EVIL DEAD remains one of my all time favorite movies so I was naturally hesitant when a remake was announced that would not star Bruce Campbell. But, when I saw Fede Alvarez‘ red-band trailer. I felt my fears disappear. I saw in the talkbacks some people complaining that the reason that the original EVIL DEAD worked was because of the atmospheric horror and not the gore. I seem to recall that the original movie featured a tree raping a girl, melting skulls, buckets of blood, and decapitation by shovel. None of that says subtle to me.
So, it should come as no surprise that Alvarez posted this to his Twitter account: “Was proud of scoring a NC17 when submitted! But we had to cut stuff out to get an R and get the film into theaters.”
From a business standpoint, an R rating is vital for box office success. Many movies get his with stricter ratings by the MPAA before filmmakers make cuts to satisfy a reduced rating. But, this makes me feel good that the movie will honor Sam Raimi‘s film by not shying away from the grotesque horrors hinted at in the trailer. This also means there will actually be a worthy unrated version when it hits Blu-ray.
But I am not going to be satisfied with just gore. I want EVIL DEAD to disturb me and unsettle me the way the original movie did. They can save the comedy for EVIL DEAD II.
EVIL DEAD will hit theaters on April 12, 2013.