celebrate those moments, we created 10 'Evil Deadl GIFs compiling all the nasty, gory, bloody and cringe-Worthy bits into little animated files you can to send to your friends to creep them the f--- out.
Having seen 'Evil Dead' (you can read our review here), we expected this new clip to cut away before the real nasty stuff starts. It doesn't. This new 'Evil Dead' clip is probably your best indication of the film so far. The tensions escalate to the point where things get bad and then they get worse and then they get even worse after that until you're literally sitting on the edge of your seat, half-cringing. Don't worry, it's OK to watch through your fingers.
What's surprising about Fede Alvarez's reboot of 'Evil Dead' is that it's currently got a fresh rating. As both a horror movie and as a remake, that's rare that a film like this isn't torn to pieces. Perhaps that will change after more people get a look at it (it premiered at SXSW, and we gave it a good review), but still. Here's a new clip from the movie.
This week we take a look at some of the women in film and the way they're being utilized and presented at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival in movies like 'Evil Dead,' 'Spring Breakers,' and many more.
