Bruce Campbell wasn't kidding. On Saturday, I interviewed the actor, who starred in and produced the original The Evil Dead trilogy with Sam Raimi and is now producing a remake, and he told me that Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez's reinterpretation is "dead serious." Unlike Raimi's movies, which mixed the director's distinct style of humor with groundbreaking (literally) horror, Campbell says the remake is a "full-on old-school horror movie with make-up effects." And lots of blood and gore judging from this stomach-turning trailer that leaked from NY Comic-Con.
Don't be put off by the initial graininess of the footage, the focus gets fixed and the camera is quite steady which makes me suspect that this is just a smart example of guerrilla marketing. (I wouldn't have posted it otherwise.) In either case, the trailer certainly makes a compelling case for horror and gore fans to see the movie. There's lots of blood, scenes of people removing infected limbs with kitchen and garden power tools and one particularly memorable shot of a young possessed woman slicing her tongue down the middle. (I guess she wants to speak with forked tongue...ba-dump-bump!)
The trailer also suggests that Alvarez has adopted Raimi's technique of shooting scenes from the perspective of the fast-moving evil forces that invade and infect the group of pretty-but-unfortunate souls who find the Book of the Dead in an isolated cabin. Prepare to scream, like the crowd members do at the beginning of the clip.
Update: So, the video was pulled on Tuesday. I'm looking into it and hope to bring you a replacement shortly.
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