EVIL DEAD

C H AP TE R I O RI E N TA TI O N

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 a loose continuation of the series; the first was not directed by Sam Raimi. The film had its world premiere at the South by Southwest festival on March 8, 2013. This film was acted by Jane Levy (Mia), Shiloh Fernandez (David), Lou Taylor Pucci (Eric), Elizabeth Blackmore (Natalie), and Jessica Lucas (Olivia).

C H AP TE R II I NT E RP RE TA TI V E R E C O U N T

After being captured in the woods, an injured girl is restrained in a basement with many people present. Upon revealing she is demonically possessed, her father, Harold, sets her on fire and shoots her dead. Sometime later, Mia, her brother David, their friends Eric and Olivia, and David's girlfriend, Natalie, arrive at an old cabin, remote cabin in the woods where they plan to help Mia recover from heroin addiction. A foul stench leads them to the cellar, where they discover rotting animal corpses, a double-barreled shotgun and a book titled Naturom Demonto, a Sumerian variation of the Book of the Dead. Ignoring warnings scrawl on the book's pages, Eric reads a passage aloud, summoning a demon. Believing that there is something coming after her, Mia pleads to leave, but the group refuses, believing shes suffering from withdrawal.

Feeling betrayed, she hijacks the group's car and head out on her own, but when a demonic version of Mia appears it causes her to steer into a flooded ditch which disables the car. Returning to the cabin on foot, she gets entangled in a cluster of vines that become animated and rape her. After the rape, David and Olivia find Mia and take her back to the cabin. Mia tells David that whatever attacks her in the woods is in the cabin with them, but he doesn't believe her. After returning to the cabin, the now fully possessed Mia attacks both Olivia and David before passing out. The group locks her in the cellar to contain her. The demon then possessed Olivia, forcing her to mutilate her face with a broken shard of glass and attacks Eric, who kills her in the ensuing struggle. While David tend to Eric's wounds in a shed next to the cabin, a crying Mia lures Natalie into the cellar, managing to bite her hand before she flee back upstairs. Eric does some research in the book, and learns that it prophesies that a demon called the Taker of Souls must consumed five souls in order to unleash a being called the Abomination. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Natalie's bite wound begin to infect and corrode her hand and rapidly spread

onto her arm, leading her to sever it with an electric knife before it could reach her torso. David and Eric tend to Natalie's wounds, and then discuss their next move. Eric explains that Mia must be "purified" via burning, live burial, or dismemberment, which would end her possession and hopefully end the demon's assault. Suddenly, a possessed Natalie attacks them with a nail gun and a crowbar. David blew off Natalie's other arm with the shotgun, and the demon left her body as she bleeds to death. Coming up with a plan, David leaves a heavily injured Eric by the car while he plans to knock out Mia and buries her alive. David then injects Mia with tranquilizers to completely render her unconscious while he put her in a shallow grave next to the cabin. After she died, he digs her up and uses an improvised defibrillator to revive her; the demon has been exorcised, and she is human again. Returning to the cabin to get the keys to his Jeep, David is attacked and mortally wounded by Eric, who was now possessed. David locks Mia out of the cabin, engaging Eric by himself. Eric taunts David about the Abomination's imminent arrival. David is

responded by using the shotgun to ignite a nearby gasoline can, engulfing the cabin in flames and killing them both. Since five souls have now technically been taken, the prophecy has been fulfilled. Blood rain from the sky as the Abomination rises from hell, out of the ground, and chases Mia. After a protracted showdown that results in the loss of her hand, Mia manages to kill the Abomination by splitting it in half vertically with a chainsaw, upon which the Abomination sink back into the ground. The blood rain stop and Mia, hardened by the events of the night, walked away into the forest. The Naturom Demonto lies on the ground nearby, unscathed by the cabin fire, and slammed shut on its own.

C H AP TE R II I E V A L UA TI O N

Most of you have read and re-read the basic framework of the story: Mia (Jane Levy) was brought to a remote, family owned cabin by a group of friends Eric played by Lou Taylor Pucci, Olivia played by Jessica Lucas and Natalie played by Elizabeth Blackmore) and her wayward brother (David, played by Shiloh Fernandez) to help her break a heroin habit. They stumble upon the Necronomicon and through a series of poor choices; call forth a vengeful demonic force that wreaks all manner of havoc on the group. This simple plot framework, I think actually works in a stronger way than just a recreational trip into the woods. I felt this was smart in terms of a plot device and works well as a reoccurring reference point once things start to go downhill. At the start, were thrown into the middle of a scenario where a teenage girl is being pursued by a group of people intent on

capturing her and ridding her of the demon. The visuals are really good and the cinematography is excellent but it is confusing to try to figure out when this might be happening, what the circumstances are, etc. It felt uneven. On the one hand, it was arresting to have to watch a family destroy the living body of their loved one but on the other hand we dont know these people so the impact isnt felt as strongly as it was intended. The craft of the film as a whole is quite remarkable. Ive talked about the effects and the shooting style (with loving but merely slight nods to the board-cam style of Sam Raimi in the original) which are strong and confident and keep the pace strong from start to end. There is also a crafty play against our expectations of jumps and scares at times that renders you unsteady, anxious. It is brilliant and utilizes the preconceived expectations of the audience against them. I think it is important to point out a few other aspects of the production that were impressive: For one, the art direction was nothing short of perfect. It would have been so easy, so easy to just dress the cabin and area like 10,000 other horror movies and call it a day but they really took

that part seriously and made the surrounding forest its own character, the cabin a real thing. They dont overdo the props and they take advantage of every opportunity to add grit to everything without making it look like a soundstage all dolled up. For another, the score is a thing of beauty. Roque Baos has crafted a steady, ballsy collection of music that dances around the scenes in always the right way. There is a delicate timber to some parts, a frantic static and crash to others but it all adds up to a very dynamic piece of music that fits beautifully with everything Alvarez is doing on screen. Finally, the performance by Jane Levy as Mia is just absolutely good. Watching her go from victim of drugs to dote upon loved one to unsteady addict to violent demon is nothing short of fantastic. The commitment to every stage is perfect. Perfect. She just owns the role in every way that matters and makes us invest in her survival. You really dont have a choice. She could not have done a better job mucking through water and mud and blood and all else to produce an iconic. So, this was an utterly grand bit of filmmaking. While the early stages suffered from some chunkiness, the film as a whole is a

victory in that it delivers on the promise of living up to the legacy of the original. It does not let you down, it does not disappoint. This bloody, intense chapter in the Evil Dead legacy is not only a worthy addition to that group but stands alone as one of the best remake/re imaginings Ive seen in many years. Hat is off to all involved and heres hoping it brings some serious dollars at the box office. We all need more of Evil Deads intensity and creativity in the horror genre and since money talks, we as a fan base need to do a lot of talking about this one. Get out and see it as soon as youre able.

C H AP TE R IV C O N CL US I O N

Blood, guts, and the further you go, Alvarez finds new levels of hell to put his characters through. So, I t h ink t h is f i l m i s su it ab le f or p e op le wh o lo ve mu r d e r , b lo o d , g or e , e t c . A nd I d o n t sug g e st c h ild r e n w h o ar e und e r 1 8 y e ar s o ld an d h e mat o p h ob ia t o wat c h th is f i l m b e c ause t h is f il m c o nt ai n s vi o le nt and b lo o dy .

G r oo vy !

R E FE RE N CE S

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1288558/ http://www.horror-movies.ca/evil-dead-2013-review/