Dead by Midnight?
I feel sorry for the new Evil Dead movie. It’s hard to remake a much-beloved film, a cult classic enjoyed as thoroughly for its B-movie sensibilities and shoestring budget as for its horror.
And people sometimes forget that the original Evil Dead – the very first one – was a horror film. It was not a horror-comedy like its sequel/remake Evil Dead 2 or the third chapter, Army of Darkness. In fact, I think sometimes that the original gets forgotten by people because the latter two are so heavily quoted and referenced. For example, the original did not have Ash say, “Groovy.” But what do people quote from the original? Not much.
The remake had to pick a direction, and it went with horror. As perhaps an acknowledgment of this decision, it declined to give the mysterious tome found in the lonely cabin the Lovecraft-ish title Necronomicon Ex Mortis (the title from ED2) or the undiluted Lovecraft reference of AoD: Necronomicon. In the original ED, the book was titled Naturon Demonto. And this title returns in the new remake, but I think the filmmakers were uncertain about that decision. During the end credits of the remake, the film plays an audio sequence from the original Evil Dead that includes the professor detailing his Sumerian find, including the title of the book. The audio clip has absolutely nothing to do with the story told in the remake. There is no reason to include it, except to clarify the title of the mysterious tome for those fans who were expecting it to be called Necronomicon Ex-Mortis or just Necronomicon.
Thirty years of history and fandom is a great deal to overcome, and the filmmakers knew it. They worked very hard to maintain a connection with the original ED while changing enough to make it their own. They kept the basic setup: five young people (two guys who are old friends, their girlfriends*, and the sister of one of them) go to an abandoned cabin in the woods, read a passage from an obscure book, and they are possessed and assaulted over the course of a single hellish night. They kept the playing cards (the character Eric shuffles and plays with them in one scene) but excluded the original’s ESP game; the Classic** has its cameo; the tree-rape happens; the incantation summoning the problem is the same (I think); and there are a couple of other small references, but they kept them small and didn’t call attention to them.
Much has changed though, in the remake. Instead of a spring break vacation at a found location, the characters are returning to an old family cabin to help the sister detox from a drug habit. The two male friends have a wedge between them from past wrongs. And perhaps the biggest change – no Candarian demons. Instead the incantation (read despite obvious warning signs by a character who is clearly acting under the influence of plot) summons the devil (called Shaitan, Baal, and other similar names as scrawled in their Naturon Demonto)***.
I don’t want to just list the differences though. I actually started writing this to write a review of the new film, but I don’t think I can do it. I love the original, and I consider the remake inferior. I’ve seen glowing reviews of it, though, so plenty of people think it stands on its own as a horror film.
Maybe it does, but what scared the hell out of me in the original when I first saw it – and the aspect that still chills me a little when I re-watch it – was the sense of inevitability. In the original ED, the demons weren’t in a hurry. They could play, and taunt, to the point that poor possessed Cheryl sat there giggling and singing in a childlike voice, “We’re going to get you.” The demons were so certain and confident that they could afford to revel in what they were doing. That’s gone in the new movie. If anything, despite how badly the characters are stuck, the devil seems rushed, as though dead-by-dawn is fine, but dead-by-midnight is better.
Perhaps it’s the difference between modern and older horror. Perhaps it’s the difference between assaulting horror and atmospheric horror. Either way, I prefer the older style. But your mileage may vary.
What do you think? Did you see it? Will you want to?
Oh, and if you do see it, stay all the way through the end of the credits. You’ll be glad you did.
*I’m assuming that Olivia, the nurse, is Eric’s girlfriend, but they may just be friends. The movie is unclear on this point.
**The Classic is Ash’s car, and Sam Raimi makes a point of putting it in all of his movies.
***Technically it could be presumed that the person scrawling those names in the book just doesn’t know any better, since the incantation still included the word “Canda.” But the possessed girl clearly said “he” was coming and would get them, not “we.” So either way, it’s singular, not plural.
