Feature: The Evil Dead Season - Cult, Hard to Please and Unlikeable Trees

The first time I saw Sam Raimi's classic The Evil Dead, I was an impressionable teen slowly discovering the delights of horror film and I could not believe the thrill ride I had just experienced. It is a film of wickedly fun craftsmanship, subjecting audiences to overt gore and surreal, Dali-esque camera work. The film is abound with slicing, dicing and gushings of blood amidst cheesy dialogue and glorious over-acting. It is an exhilarating 85 minutes of thrills, spills and... an unpleasant tree to say the least. Not only that, but I’ve never looked at pencils the same way since. To this day, The Evil Dead remains one of my all time favourite horror films and controversially, my favourite installment in the trilogy. Let’s just briefly remind ourselves of some of its delights... 

It is no overstatement to say that Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead is one of the most highly anticipated horror remakes to hit our screens in years. In preparation for its release (April 5^th) and in conjunction with an essay I am working on, I plan to share some wise words on this horror entity, posting several features – an Evil Dead Season if you will. First, I will explore what it is about Raimi’s film that makes it a much loved cult classic. Following this, I will look at the perils of remaking such a beloved text and why this process gets us fans all riled up. Lastly, and if all goes to plan, this will be followed with a review of Alvarez’s remake. If anything is to be believed of those lucky critics in the US who have managed to see it already (Fangoria, Dread Central, etc), we are in for one hell of a thrill ride. Of course, this is a topic so well covered I have a greater chance of becoming a winged deadite than being original. Nonetheless, it is a film that I, along with many others, am very passionate about and will take great joy in discussing, as I hope you will reading. So, keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of this feature. Until next time, here is the trailer for the anticipated remake, of which I'm sure you have seen a hundred times already (I know I have) but hey, can't hurt to have another look...