Plot: David, his drug-using sister Mia and his friends Eric, Olivia and Natalie travel to an isolated cabin that belonged to his parents to spend a couple of days together. Mia promises to stop using drugs and Olivia, who is a nurse, promises to help Mia in her abstinence. They discover a hidden basement with witchcraft and the Book of the Dead, and Eric reads it and unintentionally summons an evil force. Mia, Olivia and Natalie are possessed by evil and Eric reads the book trying to learn how to destroy the demon.
The heroes: Bunch of young people in the woods with protagonist Mia who is a drug addict.
The antagonists: Demon from hell.
What makes it so great? The film is a remake of old classic flick, which I sadly haven't seen. The remake is quite gripping, frightening and entertaining though I found it problematic since I'm given to understand the original was campy horror fun and this one went for genuine serious horror scares. That, combined with grotesque voice of the demon and a number of odd and crazy scenes (like a tree scene), seemed to be hit and miss in terms of general tone of the movie.
Best scene: The final sequence with raining blood and a chainsaw.
Oh-oh something's not right line: There was something in the woods, David... and I think it's in here with us... now.
Morbid Trivia: If you take the first letters of the main characters David, Eric, Mia, Olivia and Natalie, the letters spell out DEMON.
Scare factor:
- 3/5 evil pumpkins - many jump scares and fairly creepy moments when the demon shows up.Gore factor:
- 5/5 bloody Leatherfaces - this is one of the goriest movies I've ever seen - there is blood everywhere including the rain of blood in final sequence. The film used 70,000 gallons of fake blood. In an interview, Fede Alvarez, the film's director, said they used 50,000 gallons for the final scene alone. This is compared to the 200-300 gallons used in the original. Is there a twist? No.
Hint: I'd recommend not eating before this one. Also don't watch it if you are in the woods with the goal of...enjoying the nature.
Unsuitable for: People who plan on staying in the cabin any time soon. People who are planning an intervention for one of their friends.
Repercussions: Fear of electric knives. Fear of basements. Fear of trees.
The original one has a special place in my heart because it was one of earliest horror films. I heard this is totally different. I need to gather a few friends to see this as I'm totally chicken. The perfect time to see this is probably before I plan to take a sick leave from work.... the gore fest will definitely make me sick :P
ReplyDeleteOh the film is insanely bloody and fairly disgusting. I mean it's nothing particularly inventive that you wouldn't see in any other slasher movies, but the amount of blood is quite....stunning :)
DeleteEh. The original was way, way better. But that's just me. Nice review Sati.
ReplyDeleteYeah I keep hearing it was, I need to give it a shot one day!
DeleteSati, I think the original film is on Hulu.
ReplyDeleteThis film was a decent watch but my main issues were they mistook gore for scares and the fact the characters in the film had no charisma or film presence to speak of.
Yeah the characters were really bland indeed, but I liked the main girl's performance.
DeleteIs there a twist? No.
ReplyDeleteFor me there was, I suppose I thought things would pan out like the original, so I was surprised a couple of times.
I liked it a bit more than you, but it definitely had its problems. When Olivia is syringe stabbing Eric (and he’s screaming and stuff), everyone else in the other room is unable to hear this?
Considering the sequel won't be a remake of Evil Dead II, I'm excited to see what they do with it. Jane Levy really impressed, I loved the "I'm getting real tired of this shit" line haha.
It's mad to think Lily Collins was originally cast as Mia, I can't picture her as Mia.
Poor dog though :(
That was my problem with the movie too - I mean they wrecked the toilet and they are fighting like crazy yet no one comes in to see what the hell is going on?
DeleteLevy was great, I'm definitely going to see the sequel. I think Collins would be good, she looks so delicate so seeing her with a chainsaw would be interesting :)
They really need to stop killing dogs in movies :(
I want to see this, but I haven't seen the original either. I'll probably watch this after I see Raimi's version. Glad you liked it overall.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna need to check the original I think it may be better than the new version.
DeleteI think there was too much blood in this movie. I mean, you can't cut off a hand a spill 150% of your actual blood i think. There were 2 times when a hand is being cut off in this movie (as far as I remember) and they both seemed especially the second one that there was too much blood coming out.
ReplyDeleteI think it's just a horror rule to exaggerate stuff, on the other hand I've never seen actual hand being cut off so I have no idea how accurate the scene was :)
DeleteI haven't seen the new one yet (actually found out it's out on dvd in a few days here after you mentioned it), but the original is great! There is a 'tree' scene in that one too, if the tree scene you mention is what I think it is. Very disturbing. The characters don't have so much backstory in the original, going by what you say here. No drug addicts, anyway!
ReplyDeleteI really need to see the original, awesome that you liked it!
DeleteOy, FIVE leatherfaces? Definitely NOT going to be on my watch list ev-er. Even if Henry Cavill offered to sit down and hold me... [never mind that, I could use his ginormous biceps to hide behind] :D
ReplyDeleteThere is blood EVERYWHERE in this movie :) Haha I was really unfortunate when I saw The Conjuring, only had my handbag to hide behind :)
DeleteI really enjoyed the remake. (aside from the dog killing) They really amped up the gore. I still think Shiloh Fernandez is a terrible actor though. He was a little hard to watch.
ReplyDeleteI had a good time but I found the film to be slightly overhyped. Who did he play, her brother? I wasn't that annoyed with him, then again my expectations of acting in slasher films are always set to minimum :)
DeleteI don't know. I just look back and the whole thing seemed so f--king grisly, it's unlikely I'll ever see it again (but I still enjoyed myself?).
ReplyDeleteMy chief complaint was that it wasn't scary. Just disgusting. That electric knife scene still haunts me.
I liked that trivia bit about their names, even if that's a bit silly. Thanks for pointing that out. So...you saw The Conjuring? Thinking about sneaking out to that one...thoughts?
I enjoyed myself too, I love seeing moronic teens slaughtered. I mean the minute you see dead cats in the basement you should get the fuck out of there!
DeleteThe electric knife scene was horrible. The minute I saw that blond chick with that knife I knew it will be used later on in some sick shit.
The Conjuring is the best movie of the year so far, really scary though! And properly scary too!
Great post! :-) And yes, there is a certain kind of timeless fun in seeing stupid teens slaughtered onscreen. :-P
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes, that's always a joy ^^
Delete