Written by MaxThornton.
Warning: spoilers are invoked herein, and they’ll swallow your soul!
I try not to look forward to things; I’ve been hurt toomany timesbefore. But I couldn’t help feeling just alittle excitement for the Evil Deadremake, tempered though it was with trepidation.
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| Almost certainly not true, if you’re the kind of person who wants to see an Evil Dead remake. |
The movie turned out to be a lot of fun: not mindbending by any means, but certainly a good time for a gorehound on a Saturday night. (And be sure to stay right through the end credits!) Its attitude toward gender, though, is an oddity I am still trying to process.
We had been told that Jane Levy as Mia was the Girl Ash. This is, of course, a genderflip of a genderflip (Ash in the original Evil Dead having been a male Final Girl) – or rather, it would have been if we’d gotten it. The equating of Mia with Ash seems to have been based entirely on the climactic sequence, the use of a certain implement, and a rather magnificent reiteration of Evil Dead II‘s “I’ll swallowyour soul!”/”Swallow this” exchange. Apart from this, though, the story is really far more centered on Mia’s not-terribly-interesting brother David (played by Shiloh Fernandez). Mia might be the focus of the plot, such as it is, and she might be the Final Girl, but – unlike Ash – she spends most of the movie possessed by the titular malevolence.
In fact, the whole possession business is handled in a bizarrely and really problematically gendered way. For one thing, the word “bitch” is employed a HELL of a lot. Both male and female characters refer to the possessed as being a “bitch” or “Satan’s bitch.” This version of the Book of the Dead is peppered with color commentary describing what the possessed will do and how to defeat them, and it consistently describes them as “bitches.” I mean, I realize that as a queer feminist among queer feminists I am not living in mainstream society, and I realize that I am writing this for a website with “bitch” in the title, but I honestly haven’t heard that word used with such wild abandon since this.
And the reason it matters is that, for almost the entire movie, it is female characters and only female characters who get possessed. There’s even a scene that cuts between the female characters being possessed and the male characters discussing plans of action. I don’t understand why the filmmakers thought it necessary to treat possession by the Evil Dead in this way, and it’s a decision that came close to ruining the entire experience for me.
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| This guy? 100% as douchey as he looks. |
I do think that a lot of the differences between the original and the remake simply reflect the changes in horror conventions over the past 30 years: the pretty unnecessary pre-credits flashback sequence; the recovering-junkie plotline, which gives the characters an actual reason both to stay in the woods and to disbelieve an increasingly freaked-out Mia; the general fleshing out of characterization and backstory (which makes it all the more noticeable that one of the five characters has almost none); the post-Cronenbergian relish with which the movie utilizes bodily fluids, wallowing in spit and vomit and piss as well as more traditional gore; the hardcore blood and grossness – including one instance of an RN misusing a hypo in a way that makes this trans guy very nervous about his next testosterone shot – which makes it seem even more adorably quaint that the original was once a “VideoNasty” in the UK; and the much more visual nature of the horror overall. Obviously this is partly a budget thing, but in the original, the Evil is never actually seen when it’s not possessing someone – it’s simply evoked through POV shots using sound effects and Shakicam. Whereas in this one there is an inexplicable Evil Mia lurking in the woods, because, thanks to the influence of J- and K-horror, you gotta have your pale creepy dark-haired possibly-dead girl.
It’s perhaps more interesting, though, to compare the character relationships and the reallocation of memorable scenes between the original and the remake. I very much enjoyed the replacement of Ash and Linda’s romantic relationship with David and Mia’s siblinghood, because I generally find it more interesting to see people interact in ways other than romantically. When David gives Mia a necklace very similar to the one Ash gives Linda in the original, it’s a direct signal to fans that this is going to be the primary relationship in the movie.
I very much did not enjoy the tree-rape. First of all, it’s kept in (which, fuck); second of all, it’s made even more visceral and gruesome and drawn-out (which, double-fuck); third of all, it happens to Mia, the supposed focus and alleged Girl Ash. Thought experiment: try to imagine a world containing a version of Evil Dead in which a male Ash got raped by a tree. I’m guessing it’s not our world.
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| I’m so sorry about the tree-rape. I hope this puppy makes you feel better. |
I was also deeply disappointed by the possessed-handsequence. As I wrote back in October:
I want to see a female Ash. I want to see a woman in a movie who is as goofy and prone to slapstick as Bruce Campbell in the original Evil Dead films. I want to see a woman in a movie who follows Ash’s character arc, from cowardly dweeb to loudmouthed braggart with a chainsaw for an arm.
Spoiler: I did not get this. I am still waiting for this. Filmmakers, if you’re out there and you care at all about the narrow slice of audience that loves really gory horror movies and also feminism, please make this movie. Evil Dead 2013 is a pretty decent horror film, but it leaves an awful lot to be desired on the feminism front.
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Max Thornton blogs at GayChristian Geek, tumbles as transsubstantial, and is slowly learning to twitter at @RainicornMax.
There’s a asian film called Machine Girl which has gore and a chick who gets a machinegun for a arm. Also Tokyo Gore Police,Hard Revenge Mily(Along with its sequel Hard Revenge:Bloody Battle), Mutant Girl Squad, along with Robogeisha have gory and female leads who participate in the action. Japan has been creating a whole genre of that film type, so perhaps you might want to start looking at those. keep in mind most of them aren’t meant to be truly “scary”, and they can sometimes be rather sexual(Robogeisha especially. It has acidic milk being fired from nipples) so i don’t know if i would call them completely feminist films. But still, i think you might find something to like in them if you are looking for gore and female characters who actually do something.
Nice review Max. It’s not terrible, it’s just very boring in the way that it doesn’t seem to do anything new, cool, or improved with it’s ideas or premise.
Yay, someone already mentioned Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police ^_^ as a gore fan who enjoys strong female leads those movies were really good as well as Robogeisha (I agree with the sexualization but the main relationship is between sisters which is pretty interesting). I was extremely disappointed to hear about the choice to keep the tree rape scene and hearing that it was the female version of Ash is extremely troubling. I haven’t yet decided if I want to see it…
Think you need to chill out a little bit. I saw it last night and thought it was well made and well written. If you’re willing to let the fact that the women were the main victims of possession and the tree rape scene being included ruined this film for you then maybe that’s just an issue you have. Also, if the roles had been reversed and there were 3 male characters and only 2 female characters you’d then be going off on one about there being more male characters. Why not focus on the fact that the sole survivor was a female that had been given a great part and a demanding role
You know, I LOVE female leads – Mila Jovovich, Sigourney Weaver, Noomi Rapace – but in movies that were written FOR them, not remakes of classic movies. What benefit was there in rewriting the Ash character as a girl? She wasn’t funny or goofy, and when she said “suck on this”, it wasn’t anywhere close to hearing original Ash say “Gimmie some sugar baby”. If this was the first Evil Dead movie ever, I would’ve liked the movie. She kicked ass, but she’s no Ash. I don’t care about her character, I begged for sequels to the original movies, cause I identified with (male) Ash, he was terrified but you knew he’d kick serious ass!! It WAS a good movie, I really liked it, but they should’ve just started a new line of movies instead of trying to make a female version of the original. As far as I’m concerned, the only time a female replaced the male lead and it worked beautifully, was Starbuck from Battlestar, that WORKED, and I cared about her character. Bruce Campbell was, is, and will always be ASH
“And the reason it matters is that, for almost the entire movie, it is female characters and only female characters who get possessed.”
Yeah…about that…Eric (the douchey guy) got subjected to all manner of torture, got possessed and died a grisly death. But don’t let facts stand in the way of your complaining.