Tuesday Trailer: Evil Dead

Yesterday was rather hectic with an assignment due, a lack of sleep and a Tomb Raider marathon to complete the story mode. So this weeks trailer post got delayed till today. I know it's not a great start to what will hopefully become a recurring post, but it did result in a nice bit of alliteration for the posts title.

EVIL DEAD
*Warning: Red Band Trailer contains extreme gore and violence*

The reason I chose the newest Red Band trailer for Evil Dead for this week is simply that it got me so insanely hyped up for this film that I felt I needed to acknowledge and praise it in some manner. I saw the original in several parts when I was younger, and had what I later realised was a re-watch of the sequel quite recently. Neither of them gave me as much satisfaction as the immense fan-base these films have seems to suggest they should have, but I can see exactly what is so appealing about Sam Raimi's films. My first exposure to this reboot//remake//re-imagining//re-whatever was through the first poster to be released (pictured above, left), which I absolutely loved. Trailers soon followed and the more footage I see from this film the more interest it generates within me. 

Firstly I think the fact that this film is clearly benefitting from high production values helps, especially as I'm sure the badly aged effects of the originals factored into my lack enamour with them. I'm also extremely impressed that the film is made up completely of practical effects, something that is extremely encouraging as we live in an age where the overuse of CGI seems integral to most horror films (Mama, I'm looking at you). Most surprisingly, although the cast is nothing too spectacular, what I've seen in these trailers from Jane Levy has really impressed me. This gore-heavy sub-genre of the horror film isn't exactly known for standout performances but she really does seem to be giving her all in this role and I'm excited to see how she carries the full film. 

My favourite aspect of the trailer by far is the fact that rather than using any form of music, the soundtrack is entirely made up of sound effects. The way this is used is brilliant and I love the rhythm that they've created using these effects in conjunction with sounds from the film, like screaming, chainsaw buzzing and Levy's extremely creepy 'Cut" sound bite. Like last week's trailer, Stoker, this one doesn't really divulge a lot of plot and instead focuses on the striking and terrifying visuals, the extreme gore and Levy's central performance. That it seems this trailer is being used to display the gore of the film shows that the studio knows who it's targeting and that this film will draw people in just by promising to be the most f*cked up thing you'll see all year.

 It seems that if theres any kind of body horror that gets under your skin this film is going to feature it. Mine would be the sequence in which someone seems to be pulling something from out of their eyelid, but this trailer is clearly being used to display the vast range of sickening scenarios they've  manage to pack into the film. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this trailer is that it is showing just how well made this film seems to be. This kind of horror film rarely features any form of impressive cinematic techniques, while the Saw and Hostel franchises toyed with interesting cinematography as soon as the gore became the focus the scenes got too messy for anything truly creative. However just within this trailer there seems to be an abundance of incredibly well composed shots which makes me hopeful that there will be some visual substance to the film outside of it's impressive effects.

I'm really hopeful for this film and cannot wait to see if it'll meet my expectations. It's the directorial feature debut of Fede Alvarez and opens in the UK on April 19th, and I'll be sure to review it on here as soon as I've seen it. 

Are you looking forward to Evil Dead? Let me know your opinions on the trailer and if you have any suggestions for others I could look at.