Adam Truscott Says Evil Dead Lets It Rain

Right, now the serious stuff is out-of-the-way (The Place Beyond The Pines is a flawed masterpiece), let’s get silly.

And, whilst we do, lets ask ourselves if there’s anything sillier than going to a deserted log cabin. Even if you do have a smart work around, (getting isolated to help a friend go cold turkey). There’s very little excuse really. Especially in a world where Joss Whedon has torn that genre a new one, and flipped it upside down.

So, as a starting point, the least I’d expect is a film that is shot well. And we get it. But its worth noting Spring Breakers was well shot, and well-lit. I’d link to the review if I has bothered to write about that piece of shit. But I just downloaded Britney’s Everytime, instead. Like everyone should.

So its well shot. The sound design is excellent.

So the basics are in check. What of the characters? Same old shit. Been there, done that. None of them likeable etc etc Yadda yadda.

Because none of that really matters, does it? I get that the original is held in high regard, especially if you’re old enough to know its history. Ad I get that legions of Bruce Campbell films will be frothing at the mouth of some momentum towards more Ash, but… Well, in the grand scheme of things, I just want to be scared. Especially when the film’s poster brazenly threatens me, by lauding this as the most terrifying film I’ll ever see.

The trailer made me feel like that. Genuinely uneasy at the thought of imagery creeping into my head – like the time I saw The Exorcist, thought I had it beaten, then had to walk up a dark winding garden path. Alone.

That’s what horror is to me. Images that subliminally flash into my conscience when I least want it.

Like last night, when I had to go downstairs at Truscott Towers. We didn’t have stairs in our old house. Now we have one set going down, and one set going up. So the middle landing has an uncertain feeling for me. If, as I always expect at night, a demon is going to attack me, does he/she/it come from above or below?

We had friends over the other night and they said: “Better lock the attic door”, so we all think like that. Thankfully, if films have taught me anything, its don’t go up into the loft. Our loft is a room, so unless we’re on an Indian Burial ground we should be fine. Mrs T found a spider the size of a face hugger, but I digress. And don’t let any of this put you off coming down, Philip.

So, we’re in a cabin, with people we don’t like, (isn’t that the point?) – and we just want it to kick off. And that’s when the boy Alverez pulls his master stroke. He holds right off. Or at least seems too. The reality is, after 91 minutes he can’t of held off that much, and in trying he created zero tension, but he doesn’t spunk it all onto the screen. He waits until he dials it right up. All in one swoop. Straight up to eleven. And, from then on in, its unrelenting.

The scene that got me in the trailer was the demon in the cellar. I’m disappointed to say once seen within the film, it’s nowhere near as scary. Not that I was scared, but… OK. I was scared. Essentially I was more scared at the trailer than I was the film. And that’s the films flaw. Like Event Horizon before  it, when it goes, it goes. And it gets to the point where its a comedy for me. Out and out. There’s so much gore that it has to be viewed like that. I reference EH as a fan, too. I loved seeing that in the cinema. How everything before it had referenced the elegance of Alien, and other tight, taut space operas and then…. boom… we get buckets, literally buckets of blood. And, to this day I’ve never pinpointed why, I need that sometimes in a film.

When the blood starts raining down, I couldn’t help but applaud. That and the practical use of effects made me think I was watching something that was striving for more. Even though, however you try to break it down, it’s just a haunted house film. But then Drive is just a revenge film. And Oblivion is just a sic-fi film. I think ultimately you have to take films for what they are. Evil Dead got a bit boastful and cocky with some of the pre-release bits. Now, in the cold light of day, or the cold dark of night, we can enjoy it for what it is… the goriest film this side of The Descent.

It’s a dirty, friday night movie. A double bill with Haute Tension.

Was it scary? Not so much. Did it deliver on gore in a way that makes a snob like me feel I was watching something more elevated than Hostel Three? Yes, siree. And stay for the inventive end credits. Then punch the air.

There’s more legs in this franchise. Evil Dead in space by either of the Anderson’s? Why not.

Then hail to the king, baby.

But is it right that a trailer can be scarier than a film? I’m not so sure.