Evil Dead Burn
Well here we are in October, so I feel duty bound to review a couple of horror movies. It’s been a few years since I’ve watched more than a horror film or two in a year, but I used to be quite a connoisseur. I still own an original VHS copy of The Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, one of my all time favorites, with a scene in it I have gleefully described to many friends over the years. It’s the very copy I wigged out a big name author with at a con once. Sure, it’s a comedy, but there’s a lot of blood and violence. And demons. But I haven’t watched any of the Evil Dead movies since the third one, Army of Darkness. That one has one of my all time favorite lines of dialog, but is otherwise my least favorite.
The Evil Dead series is much like other iconic, long lasting horror series like Final Destination or The Terminator or Scream. There is a tenet that must be followed, however loosely, as different filmmakers put their own spin on it. I was curious how this franchise has morphed in forty years plus I’m avoiding seeing a couple of other movies for reasons so I decided to try it. In Evil Dead Burn there is the basic outline of people in a tiny, run down cabin in the woods being a bit harassed by some mean demon types after someone foolishly reads words from The Book of the Dead.
The first thing I noted was that this movie spends a lot of time not at the cabin. Characters are introduced through several scenes until they finally coalesce at the “cabin”, that is not tiny and not as run down, for some fun times. One of them is a real dick, pardon my french, to his French wife who talks a good game but despite some lame self defense on her part loves him SO much. There’s a nasty thread of misogyny throughout the film, in parallel with a thread of women who put up with it because they love their man SO much. I will admit that I don’t know if there’s some noble lesson we’re supposed to take from this, or if we’re supposed to simply concede that this is the way the world is so roll with it. After the truckloads of blood and impressive, never ending body horror, this was the thing that bothered me the most.
The body horror starts early, with a couple of deaths that I’m still confused about, plot wise. The first couple of Evil Dead films had, by comparison, a little body horror and always played for the yucks. A guy cuts off his own hand with a chainsaw, but hey it was possessed and trying to kill him so hee hee hee. (No, really, I love that scene – it’s hilarious.) There are a lot of Raimi-isms in this movie, Raimi being the guy who created the original Evil Dead films. The most well known to casual viewers is the Raimi Cam, which later became known as the Shaky POV Cam once technology caught up with the idea. There are scenes with so much blood it looks like a hose at work (and probably is), and lots of ineffectual stabbing and beheading and other icky things. There is one bit that I HAD to turn my head away from. *shiver* Yes, it was clever and disgusting, and way too much for me. I have a feeling that every viewer will encounter something in this film that will be just a bit too much them. The basement comes into play, as it should, there are familiar words of incantation, a chainsaw of sorts, and someone saying “dead by dawn”. I really enjoy easter eggs when I notice them, it makes me feel smart.
This movie really looks like a movie, instead of a zany VHS weekend like the original films and that made me sad. I got over it, though, and enjoyed it a bit. It’s too long and there was so much blood and gore and body horror that I got…well…I got bored. The flow, so to speak, is uneven, with the movie being more a series of set pieces. Everything is predictable, there’s some humor but not enough, and anyone who doesn’t know how it ends should turn in their horror fan card. I would recommend it as not terrible, but you may end up wandering into the kitchen for a quick toasty cheese sandwich like I did.
Triggers: death of a pet, lots and lot and LOTS of agonizing injuries and blood
Available on: HBO MAX, YouTube, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, Google TV, Apple TV, Fandango
LINKS:
CFR: In Addition
Well. Huh. I don’t know if I will watch this because horror isn’t as much fun without my hubby. Also I really don’t like body horror and a pet dies?!?!? Nope. But maybe some time.
My first thought is “Why do dead people have to be so mean?” No. Really. Why? Could they be mildly irritated? Depressed? Eager to get back to being dead? Maybe they could just destroy the body and be done with it. Why?
I would stop there but the mental image of Cranky going to get a toasty cheese sandwich in the middle of the movie is making me giggle.
Hey Cranky! I promise to make you some yummy toasted cheese sandwiches during out next movie binge. 🙂
