Evil Dead is a 2013 horror film; it serves as a remake of the The Evil Dead, and the first film in the series since 1992's Army of Darkness. It is a soft reboot of the first film in the Evil Dead franchise, acting loosely as a sequel to the original series, and therefore the fourth installment in the series overall. It is directed by Fede Alvarez and was produced by Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, and Rob Tapert. Bruce Campbell appears in a very brief cameo after the credits. The cast includes Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas and Elizabeth Blackmore.
In April 2011, Bruce Campbell did an AskMeAnything interview on Reddit.com, saying "Newsflash: We are remaking Evil Dead. The script is awesome. I will be one of the producers and possibly play the milk man". He added "In all honesty, we would all love to make another Evil Dead movie. When that will happen? Who can say – we're all working on other jobs right now. We're not trying to dodge anybody's questions, there just isn't that much to talk about. The remake's gonna kick ass – you have my word". On July 13, 2011 it was officially announced, via a press release, that Ghost House Pictures would be producing the upcoming remake of The Evil Dead, with Diablo Cody in the process of revising the script and Fede Alvarez chosen as the director. Lily Collins was originally reported to be in the lead role as Mia, but on 24th January 2012, Collins dropped out of the role. On February 3, 2012 it was announced that actress Jane Levy, star of the television series Suburgatory would be replacing Collins in the lead role as Mia.
The film was released April 5th, 2013 to mostly positive reviews. The film has a more serious tone than in previous installments, reflecting more of the deliberately gruesome and provocative nature of the 1981 original than the progressively lighter sequels. Of particular note is the production's emphasis on in-camera effects and physical props over computer generated effects that carry less visceral impact. Stylistic changes include makeup effects more sophisticated and visually comparable to Linda Blair's makeup in The Exorcist, as well as a more clearly established agenda of the possessive force, identified this time as a specific demonic entity. The original films are more ambiguous on this point, with the primary occupation of the evil presence seemingly being to simply torment, possess and ultimately kill and claim the souls of whichever victims it can find.
Plot[]
A young girl is seen running through a dark forest, before she is subdued by a group of men, who knock her unconscious. The girl later awakens in what appears to be a cellar, surrounded by the same group of men, as well as an old woman and her father, who reveals that the girl had murdered her mother some time earlier. The old woman, in a foreign language, urges the man to kill his daughter, who is revealed to be possessed by an unseen demonic force, which takes control of her, taunting the man over his wife's murder. The girl's father proceeds to immolate her, as she screams in agony.
Some time later, a group of five youths: David, his girlfriend, Natalie, David's friends, Eric and Olivia, and his younger sister, Mia, meet at an isolated cabin the woods. Eric and Olivia are old friends of David and Mia's and have come to assist Mia in overcoming her heroin addiction. Upon entering the cabin, Mia notices an awful scent of decay, leading David and the others descend into the cellar, where they discover animal corpses as well as a rifle and the Naturom Demonto. A curious Eric ignores warnings scrawled in the book and reads an incantation, which releases a demonic force that begins appearing to Mia as an evil doppelganger of herself. She begs David to take her back to town, but he refuses, believing she is becoming unhinged due to her heroin withdrawal. In response, Mia climbs out of a window and flees in one of their vehicles, but sees a figure in the road and swerves to avoid hitting it, crashing into a nearby pond. Mia emerges from the vehicle, unscathed, but is attacked by the demonic force, which chases her through the woods. She eventually tumbles into some vines, which soon ensnare her, before the doppelganger appears, opening its mouth. A slimy vine-like appendage slithers forth from the demon's mouth, before crawling inside of Mia's genitals, who screams in agony. She is later discovered by David, who drives her back to the cabin.
A traumatized Mia takes refuge in one of the bedrooms. When David checks on her, Mia begs him to leave the cabin, but he once again refuses. Following this, David discovers his dog, Grandpa, bludgeoned to death with a hammer, before finding an unresponsive Mia in a scalding hot shower. He decides to drive her to a nearby hospital, but discovers the road is inaccessible due to flooding. David is forced to bring Mia back to the cabin, where she is put to bed by Olivia. As the group argues over her growing mental instability, Mia appears with a rifle and shoots David in the shoulder, before warning the group that they are all going to die and passing out. As Olivia goes to check Mia's vitals, she suddenly revives and vomits blood onto Olivia, before David pushes her down into the cellar. Olivia goes to the bathroom, where she attempts to clean the blood off, but becomes possessed in the process. A concerned Eric appears and is attacked by Olivia, who wounds him with a shard from a broken mirror and a syringe, only for Eric to bludgeon her to death.
While Davis is nursing his wounds, Eric reveals he unknowingly released some sort of demonic force from the book found in the basement; meanwhile, Natalie goes to fetch some water for David and is lured into the cellar by a possessed Mia, who sexually assaults her. David appears and rescues Natalie, who climbs out of the cellar, while Mia taunts David. David proceeds to chain the cellar door. Natalie soon realizes she is next to become possessed, due to Mia having bitten her hand earlier, and proceeds to amputate her quickly decaying arm with an electric carving knife. David cares for the wounded Natalie, while Eric reveals the only means of purging the entity are immolation, dismemberment, or live burial. Suddenly, a possessed Natalie ambushes the two. She attacks them with a nail gun, before beating Eric with a crowbar, only to be shot and killed by David, who holds her as she finally succumbs to her wounds.
David decides to abandon the cabin and asks Eric to wait at his Jeep, planning to burn the cabin down with Mia inside. However, Mia manipulates David into sparing her and he decides to bury her alive instead. As he descends into the watery cellar to get her, Mia assaults and attempts to drown him, but is subdued by Eric, who is stabbed with a box-cutter in the process. Eric ultimately succumbs to his wounds and dies. David buries Mia alive, who taunts him over their mother's death. Moments later, David proceeds to dig her body up and resuscitates her. When he enters the cabin to grab the keys to his Jeep, Eric appears and stabs him with a pair of pliers, having become possessed in his final moments. In a last act of defiance, David shoots a canister of gasoline, causing an explosive fire which kills himself and Eric's possessed form.
With five souls now claimed (Olivia, Natalie, Eric, the young girl, and David), blood rains down from the sky and the Abomination rises from the depths of Hell in the form of Mia's evil doppelganger. The Abomination chases Mia, who attempts to escape in the Jeep, but is attacked and burned in the process. She takes refuge in a nearby tool shed, where she arms herself with a chainsaw, which she uses to amputate the demon's legs. However, she becomes trapped when the demon rolls the Jeep over, pinning Mia's arm to the ground. In a final effort to escape, Mia rips her own arm off, before shoving the chainsaw into the demon's skull, bisecting it. The blood rain ceases and the demon is swallowed by the ground from which it emerged. A traumatized Mia limps away from the cabin, as the Naturom Demonto closes on its own, unbeknownst to her.
In a post-credits scene, the silhouette of Ash Williams is seen and he is heard saying "Groovy", before the screen goes black.
In an alternate ending, Mia is shown trekking down a long stretch of road, covered in blood and limping from the injuries sustained during the events at the cabin, before passing out from exhaustion and blood loss. A passing motorist stops to assist her, planning to drive her to the hospital. As Mia lies in the backseat, her eyes suddenly open and the film ends on a more ambiguous note. Another alternate ending features the POV Kandarian Demon hovering through the cabin towards Mia just after killing the Taker of Souls version of Mia with a chainsaw similar to the ending of the 1981 original.
Cast[]
- Jane Levy - Mia Allen
- Shiloh Fernandez - David Allen
- Lou Taylor Pucci - Eric
- Jessica Lucas - Olivia
- Elizabeth Blackmore - Natalie
- Rupert Degas - Abomination Mia (voice)
- Ellen Sandweiss - Cheryl Williams (archive audio from The Evil Dead)
- Bruce Campbell - Ash Williams
Crew[]
==Trailers== Evil Dead - Red Band Teaser (2012-2013) (01:25)
Interviews[]
Trivia[]
- The first letter of each of the main characters’ names spell the word ‘DEMON’.