 As we approach October, and my upcoming Halloween Special, perhaps it's time to show off a little of my darker side in my tastes. This one is straight up horror, absolutely drenched in practical blood and gore, and it's a thing of beauty. It gets extra credit for, not outdoing, but at least living up to it's source material as well. This is saying a lot considering the original 1982 film would be the one to give us Ash Willams (Bruce Campbell) the most badass horror hero of our age. That said, however, this movie works on a level that works very well without the need for an "Ash".
The setup involves a group of people, gathering at a cabin in the middle of nowhere. The general idea is to get their friend, a girl named Mia (Jane Levy) off of heroine. She's further helped here by her brother, David (Shiloh Fernandez) who is seemingly trying to make up for lost time with their now deceased mother. Mia buries her heroine deep in the ground, and vows never to touch it again. It's revealed, however, that she has vowed to do this before, and relapsed without much reluctance. Because of this, her friend Olivia (Jessica Lucas) explains to the others that she should be kept there until she's clean. They would stay with her as long as it took. Meanwhile, tag-along Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) discovers the Book of the Dead in the basement. As 'Evil Dead' tradition has it, he reads from it, and what ensues is an onslaught of demons, blood, gore, and anything to try to make one squeamish. However, unlike the original 'Evil Dead', this one comes with an interesting, symbolic twist. Without saying too much, the way I interpreted things for myself as a lot to do with Mia fighting her "inner demons" when it came to her addiction. There's this climactic scene that tends to confuse a lot of people who watch it, but bearing my thoughts in mind, perhaps it will take on a new meaning for you when you watch it. The scariest thing about this concept is that it IS a remake of one of horror's biggest titles, and that's not gonna sit well with a lot of people. With that said, however, it's easy to see that this one does a rather brilliant job of it all. It's remade to be it's own thing, but the homages to the original film are all over the place here. This one, being fairly new as well, just looks better. Don't get me wrong, the effects of the original lend themselves to it's charm. But if you were to show a brand new audience these two side by side, the updated effects just work better. And guess what! Not a single bit of it is CG! It's all practical, Hollywood meat. The good stuff that gives you that real sense that something may actually be happening. So, if you're looking for something truly horrific for this Halloween season, this isn't a bad title to watch. But listen, don't just throw those original Campbell films to the side either. 'The Evil Dead', 'Evil Dead 2' and 'Army of Darkness' are all still classics in the name of horror. But for a remake of so much to live up to, this was one of the few that pulled it off VERY well!
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 We are fast approaching my favorite season, Fall. This means colorful leaves, cooler hoodie weather, Thanksgiving feasts and, of course, the end all be all of holidays for yours truly, Halloween! I do have a whole special getting rolled out next month, but I'd like to take this opportunity to get the jump on recommending some of my favorite horror comedies. Let us start with one of the best of recent years, 'Tucker and Dale vs Evil'.
Our story starts out as most American horror does. A bunch of teens head out on a camping trip somewhere in West Virginia. Automatically reminiscent of a typical 'Friday the 13th' setup, it's easy enough for the audience to realize that not everyone is gonna be safe here. Although, there tends to be some mystery behind it, as nothing to us seems directly threatening. Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) are introduced as the film's would-be psycho killers, but we soon find out that they're just a couple of redneck dudes. All they wanna do is head for a cabin in the woods that was left to them, do some repairs, and make themselves a nice retreat for the summer. The key scene has the teens running into them at a gas station, where they give off a sort of creepy vibe. To the teens, they're a couple of dangerous looking freaks, but in truth, they're just kinda awkward and shy - namely Dale. Coincidentally enough, the teens end up camping out very close to the cabin Tucker and Dale are repairing. When one of the girls, Allison (Katrina Bowden) wipes out when attempting to go for a swim, Tucker and Dale rescue her. However, the other kids still see them as crazies, and assume that they straight up knocked her out and kidnapped her. So, they take it upon themselves to go retrieve her, lead by Chad (Jesse Moss). What follows is dark hilarity at it's finest, as no one seems to know what's going on and the body count keeps piling up. The whole thing is about misunderstandings, and clearly the moral is "don't judge a book by it's cover". BUT the idea is truly original, and one that's surprisingly not bee explored all that much. It plays as a "what if" scenario in which the question is essentially "what if all this time Jason Voorhees was just misunderstood and wasn't actually killing these kids?" The question remains, what DOES kill these kids? Well, I won't tell you because it's pretty damn funny and truly highlights the stupidity of the teen victims in almost any horror movie. So, if you're looking for something that might get you into the spirit of Halloween nice and early, I highly recommend this title. I've seen it more times that I care to admit, but it does end up being one of those titles you can keep coming back to. |
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