A remake of Kevin S Tenney’s very likeable 80’s EVIL DEAD-riffing horror comedy that sticks to the basic format of the original and steals some key scenes. In the words of director Adam Gierasch (who last year gave us another New Orleans-set retro gore movie, AUTOPSY), it is unpretentiously designed to satisfy 17 year olds eager to see big-breasted young women chased by demons set to a loud punk soundtrack. Though, forget 17 year olds, surely that’s what we all want?
The plot is much the same before, with some token embellishments. There’s a cute silent movie-styled back-story explaining the dark history of the central house that will become host to demon shenanigans. This time out, Angela is recast as a seductive, manipulative sexpot played by Shannon Elizabeth (who has been playing sexy teens since 1999 and can probably get away with it until approximately 2019). As before, a group of Halloween night partying teens wind up fighting – and getting possessed by – persistent demons.
Seemingly destined for a straight to DVD fate, this undemanding remake lacks the retro charm of the movie it aspires to improve on. It’s inevitably slicker, but Steve Johnson’s old-school demon meltdown FX are leagues preferable to the CG ones offered at the climax of this 2009 version. The lipstick gag everyone remembers from the 1987 original is reworked, to bloodier effect, there’s some fresh spins on the demon mythology and some more elaborate splatter to accompany the routine bathroom mirror shocks and formidable boobies.
There’s an engaging RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD – feel to the movie’s use of raucous punk rock numbers, and the presence of big-boobed young women like Dora Baird and Bobbi Sue Luther running around in tight / low-cut outfits is an undeniable drawing card. The passage of time might be the scariest demon of all on display here : a cameo by Linnea Quigley in which, more than two decades on, she performs the same bending-over-panties gag seen in the original, is about as frightening and grisly as it gets. Put them away, ma’am.
Aside from some good gore bits and the novelty casting of puffy, unappealing drug-addict Eddie Furlong as a drug dealer, the flick offers some homage’s to recent horror pictures during a Halloween party sequence : try to catch the visual references to HATCHET’s Victor Crowley, the SAW franchise and the less well known GRAVEDANCERS. Its highlight, however, is a show-stopping “demon-anal” moment featuring the quote “If you’re going to put it in there, you’re going to need…” If you see only one movie this year featuring demonic anal sex…make it this one.
-Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
