This week, the 2013 remake of Evil Dead, again starring Bruce Campbell. A group of young attractive types who go to a cabin in the woods and upon stumbling across the Necronomicon (book of the dead) they manage inadvertantly to release evil spirits. All kinds of hell, possession and murder ensues.
That's not to say this is a bad movie, it is far from it. It is enjoyable enough as a stand-alone movie. It's when you start to compare it to the original that we encounter problems.
Sadly none of the cast (apart from Campbell) are memorable and although the movie is not played for laughs like the original, there are parts which will genuinely make you giggle (which certainly was not the intended effect). The gore is a bit OTT and what a human body seems able to take before expiring is indeed inhuman! I suppose believability is not something one should expect from a movie about possession and the evil dead, sadly though, I do.
I didn't find anything was added to the movie by this remake, apart from the obvious updating of it for a modern audience. The cinematography was beautiful in places, but the general 'feel' of the movie, effects and performances just didn't leave me with the feeling of unease that it should have.
The feeling I got from the movie was similar to that of when watching a teen slasher movie and wondering who is going to be next (not difficult to do at all it seems). I felt that the original movie deserved a little bit more than that.
Its quite sad really as this isn't a 'bad' movie. I suppose there was just something 'missing' in what made the original special. That je ne sais quoi just wasn't captured here. I wouldn't go so far as to either recommend it or suggest you avoid it. I could however give it the green light to any younger horror fans who were yet to watch the 1981 original.
Showing posts with label Bruce Campbell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bruce Campbell. Show all posts
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Within The Woods - Will's Review
I struggle to get a full length review from most 90 minute movies, so how well I'll fair with a half hour student film, we shall see...
But of course, this isn't just any 30 minute student film... This is Sam Rami's, Bruce Campbell staring, student film, about 4 friends who head off to a cabin in the woods, where they disturb an ancient evil; in other words this is Evil Dead 0: The Prototype.
Sadly, no good quality copies of this exist (even Rami doesn't have one) so the grainy, poorly tracked, fuzzy copy that you'll find on YouTube is pretty much as good as it gets - and the image quality alone renders it almost unwatchable.
It's a relief then, that the short itself is no masterpiece; we have, thankfully, lost no more than a curiosity to the ravages of time and VHS dubbing.
The only real way to look at this film; indeed, the only reason it is ever watched, I'd to compare and contrast with Evil Dead.
The makeup effects here are even poorer and more low-budget than in Evil Dead; but that's to be expected. Bruce Campbell is surprisingly interchangeable here, and the story hasn't been refined yet; here it's an Indian burial ground that's to blame (cliche much?).
On the plus side though, the cinematography and sound design has Rami's thumb print all over it - we get manic edits, lots of close shots and low, sweeping POVs, all accompanied by creaking and whooshing. Every blow and stab is brought right to the front of the song mix and, even though we've seen (or heard) this done throughout the Evil Dead trilogy here, against the backdrop of an inferior movie, we can really appreciate how great that sound design is.
All in all I really can't recommend this on its own merits, but it's an amateur film, and you wouldn't expect great things; as a curiosity for Evil Dead fans, yes, it's worth a quick look on YouTube as a novelty; if you can put up with the poor picture quality.
But of course, this isn't just any 30 minute student film... This is Sam Rami's, Bruce Campbell staring, student film, about 4 friends who head off to a cabin in the woods, where they disturb an ancient evil; in other words this is Evil Dead 0: The Prototype.
Sadly, no good quality copies of this exist (even Rami doesn't have one) so the grainy, poorly tracked, fuzzy copy that you'll find on YouTube is pretty much as good as it gets - and the image quality alone renders it almost unwatchable.
It's a relief then, that the short itself is no masterpiece; we have, thankfully, lost no more than a curiosity to the ravages of time and VHS dubbing.
The only real way to look at this film; indeed, the only reason it is ever watched, I'd to compare and contrast with Evil Dead.
The makeup effects here are even poorer and more low-budget than in Evil Dead; but that's to be expected. Bruce Campbell is surprisingly interchangeable here, and the story hasn't been refined yet; here it's an Indian burial ground that's to blame (cliche much?).
On the plus side though, the cinematography and sound design has Rami's thumb print all over it - we get manic edits, lots of close shots and low, sweeping POVs, all accompanied by creaking and whooshing. Every blow and stab is brought right to the front of the song mix and, even though we've seen (or heard) this done throughout the Evil Dead trilogy here, against the backdrop of an inferior movie, we can really appreciate how great that sound design is.
All in all I really can't recommend this on its own merits, but it's an amateur film, and you wouldn't expect great things; as a curiosity for Evil Dead fans, yes, it's worth a quick look on YouTube as a novelty; if you can put up with the poor picture quality.
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Within The Woods - Lisa's Review
A novel one this week. A mere 32 minutes long and a short movie by Sam Raimi that went on to be remade with a significantly larger budget as Evil Dead.
It starred mostly Mr Raimi's friends, but he was lucky enough to have Bruce Campbell in it also!! (not that you would know... he shows none of his characteristic massive persona in this offering).
This movie was released in 1978 and any surviving copies are very difficult to watch due to the quality of the recording. It is available on Youtube if you want a nosey.
What can I say? I thought that mostly it was gawd awful. Dated in a way that is difficult to get past (for me at least) and with a budget soooo low, you wonder how on earth he managed to get funding for Evil Dead.
I can't say I enjoyed watching it at all and if it weren't for the blog reviews, I would have turned off within 5 to 10 minutes.
One positive I will give to this movie however is its sound effects. Yes, you heard me right. Whether it be stab noises, gurglings, possessed voices or various other noises surrounding deaths. They were delightfully eerie and realistic. For me, any moments of feeling impressed end there.
Maybe bigger fans of the actual Evil Dead movie will enjoy it more than I did as a piece of movie nostalgia, but it's certainly not one I will watch again.
It starred mostly Mr Raimi's friends, but he was lucky enough to have Bruce Campbell in it also!! (not that you would know... he shows none of his characteristic massive persona in this offering).
This movie was released in 1978 and any surviving copies are very difficult to watch due to the quality of the recording. It is available on Youtube if you want a nosey.
What can I say? I thought that mostly it was gawd awful. Dated in a way that is difficult to get past (for me at least) and with a budget soooo low, you wonder how on earth he managed to get funding for Evil Dead.
I can't say I enjoyed watching it at all and if it weren't for the blog reviews, I would have turned off within 5 to 10 minutes.
One positive I will give to this movie however is its sound effects. Yes, you heard me right. Whether it be stab noises, gurglings, possessed voices or various other noises surrounding deaths. They were delightfully eerie and realistic. For me, any moments of feeling impressed end there.
Maybe bigger fans of the actual Evil Dead movie will enjoy it more than I did as a piece of movie nostalgia, but it's certainly not one I will watch again.
Saturday, 25 May 2013
Army Of Darkness - Lisa's Review
*** SPOILERS ***
If I were to review this movie as a sequel to Evil Dead 1 & 2, then it probably wouldn't fare too well with matters such as consistency. I had never seen Evil Dead 1 nor 2 until recently, but I remember watching 'Army of Darkness' many years ago and enjoying it then. Such is the level of fog in my brain, I remember absolutely nothing about the movie apart from the fact I liked it, so I sat down again this evening to re-watch.
I was glad not to be disappointed and found that I still enjoyed the movie. For me, if taken as a standalone movie it is excellent, but you have to leave most of whats gone in the first 2 movies behind when you watch this one as the contradictions are endless. Ash's character (although still played by Bruce Campbell) has completely changed, although IMO most definately for the better. Where we start the movie with Bruce in the middle ages does not tally with the situation we left him in at the end of the second movie. Although he was sent back to this time, we left him hailed as a hero by villagers for slaying a demon. Army of Darkness has him pulled through a time portal and kidnapped by Lord Arthur, suspected of working alongside Duke Henry, who he is at war with.
We see Ash thrown into a pit to his assumed death, but he manages to fight his way out and even kills a Deadite who crawls out of the pit after him. Hey Presto, he is celebrated as a hero. The movie follows his search for the Necronomicon again as this is the only way he can get back to his own time. Obviously all hell breaks loose (quite literally) mostly down to Ash's inaptitude. When he forgets a magic phrase which should enable him to retrieve the book safely he has to battle with a host of evil he unwittingly releases.
What I loved about this movie is how much the humor is ramped up. You can't look at it as a horror at all. I loved the one liners and tongue in cheek jokes. You could be forgiven for thinking you were watching 'The Holy Grail' in places during sets in the village. Its just good all round entertainment. Although it was probably not intended, it reminds me of something you could sit down with your family and a couple of older kids and watch on a bank holiday. An early but more amusing 'Mummy' movie for example.
There is Ray Harryhausen style effects in spades again with skeleton soldiers and a scene where Ash is cloned and spends a brief amount of time as one half of a conjoined twin. The lack of effort in places though was hilarious - i'm thinking of a scene where a skeleton attempts to punch Ash in the face as an example.. it looks like someone just flung the skeletal arm in the right general direction and it just flails about.
Its most definately a 'punch the air' movie with lots of excuses for 'yays' and celebrations. It has lots of laughs and a fantastic script. In my humble opinion it is far superior to the other 2 movies, at least I enjoyed it tenfold in comparison. If you're a fan of an awesome movie quote, you'll probably get all the one's you want in this movie.
What is somewhat disappointing is the ending to the US version. This version see's Ash take a potion to sleep and wake up in his own time. He does so and he is shown working at a supermarket and boasting to women about how he could have been a king. A creature inexplicably appears and he kills it... THE END.
The UK version however has Ash oversleep and wake up Post Apocalypse, which is just fantastic and surely is how the movie should have ended. Apparently though they wanted a 'positive' ending for Ash's character for the american audience, even though Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi preferred the oversleeping storyline.
That aside a most definate thumbs up from me and this one gets the 'recommended' tag slapped on its backside!
If I were to review this movie as a sequel to Evil Dead 1 & 2, then it probably wouldn't fare too well with matters such as consistency. I had never seen Evil Dead 1 nor 2 until recently, but I remember watching 'Army of Darkness' many years ago and enjoying it then. Such is the level of fog in my brain, I remember absolutely nothing about the movie apart from the fact I liked it, so I sat down again this evening to re-watch.
I was glad not to be disappointed and found that I still enjoyed the movie. For me, if taken as a standalone movie it is excellent, but you have to leave most of whats gone in the first 2 movies behind when you watch this one as the contradictions are endless. Ash's character (although still played by Bruce Campbell) has completely changed, although IMO most definately for the better. Where we start the movie with Bruce in the middle ages does not tally with the situation we left him in at the end of the second movie. Although he was sent back to this time, we left him hailed as a hero by villagers for slaying a demon. Army of Darkness has him pulled through a time portal and kidnapped by Lord Arthur, suspected of working alongside Duke Henry, who he is at war with.
We see Ash thrown into a pit to his assumed death, but he manages to fight his way out and even kills a Deadite who crawls out of the pit after him. Hey Presto, he is celebrated as a hero. The movie follows his search for the Necronomicon again as this is the only way he can get back to his own time. Obviously all hell breaks loose (quite literally) mostly down to Ash's inaptitude. When he forgets a magic phrase which should enable him to retrieve the book safely he has to battle with a host of evil he unwittingly releases.
What I loved about this movie is how much the humor is ramped up. You can't look at it as a horror at all. I loved the one liners and tongue in cheek jokes. You could be forgiven for thinking you were watching 'The Holy Grail' in places during sets in the village. Its just good all round entertainment. Although it was probably not intended, it reminds me of something you could sit down with your family and a couple of older kids and watch on a bank holiday. An early but more amusing 'Mummy' movie for example.
There is Ray Harryhausen style effects in spades again with skeleton soldiers and a scene where Ash is cloned and spends a brief amount of time as one half of a conjoined twin. The lack of effort in places though was hilarious - i'm thinking of a scene where a skeleton attempts to punch Ash in the face as an example.. it looks like someone just flung the skeletal arm in the right general direction and it just flails about.
Its most definately a 'punch the air' movie with lots of excuses for 'yays' and celebrations. It has lots of laughs and a fantastic script. In my humble opinion it is far superior to the other 2 movies, at least I enjoyed it tenfold in comparison. If you're a fan of an awesome movie quote, you'll probably get all the one's you want in this movie.
What is somewhat disappointing is the ending to the US version. This version see's Ash take a potion to sleep and wake up in his own time. He does so and he is shown working at a supermarket and boasting to women about how he could have been a king. A creature inexplicably appears and he kills it... THE END.
The UK version however has Ash oversleep and wake up Post Apocalypse, which is just fantastic and surely is how the movie should have ended. Apparently though they wanted a 'positive' ending for Ash's character for the american audience, even though Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi preferred the oversleeping storyline.
That aside a most definate thumbs up from me and this one gets the 'recommended' tag slapped on its backside!
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Evil Dead II - Lisa's Review
So, I finally check out the sequel (or remake with a bigger budget as some would have you believe) to Evil Dead, aptly named Evil Dead 2.
From the get go, I'll say I really didn't like this movie AT ALL. I know that possibly seems like a complete contradiction given that I really enjoyed the first Evil Dead movie, but this one didn't grab me at all. I hadn't seen it before tonight and I expected something akin to the first movie with better effects. Speaking of effects, while you can clearly see there is a bigger budget with this movie, I felt the effects were needless and in places ridiculous. Looks like Buffy looked here for some of its ideas. All the charm of Evil Dead seems lost in the attempt to bring this one up to date for the time. Ironically it manages to date this movie even more than the first Evil Dead installment.
We have the same premise, albeit without the group of teenagers this time round. A recorded message, which was meant as a warning is played, which contains passages from the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead). This unleashes a demon which sets to possessing various people and inanimate objects throughout the course of the movie.
Bruce Campbell is an iconic character but I found even him irritating in this movie. Its the original Jim Carey of enthusiastic over acting. Also the scream we hear over and over from the lead actress is probably the worst I've heard in any movie EVER. No fear, trepidation, horror, nothing! Just an attempt to be as loud as possible. I didn't care about any of the cast, so any deaths were a bit meh for me.
There were a few slight chuckle moments ('A Farewell to Arms' for anyone who has seen the movie), but no belly laughs were I think they were intended. I just didn't feel anything watching it at all. All in all it seems a bit of a waste of time to attempt to improve the first movie with this offering. The special effects are dated and lack the original charm of the crude effects in the first movie. I was surprised to not see Ray Harryhausens name in the credits at the end given some of the effects in places, I'm thinking especially the dancing decapitated corpse near the start of the movie.
I don't know what else I can say really. I didn't like the effects, especially what felt like overkill with the transformation of the old lady in the cellar under the trapdoor. I didn't like the 'feel' of the movie. I didn't like the characters. In fact I found it quite hard to stay awake, which is saying something from a person who suffers from regular insomnia.
I would definately not recommend this one, but would say avoid and just enjoy the original Evil Dead instead. This one adds absolutely nothing in my opinion and just feels like a waste of time to me.
From the get go, I'll say I really didn't like this movie AT ALL. I know that possibly seems like a complete contradiction given that I really enjoyed the first Evil Dead movie, but this one didn't grab me at all. I hadn't seen it before tonight and I expected something akin to the first movie with better effects. Speaking of effects, while you can clearly see there is a bigger budget with this movie, I felt the effects were needless and in places ridiculous. Looks like Buffy looked here for some of its ideas. All the charm of Evil Dead seems lost in the attempt to bring this one up to date for the time. Ironically it manages to date this movie even more than the first Evil Dead installment.
We have the same premise, albeit without the group of teenagers this time round. A recorded message, which was meant as a warning is played, which contains passages from the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead). This unleashes a demon which sets to possessing various people and inanimate objects throughout the course of the movie.
Bruce Campbell is an iconic character but I found even him irritating in this movie. Its the original Jim Carey of enthusiastic over acting. Also the scream we hear over and over from the lead actress is probably the worst I've heard in any movie EVER. No fear, trepidation, horror, nothing! Just an attempt to be as loud as possible. I didn't care about any of the cast, so any deaths were a bit meh for me.
There were a few slight chuckle moments ('A Farewell to Arms' for anyone who has seen the movie), but no belly laughs were I think they were intended. I just didn't feel anything watching it at all. All in all it seems a bit of a waste of time to attempt to improve the first movie with this offering. The special effects are dated and lack the original charm of the crude effects in the first movie. I was surprised to not see Ray Harryhausens name in the credits at the end given some of the effects in places, I'm thinking especially the dancing decapitated corpse near the start of the movie.
I don't know what else I can say really. I didn't like the effects, especially what felt like overkill with the transformation of the old lady in the cellar under the trapdoor. I didn't like the 'feel' of the movie. I didn't like the characters. In fact I found it quite hard to stay awake, which is saying something from a person who suffers from regular insomnia.
I would definately not recommend this one, but would say avoid and just enjoy the original Evil Dead instead. This one adds absolutely nothing in my opinion and just feels like a waste of time to me.
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