Evil Dead (2013) Review (with Minor Spoilers!)

(Minor Spoilers!)

First off, I'm not a big horror movie fan because I think that the genre has become diluted with slasher films, "gorenography," and found footage bullshit. There are very few movies that have actually scared me because having something jump out or appear in a mirror is just startling. It's no different than if I hid behind a door and jumped out at a person walking through. For a minute you are aghast at the unexpected, but you don't have nightmares about it or anything. I've always been a fan of Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft instead of Wes Craven and George Romero. Something about the unseen makes it better, because nothing is scarier than your own imagination.

The scariest movie in recent past, for me, was The Strangers. This isn't the best movie out there, but the idea of it is scary. Three people in masks break into a house and terrorize a couple for no real reason other than fun and you never find out who or why. Plus, for the first twenty minutes of the film you can see the "strangers" walking past the windows in the background. To me, that is scarier than any exorcism movie or slasher film because this stuff can actually happen.

However, I do enjoy the original Evil Dead series for what it is. It's campy and fun and I like Bruce Campbell as Ash. When I initially heard about this remake, I was a little mad because the Evil Dead series is pretty classic, but since nothing is sacred except money I guess they decided to cash in on the horror remake money train, too.

The first trailer screamed "gorenography," which I guess was alright because the original is pretty gory and gross for it's time. My problem with gore is that it's used to "shock" people rather than scare them. Honestly, the watered down Hershey's Chocolate Syrup in Psycho is scarier to me than a roomful of blood, puke, and guts. The horror industry seems to be competing to see who can shock the audience more, by cramming as much bloodshed into a movie as possible, but for me, it isn't working.

I was sort of excited to see the new movie, because there was a lot of hype and buzz about taking this classic, campy-horror series and making it into a full-fledged horror franchise. I watched the original The Evil Dead to re-familiarize myself with the story and series before seeing the new one.

First, the good:

I will say that despite no Ash character in this (which is fine because it'd be hard to replace Bruce), the nods to the original film were somewhat subtle and tastefully done. Without giving too much away, the opening scene depicts a father having to choose to kill his possibly possessed daughter. The father is Professor Knowby from the tape recording Ash finds in the original (played by the same actor, Bob Dorian). During the film, some famous things from the originals make brief cameos (such as Ash's famous car all rusted up behind the cabin). Little nods like that helped even the causal fan connect with some nostalgia of the previous films.

The film isn't really a reboot, remake, or sequel, but an amalgamation of the three (think requel?). The nods to the other films suggest that maybe this is happening in the present day, as the previous movies happened 30 years ago. The book of the dead still exists and is still terrorizing the living.

Now for the bad and the ugly...

What really ruins this film is the acting. It is absolutely horrendous. All of these twentysomethings are the least convincing people on the planet. Jane Levy, Mia in the film, is probably the best because she goes from drug addict to deadite. The rest of the cast makes paint drying seem like a Scorcese picture.

Shiloh Fernandez not only wins the award for the worst name ever, but also for the worst actor ever. He plays Mia's brother, David, who apparently hasn't been home in a long time and everyone is mad at him about it (that's all they ever say). Basically he makes this face the entire movie.

Elizabeth Blackmore plays Natalie and she is supposed to be a nurse and maybe David's girlfriend. She does nothing nurse like or girlfriend like and literally serves zero purpose in the film.

Jessica Lucas plays Olivia who is Mia's friend and also really doesn't do anything.

Lou Taylor Pucci plays Eric, who is a teacher and apparently can decipher the cryptic text in the Necronomicon. He appears to understand what's going on, but he doesn't ever say anything. He's a huge dick for no reason. He looks like Giovanni Ribsi doing his worst John Lennon impression.

If the delivery of the lines weren't bad enough, the poor dialogue really kicks it over the edge. Nothing like cramming every detail of back story into one sentence to save space and time. One of the lines is something like "It's been awhile David, but thanks for coming out here to help us help your sister get off of drugs." The gore didn't make me sick, but the dialogue was really scary!

For being such an effects heavy film, some of the effects look really, really bad. Apparently vomited blood looks like V8 shot from a firehose.

"She could've had a V8!"

Evil Dead seems like a movie that was miscast and written poorly in order to capitalize on the horror remake and "gorenography" boom.

Evil Dead is dead before dawn with 3 out of 10 Chainsaws!

Also, if you can sit through it, be sure to stay for an unrelated (to this movie at least) after credits scene.

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Blu-ray Review: Midnight Madness Series!

Just in time for Halloween, Image Entertainment has opened the floodgates on some great horror films under the Midnight Madness label.  This includes quite a few DVD releases and some blu-ray releases as well.   Three of which we'll highlight here.

Hellbound:  Hellraiser 2, Vamp and The Hills Have Eyes.

The first thing I noticed about these DVDs is that they open with old school original trailers for other movies in the Midnight Madness Series.  This made me extremely happy.  I'm a sucker for trailers and seeing these older ones brought me back to my youth of renting all sorts of scary movies from the local video store.  Still I haven't seen half of the movies in the Midnight Madness Line so it's a safe bet that I'll be buying all of them, DVD and blu-ray.

The blu-ray portion of the series is kicked off with some pretty high profile titles including  Hellraiser, Children of the Corn, Dead Heat and the titles we're covering below.

First up is the sequel to one of the scariest movies of all time, Hellraiser.  This time we learn more about the infamous puzzle box and go right to hell itself in Hellbound: Hellraiser 2.

Hellraiser 2 debuts on blu-ray with an unrated version and unfortunately not much else.   I love the movie and really wish we could have gotten some special features with it.  I might have to dig down through my old Anchor Bay dvds for any supplements.

As far as picture goes, it's not perfect as it should be.  There is grain, some muddy spots but to be honest, I kinda like my classics not looking perfect.  It adds character, makes you remember that these are the good old boys of horror and not the new school of (mostly) lame movies.

Fortunately, the movie overcomes the faulty picture.  I enjoyed revisiting the movie as I hadn't seen it in a few years.  It really is one of my favorite horror sequels and I'm glad to finally have it on blu-ray.

I'll give the movie 10/10 but the lack of any special features, despite the awesome trailers that precede the film, means the blu-ray gets a 6/10.

Still great for a scare though!

 Speaking of old school Wes Craven's first film also makes its debut on Blu-ray.  I had actually never seen this one before but I did enjoy it.  It's pretty dated and the picture on the blu-ray is extremely grainy.  We're talking about a movie that's over 35 years old and probably spent a lot of the time in a can somewhere.  I don't know that anyone really thought to keep a movie about cannibalistic desert people in pristine condition.  Still, considering, it looks rather well.

The Hills Have Eyes disc is the only one of the three we're talking about that has any special features and it has a lot.  Audio commentary, 2 featurettes, alternate ending, trailers, tv spots, behind-the-scenes photos and much more.  It makes you wonder why they loaded up this release but not the others.  It was interested to see the much talked about alternate ending which is a little touchy feely for the movie to be honest.

The recent remake sticks pretty close to this one, actually it expands upon it, so if you saw that you'll know what to expect here.  It's still a rather intense and fun little film.  To think Wes Craven followed up with the awful Last House on the Left is a little mind boggling.

I personally love horror movies about creepy people living in the wild who attack unsuspecting people and The Hills Have Eyes fits that perfectly.

The Hills Have Eyes gets a solid 8/10!

Lastly is a little gem I have never heard of before.  A stripper vampire movie with Grace Jones (who doesn't have a single line if I'm not mistaken).  How I'd never heard of this is beyond me but I know I liked it.  Vamp!

It's not particularly scary.  It's more of a camp type horror so you'll have more fun watching it than the desire to check over your shoulder.  The picture is pretty gorgeous.  Really a nice transfer.  The best of the bunch so far.  Unfortunately, no special features for this one either which is a shame.  I'd have enjoyed some kind of supplements for the film.

If you're looking for something that is going to scare you, Vamp isn't what you want.  Still, there is fun to be had in this flick that really screams 80s.  It would make for a fun time yelling out jokes while you watch it.  You do get a bit of everything with this.  Nudity, gore, 80s comedy, 80s hair, Grace Jones turning into an insane looking vamp.

Definitely worth the watch.

Vamp pulls an 8/10 from me.  I only wish there were some features to go along with it.

Hellbound:  Hellraiser 2, Vamp, and The Hills Have Eyes are available now.

RAWR(for more)

Blu-ray Review: Scream 4

Let the fun begin. We're kicking off a ton of horror coverage this month with this review of one of the most anticipated horror sequels of all time!

Scream 4
Written by:  Kevin Williamson
Directed by: Wes Craven
Starring:  Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox,  Emma Roberts, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Alison Brie, Hayden Panettiere, Marley Shelton, Rory Culkin, Adam Brody, Anthony Anderson and Mary McDonnell

Special Features: Alternate Opening, Extended Ending, Wes Craven and Cast (Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere and Neve Campbell) Commentary, “Making Of…” Featurette, Deleted and Extended Scenes, Gag Reel, DVD and Digital Copy

From the box:

Directed by suspense master and director of the first trilogy, Wes Craven, Scream 4 is the newest installment in the acclaimed franchise that ushered in a new wave of horror in the 1990s.  In Scream 4, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour.  There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale (Courteney Cox), who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill (Emma Roberts).  Unfortunately Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of Ghost Face, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends (Hayden Panettiere, Rory Culkin, Adam Brody) and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

Well, anticipation didn't exactly translate into box office dollars when Scream 4 came out.  It kinda fizzled for some reason.  Maybe it was the decade since Scream 3 hit theaters that put the idea of a Scream sequel in the far reaches of memory.  Who knows?  What I do know is that I have been waiting for this movie since the end credits of its predecessor.  I loved the Scream movies.  All three of them, despite the obvious quality dip from part one to three.  I still loved them and was beyond excited to get to the theater for each one of them.  So imagine my excitement when word was confirmed that Scream 4 was coming.  I was over the moon.   I saw it night one and I couldn't wait to visit it again, this time on blu-ray.

I guess that pretty much gives away my feelings on the movie.  I loved it.  It was funny and brought the scares and most importantly it FELT like a Scream movie.  It took me right back and for 2 hours I was a teenager again spending time with the characters I loved (are you listening George Lucas?  This is how Indy 4 should have felt.)

The plot finds Sidney returning home to Woodsboro for the final stop on her self-help book tour which leads to murder and mayhem as Ghost Face comes back right along with her.  You know, of course, what he brings along.  Well, I guess because I just said it.

What follows is a fun time that fits right in with the original trilogy.  Great characters, the best of which almost shockingly comes from Hayden Panettiere.  She completely and totally steals the show here.  It really is great to revisit these characters and meet the new ones.  I hope we see more of them.

As for the blu-ray, the film looks flawless.  It's really crystal clear with nice color and deep blacks.  The sound is crisp and immersive, leading to some good sound queue scares.  The special features are decent if not a little lacking.   I enjoyed them for the  most part but I did feel like I wanted more.  Maybe some more history on the franchise or a hint of what might be to come (if anything). Still, they make for a good set of supplemental material to make this blu-ray an even more enticing buy.

It may not have burned up the box office but Scream 4 is definitely one you should hav eon your shelf, especially if you are a fan of the original trilogy.  I can only hope that this film does better on home video and brings us more Scream in the future.

Scream 4 is available now.

You can also download the film from Amazon Prime and iTunes!

Scream 4 

Pop Culture Beast Rating

8/10

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Last House On The Left Trailer

This looks terrible.

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Is the Nightmare remake/prequel dead?

It appears that Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes shingle is off the recently announced Nightmare on Elm Street remake. As it stands now, the project is floating in the air.

Wes Craven recently commented, "I [still] know very little about it. My agent and I had lunch with Bob Shaye (Ex New Line head) about five days ago. But as might you know New Line Cinema has been shut down by Warner Bros. who owns it and all of their properties have been subsumed by Warner Bros. Bob didn't know any more about it than I did. I certainly have no control over that property."

Maybe we can hold out for a true sequel rather than a remake? I'd like to see the original series wrapped up in a satisfactory way rather than reboot it from start.

Warners, I have a great idea to end it. Call me!

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Wes Craven is back!

Wes Craven will write and direct the upcoming horror film 25/8 for Rogue Pictures. It will be his first original horror script since New Nightmare back in 1994.

The script revolves around a serial killer who returns 15 years after his supposed death in order to kill the seven kids born on that night.

Craven says "it's more a thriller than slasher film, and revolves around a young kid with a very dark past involving his family and his father."

Production begins in April.

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Birthday Shout-Outs!

Pop Culture Beast would like to wish a very happy birthday to a couple people.

Kevin Smith's 37th (in a row?) birthday is today. Happy Birthday Mr Smith! We eagerly await your upcoming projects like Reaper, Red State and your Heroes Origin episode!

Also today, one of the masters of horror, Wes Craven celebrates his 68th birthday today. We are also looking forward to your upcoming project Shocker.

Happy birthday to both of you from the Beast!

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