Film Review: The Evil Dead

"I Fear That The Only Way To Stop Those Possessed By The Spirits Of The Book Is Through The Act Of... Bodily Dismemberment..."

Whilst most people on Halloween will either take their children out trickle treating in the hope of gathering an excessive and overly unhealthy cauldron of sweets or skip to the nearest pub on the lookout for a pint of Hobgoblin or any other seasonally styled alcoholic beverage, thank Satan himself that neither of those two options are available when a film such as Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead comes back into cinemas, a familiar feeling following on from last year when audiences across the country were treated to Stanley Kubrick's similarly masterful, The Shining, in what for many was probably the first time seeing such a film on the big screen. Released in 1981 on a shoestring budget and quickly being stamped as part of the collective list of "video nasty's" due to its' staggeringly over the top levels of violence, The Evil Dead remains to this day the go-to horror cult classic, a film which manages to blend the genres of horror and jet-black comedy with utmost ease and one which solidified a blossoming bromance between director and actor, Bruce Campbell, whose cameo appearances in the many Raimi-led features since comes down to the excellence of a film which even after repeat viewings is downright outrageous and shockingly entertaining. 

Whilst the notion of the "cabin in the woods" horror narrative strand today seems overly tiresome and horrendously cliched, the influence of The Evil Dead on the likes of Drew Goddard's Cabin in the Woods and even at a stretch, Lars von Trier's Antichrist, simply reinforces the powerful and nightmarish vision which was encapsulated by Raimi and his cast of unknown, bit-part actors back at the beginning of the 1980's, and whilst the likes of The Last House on the Left previously offered horror audiences arguably the starkest vision of the genre at the time, Raimi's vision was built on a mix of laugh-out-loud gross humour and extremely surrealist imagery involving simple but effective special effects and a whole lot of ruby red fake blood. Whilst parts of the movie still remain controversial to this day, particularly the infamous woodland tree scene, which even in the realm of the twenty first century still feels slightly misjudged, the bizarre soundtrack and maniacal camera work still has the desired effect it first had when watching The Evil Dead in my youth, and with the brilliance of hindsight, without Raimi's most iconic feature there would have been potentially no Spider-Man, the film which arguably brought the superhero cinematic universe into the crazed franchise it is today, so when you buy your ticket to watch one of the greatest horror movies of all time on the big screen once again, remember, Avengers: Infinity War exists because of it. Sort of. 

Overall Score: 9/10

Film Review: It Follows

Every Step You Take

Oh I do love a good horror movie. Last years' The Babadook took home first prize for being the best in it's respective category whilst so far this year, there has been an array of sub-par horror films such as The Woman in Black 2 and REC 4. Now we have It Follows, which has been dubbed, "smart, original, and above all terrifying," by the critics consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, starring Maika Monroe, last seen in the rather bonkers, The Guest. Although I am usually in accordance with what Rotten Tomatoes say about the quality of films, this is a rare occasion where I have to disagree, with It Follows not being overly smart, not really being original, and definitely not being terrifying. Sorry RT.

It Follows tells the tale of Monroe's character, Jay, who after having a bit of fun-and-games with boyfriend Hugh, starts to become haunted by a shape-shifting wraith-like entity which only she can see and can only be "passed on" by having more fun-and-games with other people. Sounds like a cool premise doesn't it? I mean you have the generic teen-sex-is-bad-and-should-be-punished vibe running throughout, which has been done countless times before, and a pretty funky 80's synth soundtrack, which has been done before, rounded off with those kind of eerie and spooky long shots of people walking down even longer pavements, or sidewalks if stateside, which has been done before, and more effectively in umm what's that film? Oh yeah, Halloween. So in terms of originality, I wholeheartedly disagree, with It Follows basically ripping the foundations of Halloween from it's feet and replacing Michael Myers with combination of a really tall guy, a naked woman, and a guy who gets really angry when near a swimming pool.

In terms of fear factor, I think I managed to properly jump once, and this was only when the film resorted to the ever-so-original quiet, quiet, quiet, LOUD process which horror films tend to go for these days when they think the audience might have become bored or even worse, fallen asleep, with the loudness of cinemas these days being more than capable of wakening anyone from the deepest of sleeps. In fact, they should have put Schumacher in one when he was in his coma. That would have woken him up. Hope you get better soon Mike. So, back to the movie, not one time during the film could I honestly say I felt under threat, whilst the long-drawn out scenes in between each entity attack becoming seemingly more boring than the last. So, in terms of  being, "above all, terrifying," I once again disagree.

Enough slating. In it's best moments, It Follows is a solid re-hash of better films of its' type, such as Halloween, with the acting being pretty much top-notch, particularly from leading lady, Maika Monroe, who gives a particularly good performance as the victim of the slowly walking entity that I will name "It". When it's dull, it's dull, and the originality and scares that the film promised were overly lacking, resulting in another film that has suffered from it's necessity to generate hype and declaration at being, "one of the most striking American horror films in years." Um, it's not.

Overall Score: 5/10