May 10, 2023 • 48 mins
The Steve's discuss the 2013 reboot of The Evil Dead, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today.
What's Making Us Happy?
- Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 (Theatres)
- X-Men Comics: Sins of Sinister (Comixology)
Movie Discussion
- The Evil Dead Franchise
- Why reboot it?
- Names and numbers behind the scene
- Nods to the original
- What to do when you friend unleashes demons upon you
- Is the nail gun effective as a weapon?
- And much more!
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Hello, returning Happys and newlisteners.
This is Steve Bennett Martin,and this is Steven Martin
Bennett and, and welcome to a aLifetime of Happiness, the
podcast where we take you on ourjourney through some of the
movies, shows, and other bits ofpop culture that are helping to
keep us happy, while hopefullybring a smile to your face along
the way.
And today we're going to read apassage from the Book of the
Dead and hope for the best as wediscuss the 2013 remake of the
(00:27):
Evil Dead.
Sounds fantastic.
What could possibly go wrong?
Absolutely nothing.
Well, before we get into thatbundle of joy, I'm sure what's
been making you happy?
My love.
So this weekend we saw Guardiansof the Gala.
See volume three, the FinalGuardians of the Galaxy Movie.
(00:48):
Yes.
And it was amazing.
It was very good.
Yes.
It was very violent, veryemotional.
Mm-hmm.
Very funny.
Yeah.
It was just really well done.
It was, I really enjoyed it.
It made me very happy.
It's a great way to end thetrilogy.
I know a lot of our guardianshave said on record that they're
done with their roles.
(01:09):
Yes.
And I think it left it at a goodplace for all of them,
especially the ones who foundtheir happily ever after ending
and the ones that didn't diehorrible, tragic deaths.
Yes.
And to find out who those were,check out it out for yourself in
the theaters.
It's definitely worth the priceof admission.
Very much so.
And you know what also was worththe price of admission?
(01:31):
I don't know.
Do tell reading about fourmonths of X-Men comics at once
and catching up on the sense ofsinister.
Yes, that was a very good time.
A good time was had by all.
And now that we're finished witha sin of sinister, it's time
for.
The fall of X.
(01:51):
What do you like better readingit week by week?
Or do you like binging week byweek?
Okay.
I was gonna say, I like thebinging a little bit.
Maybe we should just not readuntil after X has already fallen
and then we'll catch up.
No, no.
Okay.
We're gonna go back into readingregularly.
Yeah.
Okay.
We're gonna read regularlybecause That I saw too many
spoilers in the interim.
Okay.
Well, for those who areinterested or like the Xmon
(02:14):
comics but haven't been readingthem, what did you like about
sins of sinister and what madeit different than all of our
other trips into potentialmultiverse dimensions?
This one seemed to have.
A long buildup to it becauseeverything that had been
happening since Crico was formedYep.
Had been building towards this.
And so that was kind of awesomethat everything played a part in
(02:40):
getting us there.
And it was interesting how justslight little changes can make
certain people.
Act certain ways, and theneveryone else is like, well, I
trust them, so I'll go alongwith this.
And then little by little thingshappen and before long it's too
(03:02):
late to do anything about it.
Yes.
So definitely catch up if youhaven't recently, if you're a
fan of comics.
Yes.
And what is the Evil Dead,besides something that I would
guess is a romcom?
Yes, it's absolutely a romcom.
100%.
You know, of course with itbeing a romcom, it stars
(03:24):
Jennifer Aniston and ReeseWitherspoon.
Falling in love with each other.
Yes.
This is a very progressive one.
Yeah.
No, it's not.
Babe.
Evil Dead is a franchise createdby Sam Ramey that didn't
actually start with The EvilDead in 1981, which is where I
thought that it all started.
Me Too.
Did you know that it actuallystarted Within The Woods, which
(03:45):
is a 1978 short prequel moviethat's was created by Sam Ramey
and also starred Bruce Campbell?
Not to be confused with theBroadway musical.
Into the woods very different.
I did.
You can see images of it onGoogle and it definitely was
like Sam had just gotten out ofart school and took a digital
camera and said, let's shoot amovie folks.
(04:07):
Not even a digital camera.
No, that was back in the filmdays.
Yeah.
That was like, let, like let'stake my little role of film and
see what we can do.
So it was enough to lead tothis.
Whole franchise, so it inspiredmany.
But the series did continuemostly and is known for the Evil
Dead Trilogy, which consisted ofthe Evil Dead in 1981, the Evil
(04:29):
Dead two in 1987, an army ofdarkness in 1992 before
expanding into comic books,video games, a TV series, and a
musical.
Yes.
Now the musical I have heard is100% Camp.
I would think so.
Yeah.
Yes.
I would not imagine it beingotherwise.
And why were rebooted at thispoint?
(04:51):
So the franchise was successful.
The original trilogy made over50 million and its journeys
offscreen via comics and videogames continue to be profitable.
But you know, the movie hadembraced its campy side fully.
With army of darkness.
So this was a great opportunityto take the bones of Evil dead
(05:14):
and bring back the horror whilekeeping the gore.
And I think it was needed.
It, like we've had similardiscussions on how Friday the
13th just went to horror comedyand nightmare Elm Street had
just become, Mainly horrorcomedy or comedy that where
(05:37):
people died.
Yeah.
And and at the height of theirgame, they'd all been scary and
terrifying.
And, you know, there'ssomething, there's something
great about camp and horrortogether.
Yes.
But I also enjoyed justsomething horror for psych.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And that's what this is.
It is dubbed reimagining of the1981 Evil Dead.
(05:58):
The film with Sam Ramey, alongwith Rob Taper and the original
star of the first trilogy, BruceCampbell all producing it.
And it was directed by FeedyAlvarez, who co-wrote it with
RTOs sa Alvarez and the secondone are also Behind Don't
Breathe.
(06:18):
While Tapered is best known forhis work on Zena Warrior
Princess, which I've neverwatched, but apparently.
We should love in theory.
Yeah.
As long as we don't ever go backand watch.
Is it Conan?
Yeah.
I don't wanna watch that.
No, because he's a horribleracist.
Okay.
Well, funny story.
(06:39):
When do you tell Producer RobTabert suggested the possibility
of an evil dead remake to SamRamey and Bruce Campbell Ramey
responded the most favorably,where Campbell was the least
enthusiastic of the threebecause he felt that the
original was exactly the sort offilm.
You know, they were pitching asa new generation of filmmakers
could like see it and appreciateit and have this new take.
(07:01):
But you had Campbell who was nothappy to pass on the role of
Ash, so they had to.
Rework it so that the film wouldfeature a new set of characters
and the role of Ash would not berecast.
Like it wouldn't be a new ash.
And he was like, well, as longas I'm not being replaced, I
guess it's okay.
Well, I mean, it is kind oflike, I doubt lo Jamie Lee
Curtis would want anybody else.
(07:22):
Well, I guess that's not true.
She did let somebody else playLori Strode.
Yep.
I, I, I, sorry.
I do.
Perfect example then.
I mean, at that point, like I, Ido kind of try to forget about
the Rob Zombie.
I know we do our best, but itdoes come back into play
sometimes.
Yeah.
So she totally did let somebodyelse play Lori Strode, so yeah.
So there's no reason why heshould have been so protective,
(07:42):
I think.
But it all worked out for himlater on, which we'll get to
later.
Yeah.
We'll get it into more of theremake, reimagining reboot
discussion at the end of thefilm.
Fine.
Now the movie Stars, Jane Levy,Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor,
Pucci, Jessica Lucas, andElizabeth Blackmore following
their group as they get attackedby Deadites in a remote cabin in
(08:03):
the woods.
Jane Levy, we know fromShameless, but most recently and
most especially Zoe'sextraordinary playlist on n nbc.
Yes, Shiloh was a dude in theUnited States of Tara.
Jessica was in Gotham andElizabeth was from the Vampire
Diaries.
(08:23):
Yes.
This is such.
A different role than we've seenJane Levy in.
So I think it's kind offantastic.
Yes, I certainly agree.
And it was released on April5th, 2013 with a budget of 17
million in a box office of 97.5million.
Ensuring the franchise continuestoday.
It's interesting that the firstthree made a total of 50
(08:46):
million.
And this one made almost doublethat all by itself.
Yes.
And the tagline is The mostterrifying film you will ever
experience.
Does it live up to that promise?
No.
Okay.
Because I hate when movies saythat, like there's always an
article that'll come out online.
(09:07):
There's like, this movie was soscary, I couldn't finish
watching it.
And usually I'm like, okay.
And then it's like, No, that wasjust for the ad.
Yes.
And but the movie is quite good.
Makes us happy.
Yeah, it is quite enjoyable.
It makes us very happy.
I mean, had surprisingly a lotto talk about.
Oh yes.
(09:27):
So let's get into that.
How does it start off?
Well, what had happened was,yeah, the film starts with a
young woman walking through thewoods.
She's dripping with blood, afigure stalk her and eventually
jumps her, throwing a bag overher head.
And having his redneck buddywhacker with the butt of his ax.
Yes.
So with that opening, did youassume the woman was the victim?
(09:50):
Oh, 100%.
I figured she'd escaped fromsome hellish demonic torture,
and she was our survivor andthat Ari that it was gonna be
like.
72 hours prior is what wouldcome up on the screen or
something like that.
Yes.
Now the woman wakes up in acellar in the presence of a
woman who speaks only Welsh, andshe's surrounded by what appears
(10:12):
to be burn victims or inbreds.
The young woman's father appearsbefore her.
She asked for her mother, daddy,please, and the father tells her
that her mother is dead and sheknows it because she killed her
mother.
The old woman hus the father tokill his daughter, and so he
daes her with gas as she pleadswith him.
(10:33):
Daddy don't.
Before he construct the match,the young woman tells him that
she will eat his soul.
Her eyes turn yellow, and as thefather drops the match, she
appears demonic and startsthrashing.
The father, raises a shotgun,tells her he loves her, and then
bless her head to clean off hershoulders.
Yeah, that was kind of.
Visceral right there.
Just the head exploding.
(10:54):
Yes, exactly.
But in that sequence, the petrolthat he pours over the girls'
head was actually apple juice,which makes it sound really
sweeter, both literally andemotionally.
Yes.
And returning to last week'sconversation, for those who
didn't listen, we talked aboutthe John of the dead.
The dead, and I said, I would beokay with you letting a zombie
(11:16):
meet loose on the world.
I do wanna go on the record thatI do not want you letting
demonic, evil possessed thingsin my body, letting me run
around the world.
Please shoot my head off.
I will update my notesaccordingly.
All right, thank you.
Sometime later, a car is drivingto a quiet part of the woods
where a cabin is.
Meet David, his girlfriend,Natalie, and their friends
(11:38):
Olivia, who is a nurse, andEric.
Olivia tells David his sisterMia is waiting for him in the
back.
David and their dog grandpa findMia sitting on an old, broken
down, rusted out.
1973, old Oldsmobile Delta 88,which is funny because it's from
1973.
(11:58):
Yeah, smoking a cigarette whiledrawing.
He gifts her a necklace that issupposed to help increase her
willpower.
She notes he doesn't believe it,but he points out that if she
does, maybe it'll work.
Yes.
And, and now that we've met ourgroup of victims, I mean, Cass
pay attention real quick totheir names.
(12:18):
The first letter of each oftheir names, specifically as I
go through them, David d Eric e.
Mia, m Olivia O, and Natalie N.
That's Demonn.
Oh my goodness.
I did not pick that up at allwhen I was watching it.
I would never have picked thatup, cuz half the time in these
I'm like, you're just gonna die.
I don't even need to learn yourname.
(12:38):
Now here's Looking at you,Natalie.
Yeah.
And Eric's hair and glasses area nod to eighties hard.
Does it work?
Absolutely.
He definitely looks like adifferent time than the rest of
the cast.
Something that's alsointeresting is Mia is wearing a
Michigan State sweatshirt and inthe original version, Ash is
also wearing a Michigan Statesweatshirt in the opening stain.
(13:00):
And this is an homage to theoriginal series director Sam
Ramey, who is from Michigan.
There you go.
So like if you made movies,you'd put WVU sweaters on
Everyone.
I would.
Now the broken down car, thatwas very specific game statement
make was very specific for areason, wasn't it?
Because it's Ashe's car from theoriginal film.
Sitting there for 30 years.
(13:21):
30 years.
Rusting away.
Yeah.
Yep.
And like the necklace.
Have you ever gifted someonesomething because they loved it
even when you didn't believe init or like it?
Yeah.
I'm more likely these days togift someone something that I
believe in that I don't knowwhether they'll believe in its
power or not.
But I know that it'll be reallygood for them.
So we're not gifting Lisa anyprecious moments anytime soon?
(13:45):
Oh God, no.
Okay.
That's where funny fact,precious moments are where Sam
Ramey got the idea for deadites.
Okay, there we go.
Now everyone gathers around a,well, Mia, an opiate addict
pulls out a bag of powdereddrugs and pours it down the well
vowing to be done with it forgood and going cold Turkey.
And as an addict, that alwaysworks well, which she makes a
(14:06):
solemn vow to her friends andthe universe later, Olivia tells
David that this isn't the firsttime they tried to get me off
drugs.
That what last time she lastedeight hours before relapsing and
overdosing where she legallydied, but was revived.
So what do you think of theirGet me a clean plan of not
letting her leave.
(14:27):
Yeah.
I've never been a fan of thecold Turkey approach for addicts
because the side effect of thewithdrawals can be dangerous.
But I guess with Olivia being anurse and she's with them, that
it's gonna be safer and being inthe middle of nowhere, it's not
like she can get access to a newstash.
But we all know that whensomeone goes cold Turkey in a
(14:48):
movie, it never goes well.
So however, it may or may nothave gone in real life because
they're in a horror movie.
This was destined to fail fromthe start.
Yes.
As with any plan they had, infact, by definition of being in
a horror movie.
Correct.
Now the group enters the cabinwhere Mia complains about the
smell.
Even though no one else cansmell it, not at all.
(15:08):
We learned here that Mia fondlyremembers her mother and a song
she used to sing to them, butDavid doesn't want her to.
It also appears the mother wasemotionally abusive towards Mia
due to her mental illness andthat David left them in their
friend group behind for quitesome time.
So the cabin had also beenbroken into, and someone left at
a mess and broke the lock on thefront door, and they get to
(15:30):
cleaning and fixing it.
But if I had come to a remotecabin and the cabin had been
broken into, I would've goneroom to room with a knife
before, like totally setting upand being like, oh my gosh, it's
a mess.
I would've been like, okay,we're going in pairs to check
this out.
(15:51):
Everybody be safe.
That was in the director's cut.
It happened.
They're okay.
I watched the director's cut.
It was not there.
All right.
It was in limited scenes.
Now that evening, Mia startsscreaming as she is apparently
suffering from withdrawals.
Well, not apparently.
She is.
Is, yeah.
Now Olivia gives her a Saturday,but Mia continues complaining
about the rotten smell thatnobody else seems to notice.
(16:13):
Their dog, grandpa sniffs aroundthe floor where they find a door
leading to a cellar under a rugomen for good tidings always,
especially when you note thatthe floor is smeared with blood.
Yes, David and Eric go into thecellar and discover the stench
is coming from the rottingcorpses of animals, tiny, small
animals.
The wooden support the girl wastied to and burnt at in the
(16:35):
beginning is there.
They also find the evil bookfrom before wrapped in wires and
plastic.
Mia says they should not havetouched anything from the
basement wise, wise words, MiaWise words.
Yes.
And fans of the original willnotice quickly.
It is the same cabin.
The cards are laid out in theorder that Cheryl reads them in
the original.
(16:55):
And there's the leftover bloodmarks, the basement's similar.
The shotgun is the same, eventhough in the original or in
this one, the shotgun changeshere and there.
Yeah.
And a book.
So it does make me wonder if inthe interim of the last time
they visited the cabin, is thatwhen the events of the first
film took place.
Cuz I had assumed that like thebreak-in was the opening scene.
(17:20):
But maybe both happened wheneverthey used to visit there when
they were younger.
And now kind of like the MarvelComics timeline.
Maybe it hasn't been 30 yearssince Ash was there and it's
more of a sliding timeline.
So did they come there aschildren?
Ash and his friends rented itand at some point, and then this
(17:43):
happens after that, like I'm notsure where.
That all falls in the timeline,but if the cards are still out
and stuff like that, I'mguessing that the ash stuff
wasn't literally 30 years ago.
Yeah, I would, who knows, but.
With the shotguns, as Imentioned, the double barrel
shotgun, it keeps changing.
(18:05):
It goes from having a pistolgrip stuck to a full stock.
Now I have no idea what any ofthat means, and it looked like a
good gun to me in all this gunleans.
Yeah, but it sounds like a funfact for gun enthusiasts, which
I'm sure is right up there inour target demographic.
Yeah, I, I think that is exactlywho we cater to in the
demographics.
(18:25):
Yes, exactly.
So the next day, Mia's wonderingoutside in the rain, kind of
just walking in circles.
Eric opens the cover of thebook, which is scribbled all
over with the warnings, like,leave this book alone.
Do not fucking read thisnaturally.
Eric looks through it and findsa page with some words scribbled
on it and warnings to not speakright or hear what is in it.
(18:47):
He also accidentally cutshimself and his blood goes onto
the pages.
Also never good with a demonicbook.
Yes.
He puts a piece of paper overthe book and does that thing
from like grade school where youwould put something over with
textures Yeah.
And rub the crayon on it to seewhat's written underneath and
things.
And it reveals several wordsthat he begins to read.
(19:11):
A straw Estrada.
Montrose, don't say that lastone first.
Again, you'll unleash the evildeadites on us.
Okay.
And it calls something to them.
Yes.
So Eric gets them all killed,huh?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So what would you do if youfound the book?
Obviously I would probably openup the package.
(19:31):
Like that was wrapped in chainsand things because you're like,
maybe it's like money orsomething.
Like maybe it's an expensivething.
But once you look at it and yourealize, huh, that doesn't feel
like leather is that dried skin,and then you open it and it like
written in blood, says, do notread this.
(19:52):
I would've stopped at that pointbecause they were fine until he
did that.
Yes.
Like opening the book.
Didn't do anything.
It's the, all the other shit hedid that brought it on.
Yeah.
It, it's pretty bad now.
20 minutes in and shit goessouth.
Was this enough of a setup foryou or did you want more
character development first?
So I think I would've liked morecharacter development before the
(20:15):
withdrawal started last night.
A little more baselineinteraction to help us feel
closer to the characters.
Especially Natalie.
Yeah.
You know, we all get theirmotivations for be being there
and that's great.
But I'd like to know them alittle bit more if they could
have had like, A family dinneror something before the
(20:35):
withdrawal started.
Mm-hmm.
Just so that we could havegotten a little more interaction
and been like, oh five of oh,together.
Oh, you really are really closefriends.
I see the connection.
Yeah.
I, that would've been like, fiveminutes would've been great and
I mean, it's only an hour and ahalf movie.
It could have had the, it couldhave had for five more minutes.
Yes.
Now outside Mia starts beingsick and hears a faint voice
(20:55):
calling her, and then sees afigure staring at her.
She comes into the cabin andstarts grabbing her things,
saying she can't be thereanymore.
She throws down her willpoweramulet and jumps out the window
to steal Eric's car.
But as she drives through thewoods, she sees the figure again
and drives the car into a swamp.
Women drivers, am I right?
Yeah, there you go.
(21:16):
You're appealing to thatdemographic, babe.
Now, if Mia had gotten away, doyou think she would've been safe
from demons or did it alreadyhave her?
So I believe at that point shewould've been safe.
I think that there's probably aproximity to the book, cabin
spell type of thing that.
If she had gotten far enoughaway, I think she would've been
(21:39):
fine.
Yes.
Now, if she had gotten away andhad been fine from the demonn,
would she have relapsed again?
100%.
She would've gotten back totown, found some smack, and done
it.
If it was to fight off the factthat she was like literally
attacked by a demonn, would youhave forgiven her after that?
But she hasn't been attacked bya demonn yet.
She was being haunted or stalkedor whatever.
(22:01):
She Right then she probablythought it was withdrawals.
Yeah, who knows.
But yes, when she comes to, Miatries to get out, but the figure
rises from the swamp and sheruns away tumbling into a thorn
bush.
The branches and sticks wrapthemselves around her arms and
legs, and the figure, which is abloodied and horrifying version
of herself, regurgitates a blackwormy thing with thorns that
(22:23):
makes its way up her legs andgoes right on inside of her, the
good old fashioned way.
Yep.
David and Olivia hear herscreaming and find her on the
ground, leaning against a treewith no brambles, batches,
branches, or thorn in sight.
The group suspect she was tryingto harm herself.
Now the branches and sticks arevery reminiscent of the first
movie, which did it better.
(22:44):
So this seemed to be more of apossession and less of a raping
by the forest.
So I'm gonna go with this onebecause raping by a tree was a
little much I would have toagree and just graphically, this
is better what the time is.
But also the whole weird treesex thing was weird.
Yeah.
Especially because there is one.
(23:06):
Quick shot of her in theoriginal going, yeah, like as if
it were pleasurable, and I waslike, mm.
Weird.
I'm not so short.
Yeah.
So back at the cabin, David goesinto a room where she tells him
that there's something in theroom with him.
He says it's in her head.
She sees a demonic reflection inthe mirror.
(23:28):
Meanwhile, Eric helping them allout is reading the book and sees
the page detailing me as funtimes with the branches.
David goes outside and seesblood on the ground.
He calls for grandpa and findshim in a hole beneath the tool
shed.
Grandpa is whimpering.
David runs into the tool shedand pulls him out of the hole,
but he dies.
(23:49):
David suspects Mia bludgeonedhim to death with a hammer that
was laying nearby.
And dog deaths hit youdifferently as a dog dad, huh?
Yes, they do.
Now, if you found the scene, doyou think that Mia would do such
a thing because of drugwithdrawals?
No.
I think at this point Mia ismore likely to do self-harm, not
(24:09):
harm a dog, not even a littlebit.
Do I think she was involved withthis?
Like, because since thepossession mm-hmm.
She's been with them.
Yeah.
So I definitely don't think itwas her.
Me either.
Now, Mia's Withdrawal also worksas a great plot device to keep
them there when so often theanswer is, get the fuck out.
(24:30):
Yes, it works, huh?
Yeah.
Now he runs back in the cabinand tries to get to Mia, but
she's taking a shower and thewater is turned all the way up
to where it becomes scalding hotin her flesh starts burning, and
we actually see the hot, watery,old-fashioned hot water heater
on the hall.
On the wall, like catching fireitself.
Yeah.
And the group pulls her out intime and Eric looks at an open
(24:53):
page in the book and notices apicture of it with a person with
burning flesh.
David takes me in as Jeepattempting to drive her to a
hospital as she's filming at themouth.
Unfortunately the roads areflooded, bridges out and he has
to turn back.
Yes.
Now, is the flood cuz of thedemons or is this just an
unfortunate coincidence?
(25:13):
So I think that this storm isuncharacteristically strong, so
I believe it is the book, makingsure that they are stuck there
because it goes along with myproximity thing.
Mm-hmm.
If they can't get away.
Then the book can get to them.
Excellent.
Yes.
And maybe just past that river,if they had found a way past it,
they would've been safe.
(25:34):
Most likely.
That was probably the barrier.
Yeah.
Now Olivia gives me anothersedative.
While the group argues aboutwhat to do with her, she comes
into the living room, dragging arifle.
She holds it up and fires nearDavid, and the door swings open
as Mia lets out.
A frightening scream, she says,in a possessed voice.
You're all going to die tonight.
(25:56):
Olivia tries to get the rifleaway from her, but Mia tackles
her as her eyes turn yellow andshe spits blood all over her.
Olivia kicks her into the opencellar and Eric closes it.
He theorizes.
This has to do with thewitchcraft they found in the
cellar and we all say no.
No shit.
In addition to the many nods ofthe original film, this version
(26:17):
also has several audio clipstaken directly from the original
film.
One of the more noticeableinstances of this is when Mia's
first possessed right after thedoor is thrown open by the force
outside the cabin, the lines youwill die like the others before
you.
One by one we will take, you canbe heard in the background as
Mia screams.
(26:38):
This is taken directly from theoriginal film when Ellen Sand
Weiss's character Cheryl waspossessed.
In addition, when the maincharacters first arrive at the
cabin, a Hello, demonic voicemoans.
Join us.
Can be heard in the background.
This is another audio clip takenfrom the original.
I love that.
Mm-hmm.
And like the original, Mia isn'tthe first person trapped in the
(26:59):
basement.
Ah.
Now Olivia tries to clean theblood and throw up off of
herself, but she sees an imageof herself mutilated in the
mirror, which shatters.
She walks away, but then freezesand her eyes twitch as she wets
herself.
Just pease all over herself.
Yes.
Next to her is the book Open toa page with a person holding a
knife and their severed faceflesh.
(27:22):
Eric goes into the bathroom tofind Olivia who is cutting the
flesh from her cheeks with thebroken glass.
Horrified.
He stumbles backward and slipson the cheek flesh.
Olivia stabs him with the brokenglass and then the face with a
needle.
Eric throws her off and breaksoff a piece of the toilet, which
he uses to bludgeon her todeath.
Just as David and Natalie comein with Eric quickly saying she
(27:43):
tried to kill me.
Yes.
Now were you more upset aboutgrandpa or Olivia?
Olivia.
Yeah, sorry.
I was shocked.
Olivia went so early.
She was the best friend of allthe characters that felt like
Natalie is the leastconsequential and the easiest to
get rid of first.
So this one kind of shocked methat Olivia went this early.
(28:08):
Mm-hmm.
She's the first of the coregroup to go and I never would've
pegged her as first, especiallywith it being Jessica Lucas.
Yep.
So David tries to patch upEric's wounds and asks Natalie
to bring a jar, a jug of waterand sugar because he's been
bleeding.
So they need that to helpstabilize him.
(28:29):
Eric tells David that it's hisfault this is happening because
he read from the book.
So I have a line of questioninghere for you my love deal.
If someone released somethingevil on us and our friend group,
by doing something as stupid asreading passages from a clearly
demonic and forbidden text outloud, what kind of repercussions
should or would there be if theysurvived the evil?
(28:50):
So I say the person is foreverbanished from our group.
And knowing the people I know, Iwould make sure that karmically,
all of that came back to theperson.
Now, if throughout the course ofthe events to survive said,
emergency incident that theybrought upon us, if there was a
chance to survive, that includessacrificing, said idiot, would
(29:12):
that be just and fair as theysay in death becomes her.
You brought this on yourself.
But what if you found out I wasthe idiot and I read the Latin
from the books out loud?
You're more likely to beforgiven.
Okay.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
We can move on now.
Okay.
Natalie goes into the livingroom and finds that the cellar
(29:35):
door is open.
Mia is still down there cryingand asking for help in her
regular voice.
What am I doing down here?
My legs hurt.
I, I can't move.
As Natalie tries to go down andget her, Mia's voice becomes low
and demonic and threatening,saying, he's not gonna let you
live.
He won't stop until he has allof you.
(29:56):
I can smell your filthy soul.
Natalie tries to run, but Miagrabs her and bites into her
hand.
She tries to defend herself witha box cutter, but Mia takes it
from her slices her own tongue.
Down the middle, she grabsNatalie and kisses her, forcing
blood into her mouth.
David finds them and pullsNatalie out.
They nail the cellar door shut,put chains across it.
(30:18):
Locking Mia down there.
Yes.
Now, at this point, did you feelthere was any coming back from
Mia, your first go around?
So one would think not, but asthat she's innocent in her
possession.
I don't believe she can beblamed for the things done
during the possession.
Yeah.
But do you think that sh shecould be at that point un
(30:39):
dispossessed?
Yes, because at this point shehasn't taken any damage that is
fatal.
She would need to see a plasticsurgeon or two or two.
So I would say, you know, untilsomething happens and she's like
(31:00):
a living corpse.
I say there is a way out.
There you go.
I was like, at this point, firsttime around, I was like, she's a
gunner.
Like I just wonder how manypeople she's gonna take out
along the way.
Now David finds Eric trying toburn the book, but it doesn't
work.
He tells David about what heknows from the book.
An evil entity has beenunleashed, a taker of souls, and
it's attached to Mia's Soul.
(31:21):
It seeks a collection of fivesouls, and then the sky will
bleed, and then it'll honorsomething called the abomination
from hell.
Eric says they have to kill Miato save her and to save
themselves.
Now you found out somethinginteresting in this as well.
Yes.
This actually clears up aconfusing plot point for many
from the original trilogy as towhy the book survived Ash
(31:41):
throwing it into the fire in thefirst one, but appeared back
unscathed in the second one.
Demonic books are known to dothat.
Yeah.
Kind of like how.
In hocus pocus, they couldn'tset boo on fire.
Yeah.
And who knows, maybe the bookwas like a sentinel, where the
first time it like dies and thencomes back and then it's immune
(32:03):
to it could be.
Who knows?
Yep.
Now, Meanwhile, Natalie tends tothe bite wound on her hand,
which is disgusting.
Yeah.
She has to force her hand underthe water as if her hand didn't
want to be washed, and she'sable to get these thick black
things out of it.
And at first you're like, yeah,but at first I was like, oh
good, she's getting that out.
(32:24):
It's gonna be okay.
But as soon as she does that,Like a demonic necrosis starts
going up her arm almostinstantly, and then she sees the
electric knife from whenever shewas carving meat for dinner the
night before, and she reachesfor it.
Mia Peeks from the cellar says,don't do it.
Don't do it.
But Natalie slices into her arm,David and Eric Finder as her arm
(32:47):
falls off, and Mia giggles inthe cellar.
Would you be able to cut yourown arm off to stop an infection
like this?
After 37 seasons of the WalkingDead, I am prepared to cut off a
limb to save myself.
I would need you.
I don't think I would physicallybe capable of doing it.
I would need you to do it forme.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now, thank God for duct tape.
(33:09):
They used that shit foreverything here and I Googled it
and it can be used inemergencies like this.
Interesting.
I would've thought to try tocauterize the wound first to try
to get it to stop bleeding, andI'm wondering that since they
didn't do that, if that's whyall of his patients die.
I mean, who knows?
Like, I mean, when I like wasreading it, they were like, it's
certainly not the first, second,first or 50th thing that you
(33:31):
would want to put on top of itto cover it.
Yeah.
But like in the event wherethere is nothing better and the
option is let it bleed out orput duct tape onto it.
Yeah.
Duct tape is better.
Now were there better optionslike.
A shirt or any other thing thatcould cover the wound in the
house or the stove.
Yeah.
And like burn it.
Yeah.
Were, were there better options?
(33:52):
Yes.
Was that an option period?
Yes.
So I also want to note how goodJane Levy is in this movie from
her scene with the box cutter inthe basement when she sliced her
tongue to like a serpent'stongue.
Mm-hmm.
To the way she darted her eyesand laughed while Mia was
mutilating herself.
Jane went all in on this role,and I am so here for it.
(34:14):
I would have trouble watchingthis movie with Jane during
these scenes.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
All right.
Now, Eric tells David there'sthree ways to put an end to
this.
The possessed must be cleansedand purified by either burying
me alive, dismembering her, orburning her alive.
David doesn't like any of thoseoptions, and Eric calls him a
(34:36):
coward.
I think Eric should shut hisfucking mouth since he's the one
that got them all into this.
Exactly.
Now, if presented with thoseoptions, which one would you
choose for yourself?
Okay, so I have a deep, deep,deep, deep, deep fear of being
buried alive.
Burning alive would be rightafter that, so I think I would
(34:58):
rather be dismembered and bleedout.
Because I think it would be thequickest death in the end.
I, I would have to agree knowingthat the dismemberment, I would
want you to start with like myneck.
Yeah.
Like start decapitating me andthen afterwards do whatever you
want with my limbs, but like,just get the head off the body
first.
Oh.
Anything.
Anything.
(35:19):
You might wanna wait till thedemonn leaves before you start
doing that deal.
That's still deal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Good idea.
Suddenly a noise is heard.
Natalie comes in now possessedwith nails in her head.
And she's holding a nail gun andshoots it at Eric, who gets it.
A lot of nails in him.
David tries to get at the rifleand he gets a couple nails in
(35:41):
his knee, but Eric took a wholebunch.
Yeah.
Natalie starts hitting Davidwith a crowbar.
Eric shoots her with a nail gunand she goes to start
bludgeoning him with a crowbarbefore he can deliver the fatal
blow.
David blows her hand off withthe rifle.
Natalie appears to revert backto normal complaining about the
pain she feels before she dies,which, yes, now in, now that we
(36:06):
know she doesn't survive, yes.
In the final script, they cutout many of Natalie's lines.
Surprisingly enough, in theoriginal script, she talked more
and was more of an actualcharacter.
She even had this wholebackstory about how she met
David that they took out.
So do you feel they cheatedNatalie's character?
Very much so.
She definitely was the one thatfelt like she would die first
because she was such a lack ofcharacter.
(36:27):
Like the girl in Scream Five,that everyone assumed she was
the killer because she had sucha small part.
Yeah, the whole thing withNatalie's backstory and how They
met and everything would've beengreat for that dinner scene that
I said they needed to have.
Yeah.
Now a nail gun is actually not avery effective weapon for long
rage combat, unless modified bysome sort of super weapon ninja
(36:50):
master.
Oh, they won't fire normally atall unless they're against
something.
And even if you remove thatsafety feature, they don't fly
very far, precise, or with anysignificant impact if further
than like six inches to a footaway.
Also adding this to my notes.
Good.
Now, can we talk for a momentabout some of this amazing
practical effects that with the,we see with the score because oh
(37:13):
my gosh, they had the choice todo cgi, but as an homage to the
original, they wanted to do asmuch with practical effects as
they can, and I think that it isjust stunning what they were
able to achieve.
Yes.
With practical effects,especially not just cgi.
Yeah.
Like it's visceral, it's gross.
Like when Natalie's arm washanging on.
(37:33):
Buy small pieces of skin andthen gravity tore it loose and
it fell on the floor.
Like bravo.
Yeah, really good and gross.
Now David finally decides toburn the cabin while Mia is
still inside.
He pours apple juice, I meangasoline on the floor, but
before he can drop the lighterMia in her normal voice starts
singing the lullaby that theirmother used to sing.
(37:54):
And David can't do it outside.
A bolt of lightning strikes atree, setting it on fire.
What song would I have to singto you to stop you from burying
me to death?
Maybe if you hummed and dancedto the Buffy theme that would do
it.
That I couldn't, like I wastrying to think of other songs
that I would be like, yeah,that's a song that I would know
(38:15):
that was definitely him.
And I was like, Nope.
Just the Buffy song.
What if I sang our wedding songto you?
What is our wedding song?
I have to look it up.
There you go.
Okay.
I like it a lot.
Damnit, I I walked myself intothat line.
You sure did.
Oh, and the vein on yourforehead is still out.
(38:35):
All right, let's move on.
So he hatches another plan.
He grabs two syringes of carbattery among some other thing,
and starts to dig a holeoutside.
He heads into the cellar and hefinds Mia, who slashes at him
with the box cutter and throwshim around like she, like, not
in a sexy way.
She beats the living.
She, she, yeah, completely.
(38:55):
She tries to drown him, but Ericsteps in and hits Mia.
Who, and then Mia sticks Eric,with a box cutter in the
stomach.
David goes to him and Ericfinally dies.
All right, let it out.
He had it coming.
He had it coming.
He had it coming all along.
(39:16):
Excellent.
Fuck you, Eric.
Yes.
Now David takes me outside witha bag over her head and starts
to bury her.
She talks to him in her normalvoice and pleads with him, but
he won't buy it.
She starts telling him abouttheir mother and more of her
abusiveness as she was dying andhow far gone she was.
Their mother kept asking forDavid who was never there and
how Mia would've to keep tellingher that he's coming back.
(39:36):
He completely buries her andthen waits a while as the rain
stops and the fire on the treesgoes out.
David digs Mia back up and pullsher out.
He grabs the car battery withthe syringes attached to it and
sits them in her chest trying torevive her.
It's like the clear machines atthe hospital.
Yeah, a defibrillator.
That's it.
I couldn't think of the damnword.
The battery runs out of powerand it appears she's not coming
(39:58):
back, so he covers her body andwalks away tearfully.
However, Mia arises and talks toDavid.
She's back to normal, and theyhug Director.
Fedi Alvarez stated that thiswas his favorite scene in order
to help Shiloh Fernandez withhis performance.
Levy was really buried alive inthe grave below him with plenty
of safeguards, of course, toprevent her from suffocating.
(40:21):
This was done so that Fernandezwould show genuine apprehension
and try to get levy out of thesand as fast as possible worked
for me.
Yep.
Now, if I was possessed, wouldyou be able to be burying me
alive while I beg, screamed andspoke about our great love story
no matter what kind of weirdSherlock Holmesy, Matt Locke
MacGyver plan you had forbringing me back?
Yeah.
As long as I knew it would helpbring you back, I would do it.
(40:43):
Okay.
But what does David do in reallife again?
Like how did he bake an a e Dout of.
Those two items.
Hmm.
All I know is he abandons hisfamily.
I don't know what he does for aliving.
All right.
Sounds good.
Now, do you, did you think thisfirst around was back for good
or that this was a trick?
I believe she was back for goodbecause her face was healed and
(41:05):
that was probably for the bestas well.
Yeah.
She could never give good headever again, or she can give
really good head depending onhow you look at it.
Yeah.
Now the two go back into thecabin to get the keys to David's
Jeep, but it possessed Eric'sbehind him and he stabs David in
the neck.
David goes into the hallway andgets Mia outside and locks her
out.
He grabs the rifle and shoots atthe gasoline container, letting
(41:25):
consume the cabin in the flamesand killing himself and Eric for
good.
A plot hole was present in thetheatrical cut when the
abomination rises from hell tokill Mia after David blows up
the cabin killing him.
In the dead eye version of Eric,the neon states that the
abomination needs to claim fivesouls before it could rise.
(41:46):
In the theatrical cut, only fourcharacters were possessed at the
time of their deaths.
Eric, Olivia, Natalie, and Mia.
Leaving the audience wonderingwho the fifth soul was, as David
seemingly died as himself.
Harold's daughter from theprologue could not have been the
first of the five souls as shedied long before the main events
(42:06):
of the film.
This plot hole was fixed in theextended director's cut.
Which restores the scene showingDavid while he is burning alive,
along with the dead eye, Eric,in the cabin.
Getting possessed by a demonnbefore his death, meaning he was
ultimately the fifth soul cleanfor the abomination to rise.
I watched the extended cut, sodidn't I didn't have the
question.
(42:26):
Okay.
Was it good?
I didn't get to see it.
It was only a couple moreminutes, but it filled in plot
holes.
There you go.
Now outside it starts rainingblood, which is never a good
sign.
Never.
Except that one time now a handburst from the ground and grabs
at Mia.
It's the abomination.
Oh Lord.
Help It chases after Mia, whograbs a chainsaw from the tool
(42:47):
shed and tries to run.
She hides on the Jeep andmanages to slice off the
abominations legs, crippling itas she tries to run though the
abomination tips the Jeep overand it falls on Mia's arm.
Oh, she pulls herself free,severing her hand just above the
wrist.
The abomination inches towardsMia, but she sticks her arm into
(43:09):
the handle of the chainsaw andkills the abomination.
Its corpse sinks back into theground.
Oh.
So yes, I wouldn't wanna fuckwith the abomination, but as far
as worst case scenarios, if it'ssurvived, do you think it'd be
an apocalypse level descrdestruction, or do you think
it'd just be an ongoing bodycount, like a Freddy or
(43:29):
adjacent?
I would tend to think that onceit starts raining blood, It will
be apocalypse level destruction.
Yes.
Now, Mr.
I can cut off my arm if I needto.
Could you tear your own arm off?
You mu crazy person?
No.
Goodness.
Cutting my arm off is one thing,but pulling on it until it tears
off.
(43:50):
I don't think I could do that.
I would probably pass out fromthe pain first.
Yeah, I agree.
I can't do it.
I would just say, I would tryand like killed the abomination
there with my arm under thereand just, yeah, I would've like,
But I mean, she couldn't get tothe chainsaw and she was inches
away, so the only thing shecould do.
Was give herself a few moreinches, which means ripping off
(44:12):
rain.
Oh, no, no, it's just too much.
I don't like it.
I wouldn't be a final girl Idon't think.
Mia grabs her willpower necklaceas the bloody rain stops and the
sun comes out.
Mia walks away now free from thecurse, but alone.
Meanwhile, the book lies outsidethe burning cabin, closing
itself, and waiting for its nextvictim.
(44:32):
Thoughts on the ending.
I like it.
I like how it's open-ended, thatthe book can find another
unsuspecting idiot to wake itup.
Yes.
And until Eric or anotherversion of him comes around in a
mid cut credit scene or in a cutmid credit scene, we see Mia
passing out on the side of theroad as a man comes out to help
her.
She wakes up in his backseat ashe promises to take her to the
(44:54):
hospital and the credits resume.
It was cut in my opinion,because it's pointless.
So in the extended cut that Isaw when her eyes open, I think
they were trying to make you go,oh my goodness, is she
possessed, but her eyes areclear and not yellow.
And even though I think it wastrying to make you wonder, Since
her eyes were clear, I think itwas definitely not Demonn Mia.
(45:17):
So in the end, I think it ispointless.
Other than answering thequestion, did she, she she got
saved.
Yes.
Now Ash appears after thecredits to say Groovy and
dramatically turn to theaudience, making old straight
white men everywhere have aboner.
Yep.
And probably jizzed in theirpants.
Yep.
Now at the end of the film,towards the end of the credits,
(45:39):
you can hear a man talking abouthis experience of having opened
and read the spell in the Bookof the Dead.
This extra, this exact track isfrom the cassette recording in
the original film from 1981 whenthe books first found along with
the cassette player.
Yes.
Now, director Fede Alvarezinitially kept things ambiguous
and said that due to severalinconsistencies, With the
(46:00):
previous Evil Dead Trilogy, themovie could be either a remake
or a late sequel.
However, Sam Ramey, Rob Tapperand Bruce Campbell later claimed
that this film was a sequel setin the same continuity as the
original trilogy.
Their plan was to make anothersequel starring Mia and then a
sequel to the Army of Darknessduring Campbell as Ash and one
(46:23):
final crossover film where Ashand Mio would team up to fight
the dead eye.
Universal Studios eventuallypassed on the sequels, which is
strange to me, seeing as howthis one made did so much money.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they developed an army ofdarkness to idea into the TV
series, Ash versus the Evil Deadtogether with Ramey, Tapert, and
(46:45):
Campbell when the show wascanceled after three seasons and
Campbell retired from the roll.
All further plans were scrappednow.
The Evil Dead sequel wasreworked as Evil Dead Rise,
which came out just last month,and we haven't seen it yet.
But now I want to, I really dotoo.
All right.
Final thoughts?
I really like it.
(47:05):
I think it, it honors what camebefore, but gets the series back
on track in terms of purehorror.
Excellent.
I loved it too, and I considermyself a new fan of the
Deadites, or not themthemselves, but the horror
behind it.
Yes.
Yeah.
So I would love to hear whaty'all think of the Evil Dead
movie as well as the universe.
(47:27):
You can do that by emailing usat happy life pod gmail.com.
Or you can get in touch with uson all the socials, whether that
is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,or TikTok at Happy Life Pod.
And until next time, everybody,stay, stay happy and don't read
the book out loud.
Hello, returning Happys and newlisteners.
This is Steve Bennett Martin,and this is Steven Martin
Bennett and, and welcome to a aLifetime of Happiness, the
podcast where we take you on ourjourney through some of the
movies, shows, and other bits ofpop culture that are helping to
keep us happy, while hopefullybring a smile to your face along
the way.
And today we're going to read apassage from the Book of the
Dead and hope for the best as wediscuss the 2013 remake of the
(00:27):
Evil Dead.
Sounds fantastic.
What could possibly go wrong?
Absolutely nothing.
Well, before we get into thatbundle of joy, I'm sure what's
been making you happy?
My love.
So this weekend we saw Guardiansof the Gala.
See volume three, the FinalGuardians of the Galaxy Movie.
(00:48):
Yes.
And it was amazing.
It was very good.
Yes.
It was very violent, veryemotional.
Mm-hmm.
Very funny.
Yeah.
It was just really well done.
It was, I really enjoyed it.
It made me very happy.
It's a great way to end thetrilogy.
I know a lot of our guardianshave said on record that they're
done with their roles.
(01:09):
Yes.
And I think it left it at a goodplace for all of them,
especially the ones who foundtheir happily ever after ending
and the ones that didn't diehorrible, tragic deaths.
Yes.
And to find out who those were,check out it out for yourself in
the theaters.
It's definitely worth the priceof admission.
Very much so.
And you know what also was worththe price of admission?
(01:31):
I don't know.
Do tell reading about fourmonths of X-Men comics at once
and catching up on the sense ofsinister.
Yes, that was a very good time.
A good time was had by all.
And now that we're finished witha sin of sinister, it's time
for.
The fall of X.
(01:51):
What do you like better readingit week by week?
Or do you like binging week byweek?
Okay.
I was gonna say, I like thebinging a little bit.
Maybe we should just not readuntil after X has already fallen
and then we'll catch up.
No, no.
Okay.
We're gonna go back into readingregularly.
Yeah.
Okay.
We're gonna read regularlybecause That I saw too many
spoilers in the interim.
Okay.
Well, for those who areinterested or like the Xmon
(02:14):
comics but haven't been readingthem, what did you like about
sins of sinister and what madeit different than all of our
other trips into potentialmultiverse dimensions?
This one seemed to have.
A long buildup to it becauseeverything that had been
happening since Crico was formedYep.
Had been building towards this.
And so that was kind of awesomethat everything played a part in
(02:40):
getting us there.
And it was interesting how justslight little changes can make
certain people.
Act certain ways, and theneveryone else is like, well, I
trust them, so I'll go alongwith this.
And then little by little thingshappen and before long it's too
(03:02):
late to do anything about it.
Yes.
So definitely catch up if youhaven't recently, if you're a
fan of comics.
Yes.
And what is the Evil Dead,besides something that I would
guess is a romcom?
Yes, it's absolutely a romcom.
100%.
You know, of course with itbeing a romcom, it stars
(03:24):
Jennifer Aniston and ReeseWitherspoon.
Falling in love with each other.
Yes.
This is a very progressive one.
Yeah.
No, it's not.
Babe.
Evil Dead is a franchise createdby Sam Ramey that didn't
actually start with The EvilDead in 1981, which is where I
thought that it all started.
Me Too.
Did you know that it actuallystarted Within The Woods, which
(03:45):
is a 1978 short prequel moviethat's was created by Sam Ramey
and also starred Bruce Campbell?
Not to be confused with theBroadway musical.
Into the woods very different.
I did.
You can see images of it onGoogle and it definitely was
like Sam had just gotten out ofart school and took a digital
camera and said, let's shoot amovie folks.
(04:07):
Not even a digital camera.
No, that was back in the filmdays.
Yeah.
That was like, let, like let'stake my little role of film and
see what we can do.
So it was enough to lead tothis.
Whole franchise, so it inspiredmany.
But the series did continuemostly and is known for the Evil
Dead Trilogy, which consisted ofthe Evil Dead in 1981, the Evil
(04:29):
Dead two in 1987, an army ofdarkness in 1992 before
expanding into comic books,video games, a TV series, and a
musical.
Yes.
Now the musical I have heard is100% Camp.
I would think so.
Yeah.
Yes.
I would not imagine it beingotherwise.
And why were rebooted at thispoint?
(04:51):
So the franchise was successful.
The original trilogy made over50 million and its journeys
offscreen via comics and videogames continue to be profitable.
But you know, the movie hadembraced its campy side fully.
With army of darkness.
So this was a great opportunityto take the bones of Evil dead
(05:14):
and bring back the horror whilekeeping the gore.
And I think it was needed.
It, like we've had similardiscussions on how Friday the
13th just went to horror comedyand nightmare Elm Street had
just become, Mainly horrorcomedy or comedy that where
(05:37):
people died.
Yeah.
And and at the height of theirgame, they'd all been scary and
terrifying.
And, you know, there'ssomething, there's something
great about camp and horrortogether.
Yes.
But I also enjoyed justsomething horror for psych.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And that's what this is.
It is dubbed reimagining of the1981 Evil Dead.
(05:58):
The film with Sam Ramey, alongwith Rob Taper and the original
star of the first trilogy, BruceCampbell all producing it.
And it was directed by FeedyAlvarez, who co-wrote it with
RTOs sa Alvarez and the secondone are also Behind Don't
Breathe.
(06:18):
While Tapered is best known forhis work on Zena Warrior
Princess, which I've neverwatched, but apparently.
We should love in theory.
Yeah.
As long as we don't ever go backand watch.
Is it Conan?
Yeah.
I don't wanna watch that.
No, because he's a horribleracist.
Okay.
Well, funny story.
(06:39):
When do you tell Producer RobTabert suggested the possibility
of an evil dead remake to SamRamey and Bruce Campbell Ramey
responded the most favorably,where Campbell was the least
enthusiastic of the threebecause he felt that the
original was exactly the sort offilm.
You know, they were pitching asa new generation of filmmakers
could like see it and appreciateit and have this new take.
(07:01):
But you had Campbell who was nothappy to pass on the role of
Ash, so they had to.
Rework it so that the film wouldfeature a new set of characters
and the role of Ash would not berecast.
Like it wouldn't be a new ash.
And he was like, well, as longas I'm not being replaced, I
guess it's okay.
Well, I mean, it is kind oflike, I doubt lo Jamie Lee
Curtis would want anybody else.
(07:22):
Well, I guess that's not true.
She did let somebody else playLori Strode.
Yep.
I, I, I, sorry.
I do.
Perfect example then.
I mean, at that point, like I, Ido kind of try to forget about
the Rob Zombie.
I know we do our best, but itdoes come back into play
sometimes.
Yeah.
So she totally did let somebodyelse play Lori Strode, so yeah.
So there's no reason why heshould have been so protective,
(07:42):
I think.
But it all worked out for himlater on, which we'll get to
later.
Yeah.
We'll get it into more of theremake, reimagining reboot
discussion at the end of thefilm.
Fine.
Now the movie Stars, Jane Levy,Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor,
Pucci, Jessica Lucas, andElizabeth Blackmore following
their group as they get attackedby Deadites in a remote cabin in
(08:03):
the woods.
Jane Levy, we know fromShameless, but most recently and
most especially Zoe'sextraordinary playlist on n nbc.
Yes, Shiloh was a dude in theUnited States of Tara.
Jessica was in Gotham andElizabeth was from the Vampire
Diaries.
(08:23):
Yes.
This is such.
A different role than we've seenJane Levy in.
So I think it's kind offantastic.
Yes, I certainly agree.
And it was released on April5th, 2013 with a budget of 17
million in a box office of 97.5million.
Ensuring the franchise continuestoday.
It's interesting that the firstthree made a total of 50
(08:46):
million.
And this one made almost doublethat all by itself.
Yes.
And the tagline is The mostterrifying film you will ever
experience.
Does it live up to that promise?
No.
Okay.
Because I hate when movies saythat, like there's always an
article that'll come out online.
(09:07):
There's like, this movie was soscary, I couldn't finish
watching it.
And usually I'm like, okay.
And then it's like, No, that wasjust for the ad.
Yes.
And but the movie is quite good.
Makes us happy.
Yeah, it is quite enjoyable.
It makes us very happy.
I mean, had surprisingly a lotto talk about.
Oh yes.
(09:27):
So let's get into that.
How does it start off?
Well, what had happened was,yeah, the film starts with a
young woman walking through thewoods.
She's dripping with blood, afigure stalk her and eventually
jumps her, throwing a bag overher head.
And having his redneck buddywhacker with the butt of his ax.
Yes.
So with that opening, did youassume the woman was the victim?
(09:50):
Oh, 100%.
I figured she'd escaped fromsome hellish demonic torture,
and she was our survivor andthat Ari that it was gonna be
like.
72 hours prior is what wouldcome up on the screen or
something like that.
Yes.
Now the woman wakes up in acellar in the presence of a
woman who speaks only Welsh, andshe's surrounded by what appears
(10:12):
to be burn victims or inbreds.
The young woman's father appearsbefore her.
She asked for her mother, daddy,please, and the father tells her
that her mother is dead and sheknows it because she killed her
mother.
The old woman hus the father tokill his daughter, and so he
daes her with gas as she pleadswith him.
(10:33):
Daddy don't.
Before he construct the match,the young woman tells him that
she will eat his soul.
Her eyes turn yellow, and as thefather drops the match, she
appears demonic and startsthrashing.
The father, raises a shotgun,tells her he loves her, and then
bless her head to clean off hershoulders.
Yeah, that was kind of.
Visceral right there.
Just the head exploding.
(10:54):
Yes, exactly.
But in that sequence, the petrolthat he pours over the girls'
head was actually apple juice,which makes it sound really
sweeter, both literally andemotionally.
Yes.
And returning to last week'sconversation, for those who
didn't listen, we talked aboutthe John of the dead.
The dead, and I said, I would beokay with you letting a zombie
(11:16):
meet loose on the world.
I do wanna go on the record thatI do not want you letting
demonic, evil possessed thingsin my body, letting me run
around the world.
Please shoot my head off.
I will update my notesaccordingly.
All right, thank you.
Sometime later, a car is drivingto a quiet part of the woods
where a cabin is.
Meet David, his girlfriend,Natalie, and their friends
(11:38):
Olivia, who is a nurse, andEric.
Olivia tells David his sisterMia is waiting for him in the
back.
David and their dog grandpa findMia sitting on an old, broken
down, rusted out.
1973, old Oldsmobile Delta 88,which is funny because it's from
1973.
(11:58):
Yeah, smoking a cigarette whiledrawing.
He gifts her a necklace that issupposed to help increase her
willpower.
She notes he doesn't believe it,but he points out that if she
does, maybe it'll work.
Yes.
And, and now that we've met ourgroup of victims, I mean, Cass
pay attention real quick totheir names.
(12:18):
The first letter of each oftheir names, specifically as I
go through them, David d Eric e.
Mia, m Olivia O, and Natalie N.
That's Demonn.
Oh my goodness.
I did not pick that up at allwhen I was watching it.
I would never have picked thatup, cuz half the time in these
I'm like, you're just gonna die.
I don't even need to learn yourname.
(12:38):
Now here's Looking at you,Natalie.
Yeah.
And Eric's hair and glasses area nod to eighties hard.
Does it work?
Absolutely.
He definitely looks like adifferent time than the rest of
the cast.
Something that's alsointeresting is Mia is wearing a
Michigan State sweatshirt and inthe original version, Ash is
also wearing a Michigan Statesweatshirt in the opening stain.
(13:00):
And this is an homage to theoriginal series director Sam
Ramey, who is from Michigan.
There you go.
So like if you made movies,you'd put WVU sweaters on
Everyone.
I would.
Now the broken down car, thatwas very specific game statement
make was very specific for areason, wasn't it?
Because it's Ashe's car from theoriginal film.
Sitting there for 30 years.
(13:21):
30 years.
Rusting away.
Yeah.
Yep.
And like the necklace.
Have you ever gifted someonesomething because they loved it
even when you didn't believe init or like it?
Yeah.
I'm more likely these days togift someone something that I
believe in that I don't knowwhether they'll believe in its
power or not.
But I know that it'll be reallygood for them.
So we're not gifting Lisa anyprecious moments anytime soon?
(13:45):
Oh God, no.
Okay.
That's where funny fact,precious moments are where Sam
Ramey got the idea for deadites.
Okay, there we go.
Now everyone gathers around a,well, Mia, an opiate addict
pulls out a bag of powdereddrugs and pours it down the well
vowing to be done with it forgood and going cold Turkey.
And as an addict, that alwaysworks well, which she makes a
(14:06):
solemn vow to her friends andthe universe later, Olivia tells
David that this isn't the firsttime they tried to get me off
drugs.
That what last time she lastedeight hours before relapsing and
overdosing where she legallydied, but was revived.
So what do you think of theirGet me a clean plan of not
letting her leave.
(14:27):
Yeah.
I've never been a fan of thecold Turkey approach for addicts
because the side effect of thewithdrawals can be dangerous.
But I guess with Olivia being anurse and she's with them, that
it's gonna be safer and being inthe middle of nowhere, it's not
like she can get access to a newstash.
But we all know that whensomeone goes cold Turkey in a
(14:48):
movie, it never goes well.
So however, it may or may nothave gone in real life because
they're in a horror movie.
This was destined to fail fromthe start.
Yes.
As with any plan they had, infact, by definition of being in
a horror movie.
Correct.
Now the group enters the cabinwhere Mia complains about the
smell.
Even though no one else cansmell it, not at all.
(15:08):
We learned here that Mia fondlyremembers her mother and a song
she used to sing to them, butDavid doesn't want her to.
It also appears the mother wasemotionally abusive towards Mia
due to her mental illness andthat David left them in their
friend group behind for quitesome time.
So the cabin had also beenbroken into, and someone left at
a mess and broke the lock on thefront door, and they get to
(15:30):
cleaning and fixing it.
But if I had come to a remotecabin and the cabin had been
broken into, I would've goneroom to room with a knife
before, like totally setting upand being like, oh my gosh, it's
a mess.
I would've been like, okay,we're going in pairs to check
this out.
(15:51):
Everybody be safe.
That was in the director's cut.
It happened.
They're okay.
I watched the director's cut.
It was not there.
All right.
It was in limited scenes.
Now that evening, Mia startsscreaming as she is apparently
suffering from withdrawals.
Well, not apparently.
She is.
Is, yeah.
Now Olivia gives her a Saturday,but Mia continues complaining
about the rotten smell thatnobody else seems to notice.
(16:13):
Their dog, grandpa sniffs aroundthe floor where they find a door
leading to a cellar under a rugomen for good tidings always,
especially when you note thatthe floor is smeared with blood.
Yes, David and Eric go into thecellar and discover the stench
is coming from the rottingcorpses of animals, tiny, small
animals.
The wooden support the girl wastied to and burnt at in the
(16:35):
beginning is there.
They also find the evil bookfrom before wrapped in wires and
plastic.
Mia says they should not havetouched anything from the
basement wise, wise words, MiaWise words.
Yes.
And fans of the original willnotice quickly.
It is the same cabin.
The cards are laid out in theorder that Cheryl reads them in
the original.
(16:55):
And there's the leftover bloodmarks, the basement's similar.
The shotgun is the same, eventhough in the original or in
this one, the shotgun changeshere and there.
Yeah.
And a book.
So it does make me wonder if inthe interim of the last time
they visited the cabin, is thatwhen the events of the first
film took place.
Cuz I had assumed that like thebreak-in was the opening scene.
(17:20):
But maybe both happened wheneverthey used to visit there when
they were younger.
And now kind of like the MarvelComics timeline.
Maybe it hasn't been 30 yearssince Ash was there and it's
more of a sliding timeline.
So did they come there aschildren?
Ash and his friends rented itand at some point, and then this
(17:43):
happens after that, like I'm notsure where.
That all falls in the timeline,but if the cards are still out
and stuff like that, I'mguessing that the ash stuff
wasn't literally 30 years ago.
Yeah, I would, who knows, but.
With the shotguns, as Imentioned, the double barrel
shotgun, it keeps changing.
(18:05):
It goes from having a pistolgrip stuck to a full stock.
Now I have no idea what any ofthat means, and it looked like a
good gun to me in all this gunleans.
Yeah, but it sounds like a funfact for gun enthusiasts, which
I'm sure is right up there inour target demographic.
Yeah, I, I think that is exactlywho we cater to in the
demographics.
(18:25):
Yes, exactly.
So the next day, Mia's wonderingoutside in the rain, kind of
just walking in circles.
Eric opens the cover of thebook, which is scribbled all
over with the warnings, like,leave this book alone.
Do not fucking read thisnaturally.
Eric looks through it and findsa page with some words scribbled
on it and warnings to not speakright or hear what is in it.
(18:47):
He also accidentally cutshimself and his blood goes onto
the pages.
Also never good with a demonicbook.
Yes.
He puts a piece of paper overthe book and does that thing
from like grade school where youwould put something over with
textures Yeah.
And rub the crayon on it to seewhat's written underneath and
things.
And it reveals several wordsthat he begins to read.
(19:11):
A straw Estrada.
Montrose, don't say that lastone first.
Again, you'll unleash the evildeadites on us.
Okay.
And it calls something to them.
Yes.
So Eric gets them all killed,huh?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So what would you do if youfound the book?
Obviously I would probably openup the package.
(19:31):
Like that was wrapped in chainsand things because you're like,
maybe it's like money orsomething.
Like maybe it's an expensivething.
But once you look at it and yourealize, huh, that doesn't feel
like leather is that dried skin,and then you open it and it like
written in blood, says, do notread this.
(19:52):
I would've stopped at that pointbecause they were fine until he
did that.
Yes.
Like opening the book.
Didn't do anything.
It's the, all the other shit hedid that brought it on.
Yeah.
It, it's pretty bad now.
20 minutes in and shit goessouth.
Was this enough of a setup foryou or did you want more
character development first?
So I think I would've liked morecharacter development before the
(20:15):
withdrawal started last night.
A little more baselineinteraction to help us feel
closer to the characters.
Especially Natalie.
Yeah.
You know, we all get theirmotivations for be being there
and that's great.
But I'd like to know them alittle bit more if they could
have had like, A family dinneror something before the
(20:35):
withdrawal started.
Mm-hmm.
Just so that we could havegotten a little more interaction
and been like, oh five of oh,together.
Oh, you really are really closefriends.
I see the connection.
Yeah.
I, that would've been like, fiveminutes would've been great and
I mean, it's only an hour and ahalf movie.
It could have had the, it couldhave had for five more minutes.
Yes.
Now outside Mia starts beingsick and hears a faint voice
(20:55):
calling her, and then sees afigure staring at her.
She comes into the cabin andstarts grabbing her things,
saying she can't be thereanymore.
She throws down her willpoweramulet and jumps out the window
to steal Eric's car.
But as she drives through thewoods, she sees the figure again
and drives the car into a swamp.
Women drivers, am I right?
Yeah, there you go.
(21:16):
You're appealing to thatdemographic, babe.
Now, if Mia had gotten away, doyou think she would've been safe
from demons or did it alreadyhave her?
So I believe at that point shewould've been safe.
I think that there's probably aproximity to the book, cabin
spell type of thing that.
If she had gotten far enoughaway, I think she would've been
(21:39):
fine.
Yes.
Now, if she had gotten away andhad been fine from the demonn,
would she have relapsed again?
100%.
She would've gotten back totown, found some smack, and done
it.
If it was to fight off the factthat she was like literally
attacked by a demonn, would youhave forgiven her after that?
But she hasn't been attacked bya demonn yet.
She was being haunted or stalkedor whatever.
(22:01):
She Right then she probablythought it was withdrawals.
Yeah, who knows.
But yes, when she comes to, Miatries to get out, but the figure
rises from the swamp and sheruns away tumbling into a thorn
bush.
The branches and sticks wrapthemselves around her arms and
legs, and the figure, which is abloodied and horrifying version
of herself, regurgitates a blackwormy thing with thorns that
(22:23):
makes its way up her legs andgoes right on inside of her, the
good old fashioned way.
Yep.
David and Olivia hear herscreaming and find her on the
ground, leaning against a treewith no brambles, batches,
branches, or thorn in sight.
The group suspect she was tryingto harm herself.
Now the branches and sticks arevery reminiscent of the first
movie, which did it better.
(22:44):
So this seemed to be more of apossession and less of a raping
by the forest.
So I'm gonna go with this onebecause raping by a tree was a
little much I would have toagree and just graphically, this
is better what the time is.
But also the whole weird treesex thing was weird.
Yeah.
Especially because there is one.
(23:06):
Quick shot of her in theoriginal going, yeah, like as if
it were pleasurable, and I waslike, mm.
Weird.
I'm not so short.
Yeah.
So back at the cabin, David goesinto a room where she tells him
that there's something in theroom with him.
He says it's in her head.
She sees a demonic reflection inthe mirror.
(23:28):
Meanwhile, Eric helping them allout is reading the book and sees
the page detailing me as funtimes with the branches.
David goes outside and seesblood on the ground.
He calls for grandpa and findshim in a hole beneath the tool
shed.
Grandpa is whimpering.
David runs into the tool shedand pulls him out of the hole,
but he dies.
(23:49):
David suspects Mia bludgeonedhim to death with a hammer that
was laying nearby.
And dog deaths hit youdifferently as a dog dad, huh?
Yes, they do.
Now, if you found the scene, doyou think that Mia would do such
a thing because of drugwithdrawals?
No.
I think at this point Mia ismore likely to do self-harm, not
(24:09):
harm a dog, not even a littlebit.
Do I think she was involved withthis?
Like, because since thepossession mm-hmm.
She's been with them.
Yeah.
So I definitely don't think itwas her.
Me either.
Now, Mia's Withdrawal also worksas a great plot device to keep
them there when so often theanswer is, get the fuck out.
(24:30):
Yes, it works, huh?
Yeah.
Now he runs back in the cabinand tries to get to Mia, but
she's taking a shower and thewater is turned all the way up
to where it becomes scalding hotin her flesh starts burning, and
we actually see the hot, watery,old-fashioned hot water heater
on the hall.
On the wall, like catching fireitself.
Yeah.
And the group pulls her out intime and Eric looks at an open
(24:53):
page in the book and notices apicture of it with a person with
burning flesh.
David takes me in as Jeepattempting to drive her to a
hospital as she's filming at themouth.
Unfortunately the roads areflooded, bridges out and he has
to turn back.
Yes.
Now, is the flood cuz of thedemons or is this just an
unfortunate coincidence?
(25:13):
So I think that this storm isuncharacteristically strong, so
I believe it is the book, makingsure that they are stuck there
because it goes along with myproximity thing.
Mm-hmm.
If they can't get away.
Then the book can get to them.
Excellent.
Yes.
And maybe just past that river,if they had found a way past it,
they would've been safe.
(25:34):
Most likely.
That was probably the barrier.
Yeah.
Now Olivia gives me anothersedative.
While the group argues aboutwhat to do with her, she comes
into the living room, dragging arifle.
She holds it up and fires nearDavid, and the door swings open
as Mia lets out.
A frightening scream, she says,in a possessed voice.
You're all going to die tonight.
(25:56):
Olivia tries to get the rifleaway from her, but Mia tackles
her as her eyes turn yellow andshe spits blood all over her.
Olivia kicks her into the opencellar and Eric closes it.
He theorizes.
This has to do with thewitchcraft they found in the
cellar and we all say no.
No shit.
In addition to the many nods ofthe original film, this version
(26:17):
also has several audio clipstaken directly from the original
film.
One of the more noticeableinstances of this is when Mia's
first possessed right after thedoor is thrown open by the force
outside the cabin, the lines youwill die like the others before
you.
One by one we will take, you canbe heard in the background as
Mia screams.
(26:38):
This is taken directly from theoriginal film when Ellen Sand
Weiss's character Cheryl waspossessed.
In addition, when the maincharacters first arrive at the
cabin, a Hello, demonic voicemoans.
Join us.
Can be heard in the background.
This is another audio clip takenfrom the original.
I love that.
Mm-hmm.
And like the original, Mia isn'tthe first person trapped in the
(26:59):
basement.
Ah.
Now Olivia tries to clean theblood and throw up off of
herself, but she sees an imageof herself mutilated in the
mirror, which shatters.
She walks away, but then freezesand her eyes twitch as she wets
herself.
Just pease all over herself.
Yes.
Next to her is the book Open toa page with a person holding a
knife and their severed faceflesh.
(27:22):
Eric goes into the bathroom tofind Olivia who is cutting the
flesh from her cheeks with thebroken glass.
Horrified.
He stumbles backward and slipson the cheek flesh.
Olivia stabs him with the brokenglass and then the face with a
needle.
Eric throws her off and breaksoff a piece of the toilet, which
he uses to bludgeon her todeath.
Just as David and Natalie comein with Eric quickly saying she
(27:43):
tried to kill me.
Yes.
Now were you more upset aboutgrandpa or Olivia?
Olivia.
Yeah, sorry.
I was shocked.
Olivia went so early.
She was the best friend of allthe characters that felt like
Natalie is the leastconsequential and the easiest to
get rid of first.
So this one kind of shocked methat Olivia went this early.
(28:08):
Mm-hmm.
She's the first of the coregroup to go and I never would've
pegged her as first, especiallywith it being Jessica Lucas.
Yep.
So David tries to patch upEric's wounds and asks Natalie
to bring a jar, a jug of waterand sugar because he's been
bleeding.
So they need that to helpstabilize him.
(28:29):
Eric tells David that it's hisfault this is happening because
he read from the book.
So I have a line of questioninghere for you my love deal.
If someone released somethingevil on us and our friend group,
by doing something as stupid asreading passages from a clearly
demonic and forbidden text outloud, what kind of repercussions
should or would there be if theysurvived the evil?
(28:50):
So I say the person is foreverbanished from our group.
And knowing the people I know, Iwould make sure that karmically,
all of that came back to theperson.
Now, if throughout the course ofthe events to survive said,
emergency incident that theybrought upon us, if there was a
chance to survive, that includessacrificing, said idiot, would
(29:12):
that be just and fair as theysay in death becomes her.
You brought this on yourself.
But what if you found out I wasthe idiot and I read the Latin
from the books out loud?
You're more likely to beforgiven.
Okay.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
We can move on now.
Okay.
Natalie goes into the livingroom and finds that the cellar
(29:35):
door is open.
Mia is still down there cryingand asking for help in her
regular voice.
What am I doing down here?
My legs hurt.
I, I can't move.
As Natalie tries to go down andget her, Mia's voice becomes low
and demonic and threatening,saying, he's not gonna let you
live.
He won't stop until he has allof you.
(29:56):
I can smell your filthy soul.
Natalie tries to run, but Miagrabs her and bites into her
hand.
She tries to defend herself witha box cutter, but Mia takes it
from her slices her own tongue.
Down the middle, she grabsNatalie and kisses her, forcing
blood into her mouth.
David finds them and pullsNatalie out.
They nail the cellar door shut,put chains across it.
(30:18):
Locking Mia down there.
Yes.
Now, at this point, did you feelthere was any coming back from
Mia, your first go around?
So one would think not, but asthat she's innocent in her
possession.
I don't believe she can beblamed for the things done
during the possession.
Yeah.
But do you think that sh shecould be at that point un
(30:39):
dispossessed?
Yes, because at this point shehasn't taken any damage that is
fatal.
She would need to see a plasticsurgeon or two or two.
So I would say, you know, untilsomething happens and she's like
(31:00):
a living corpse.
I say there is a way out.
There you go.
I was like, at this point, firsttime around, I was like, she's a
gunner.
Like I just wonder how manypeople she's gonna take out
along the way.
Now David finds Eric trying toburn the book, but it doesn't
work.
He tells David about what heknows from the book.
An evil entity has beenunleashed, a taker of souls, and
it's attached to Mia's Soul.
(31:21):
It seeks a collection of fivesouls, and then the sky will
bleed, and then it'll honorsomething called the abomination
from hell.
Eric says they have to kill Miato save her and to save
themselves.
Now you found out somethinginteresting in this as well.
Yes.
This actually clears up aconfusing plot point for many
from the original trilogy as towhy the book survived Ash
(31:41):
throwing it into the fire in thefirst one, but appeared back
unscathed in the second one.
Demonic books are known to dothat.
Yeah.
Kind of like how.
In hocus pocus, they couldn'tset boo on fire.
Yeah.
And who knows, maybe the bookwas like a sentinel, where the
first time it like dies and thencomes back and then it's immune
(32:03):
to it could be.
Who knows?
Yep.
Now, Meanwhile, Natalie tends tothe bite wound on her hand,
which is disgusting.
Yeah.
She has to force her hand underthe water as if her hand didn't
want to be washed, and she'sable to get these thick black
things out of it.
And at first you're like, yeah,but at first I was like, oh
good, she's getting that out.
(32:24):
It's gonna be okay.
But as soon as she does that,Like a demonic necrosis starts
going up her arm almostinstantly, and then she sees the
electric knife from whenever shewas carving meat for dinner the
night before, and she reachesfor it.
Mia Peeks from the cellar says,don't do it.
Don't do it.
But Natalie slices into her arm,David and Eric Finder as her arm
(32:47):
falls off, and Mia giggles inthe cellar.
Would you be able to cut yourown arm off to stop an infection
like this?
After 37 seasons of the WalkingDead, I am prepared to cut off a
limb to save myself.
I would need you.
I don't think I would physicallybe capable of doing it.
I would need you to do it forme.
Yeah.
Okay.
Now, thank God for duct tape.
(33:09):
They used that shit foreverything here and I Googled it
and it can be used inemergencies like this.
Interesting.
I would've thought to try tocauterize the wound first to try
to get it to stop bleeding, andI'm wondering that since they
didn't do that, if that's whyall of his patients die.
I mean, who knows?
Like, I mean, when I like wasreading it, they were like, it's
certainly not the first, second,first or 50th thing that you
(33:31):
would want to put on top of itto cover it.
Yeah.
But like in the event wherethere is nothing better and the
option is let it bleed out orput duct tape onto it.
Yeah.
Duct tape is better.
Now were there better optionslike.
A shirt or any other thing thatcould cover the wound in the
house or the stove.
Yeah.
And like burn it.
Yeah.
Were, were there better options?
(33:52):
Yes.
Was that an option period?
Yes.
So I also want to note how goodJane Levy is in this movie from
her scene with the box cutter inthe basement when she sliced her
tongue to like a serpent'stongue.
Mm-hmm.
To the way she darted her eyesand laughed while Mia was
mutilating herself.
Jane went all in on this role,and I am so here for it.
(34:14):
I would have trouble watchingthis movie with Jane during
these scenes.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
All right.
Now, Eric tells David there'sthree ways to put an end to
this.
The possessed must be cleansedand purified by either burying
me alive, dismembering her, orburning her alive.
David doesn't like any of thoseoptions, and Eric calls him a
(34:36):
coward.
I think Eric should shut hisfucking mouth since he's the one
that got them all into this.
Exactly.
Now, if presented with thoseoptions, which one would you
choose for yourself?
Okay, so I have a deep, deep,deep, deep, deep fear of being
buried alive.
Burning alive would be rightafter that, so I think I would
(34:58):
rather be dismembered and bleedout.
Because I think it would be thequickest death in the end.
I, I would have to agree knowingthat the dismemberment, I would
want you to start with like myneck.
Yeah.
Like start decapitating me andthen afterwards do whatever you
want with my limbs, but like,just get the head off the body
first.
Oh.
Anything.
Anything.
(35:19):
You might wanna wait till thedemonn leaves before you start
doing that deal.
That's still deal.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Good idea.
Suddenly a noise is heard.
Natalie comes in now possessedwith nails in her head.
And she's holding a nail gun andshoots it at Eric, who gets it.
A lot of nails in him.
David tries to get at the rifleand he gets a couple nails in
(35:41):
his knee, but Eric took a wholebunch.
Yeah.
Natalie starts hitting Davidwith a crowbar.
Eric shoots her with a nail gunand she goes to start
bludgeoning him with a crowbarbefore he can deliver the fatal
blow.
David blows her hand off withthe rifle.
Natalie appears to revert backto normal complaining about the
pain she feels before she dies,which, yes, now in, now that we
(36:06):
know she doesn't survive, yes.
In the final script, they cutout many of Natalie's lines.
Surprisingly enough, in theoriginal script, she talked more
and was more of an actualcharacter.
She even had this wholebackstory about how she met
David that they took out.
So do you feel they cheatedNatalie's character?
Very much so.
She definitely was the one thatfelt like she would die first
because she was such a lack ofcharacter.
(36:27):
Like the girl in Scream Five,that everyone assumed she was
the killer because she had sucha small part.
Yeah, the whole thing withNatalie's backstory and how They
met and everything would've beengreat for that dinner scene that
I said they needed to have.
Yeah.
Now a nail gun is actually not avery effective weapon for long
rage combat, unless modified bysome sort of super weapon ninja
(36:50):
master.
Oh, they won't fire normally atall unless they're against
something.
And even if you remove thatsafety feature, they don't fly
very far, precise, or with anysignificant impact if further
than like six inches to a footaway.
Also adding this to my notes.
Good.
Now, can we talk for a momentabout some of this amazing
practical effects that with the,we see with the score because oh
(37:13):
my gosh, they had the choice todo cgi, but as an homage to the
original, they wanted to do asmuch with practical effects as
they can, and I think that it isjust stunning what they were
able to achieve.
Yes.
With practical effects,especially not just cgi.
Yeah.
Like it's visceral, it's gross.
Like when Natalie's arm washanging on.
(37:33):
Buy small pieces of skin andthen gravity tore it loose and
it fell on the floor.
Like bravo.
Yeah, really good and gross.
Now David finally decides toburn the cabin while Mia is
still inside.
He pours apple juice, I meangasoline on the floor, but
before he can drop the lighterMia in her normal voice starts
singing the lullaby that theirmother used to sing.
(37:54):
And David can't do it outside.
A bolt of lightning strikes atree, setting it on fire.
What song would I have to singto you to stop you from burying
me to death?
Maybe if you hummed and dancedto the Buffy theme that would do
it.
That I couldn't, like I wastrying to think of other songs
that I would be like, yeah,that's a song that I would know
(38:15):
that was definitely him.
And I was like, Nope.
Just the Buffy song.
What if I sang our wedding songto you?
What is our wedding song?
I have to look it up.
There you go.
Okay.
I like it a lot.
Damnit, I I walked myself intothat line.
You sure did.
Oh, and the vein on yourforehead is still out.
(38:35):
All right, let's move on.
So he hatches another plan.
He grabs two syringes of carbattery among some other thing,
and starts to dig a holeoutside.
He heads into the cellar and hefinds Mia, who slashes at him
with the box cutter and throwshim around like she, like, not
in a sexy way.
She beats the living.
She, she, yeah, completely.
(38:55):
She tries to drown him, but Ericsteps in and hits Mia.
Who, and then Mia sticks Eric,with a box cutter in the
stomach.
David goes to him and Ericfinally dies.
All right, let it out.
He had it coming.
He had it coming.
He had it coming all along.
(39:16):
Excellent.
Fuck you, Eric.
Yes.
Now David takes me outside witha bag over her head and starts
to bury her.
She talks to him in her normalvoice and pleads with him, but
he won't buy it.
She starts telling him abouttheir mother and more of her
abusiveness as she was dying andhow far gone she was.
Their mother kept asking forDavid who was never there and
how Mia would've to keep tellingher that he's coming back.
(39:36):
He completely buries her andthen waits a while as the rain
stops and the fire on the treesgoes out.
David digs Mia back up and pullsher out.
He grabs the car battery withthe syringes attached to it and
sits them in her chest trying torevive her.
It's like the clear machines atthe hospital.
Yeah, a defibrillator.
That's it.
I couldn't think of the damnword.
The battery runs out of powerand it appears she's not coming
(39:58):
back, so he covers her body andwalks away tearfully.
However, Mia arises and talks toDavid.
She's back to normal, and theyhug Director.
Fedi Alvarez stated that thiswas his favorite scene in order
to help Shiloh Fernandez withhis performance.
Levy was really buried alive inthe grave below him with plenty
of safeguards, of course, toprevent her from suffocating.
(40:21):
This was done so that Fernandezwould show genuine apprehension
and try to get levy out of thesand as fast as possible worked
for me.
Yep.
Now, if I was possessed, wouldyou be able to be burying me
alive while I beg, screamed andspoke about our great love story
no matter what kind of weirdSherlock Holmesy, Matt Locke
MacGyver plan you had forbringing me back?
Yeah.
As long as I knew it would helpbring you back, I would do it.
(40:43):
Okay.
But what does David do in reallife again?
Like how did he bake an a e Dout of.
Those two items.
Hmm.
All I know is he abandons hisfamily.
I don't know what he does for aliving.
All right.
Sounds good.
Now, do you, did you think thisfirst around was back for good
or that this was a trick?
I believe she was back for goodbecause her face was healed and
(41:05):
that was probably for the bestas well.
Yeah.
She could never give good headever again, or she can give
really good head depending onhow you look at it.
Yeah.
Now the two go back into thecabin to get the keys to David's
Jeep, but it possessed Eric'sbehind him and he stabs David in
the neck.
David goes into the hallway andgets Mia outside and locks her
out.
He grabs the rifle and shoots atthe gasoline container, letting
(41:25):
consume the cabin in the flamesand killing himself and Eric for
good.
A plot hole was present in thetheatrical cut when the
abomination rises from hell tokill Mia after David blows up
the cabin killing him.
In the dead eye version of Eric,the neon states that the
abomination needs to claim fivesouls before it could rise.
(41:46):
In the theatrical cut, only fourcharacters were possessed at the
time of their deaths.
Eric, Olivia, Natalie, and Mia.
Leaving the audience wonderingwho the fifth soul was, as David
seemingly died as himself.
Harold's daughter from theprologue could not have been the
first of the five souls as shedied long before the main events
(42:06):
of the film.
This plot hole was fixed in theextended director's cut.
Which restores the scene showingDavid while he is burning alive,
along with the dead eye, Eric,in the cabin.
Getting possessed by a demonnbefore his death, meaning he was
ultimately the fifth soul cleanfor the abomination to rise.
I watched the extended cut, sodidn't I didn't have the
question.
(42:26):
Okay.
Was it good?
I didn't get to see it.
It was only a couple moreminutes, but it filled in plot
holes.
There you go.
Now outside it starts rainingblood, which is never a good
sign.
Never.
Except that one time now a handburst from the ground and grabs
at Mia.
It's the abomination.
Oh Lord.
Help It chases after Mia, whograbs a chainsaw from the tool
(42:47):
shed and tries to run.
She hides on the Jeep andmanages to slice off the
abominations legs, crippling itas she tries to run though the
abomination tips the Jeep overand it falls on Mia's arm.
Oh, she pulls herself free,severing her hand just above the
wrist.
The abomination inches towardsMia, but she sticks her arm into
(43:09):
the handle of the chainsaw andkills the abomination.
Its corpse sinks back into theground.
Oh.
So yes, I wouldn't wanna fuckwith the abomination, but as far
as worst case scenarios, if it'ssurvived, do you think it'd be
an apocalypse level descrdestruction, or do you think
it'd just be an ongoing bodycount, like a Freddy or
(43:29):
adjacent?
I would tend to think that onceit starts raining blood, It will
be apocalypse level destruction.
Yes.
Now, Mr.
I can cut off my arm if I needto.
Could you tear your own arm off?
You mu crazy person?
No.
Goodness.
Cutting my arm off is one thing,but pulling on it until it tears
off.
(43:50):
I don't think I could do that.
I would probably pass out fromthe pain first.
Yeah, I agree.
I can't do it.
I would just say, I would tryand like killed the abomination
there with my arm under thereand just, yeah, I would've like,
But I mean, she couldn't get tothe chainsaw and she was inches
away, so the only thing shecould do.
Was give herself a few moreinches, which means ripping off
(44:12):
rain.
Oh, no, no, it's just too much.
I don't like it.
I wouldn't be a final girl Idon't think.
Mia grabs her willpower necklaceas the bloody rain stops and the
sun comes out.
Mia walks away now free from thecurse, but alone.
Meanwhile, the book lies outsidethe burning cabin, closing
itself, and waiting for its nextvictim.
(44:32):
Thoughts on the ending.
I like it.
I like how it's open-ended, thatthe book can find another
unsuspecting idiot to wake itup.
Yes.
And until Eric or anotherversion of him comes around in a
mid cut credit scene or in a cutmid credit scene, we see Mia
passing out on the side of theroad as a man comes out to help
her.
She wakes up in his backseat ashe promises to take her to the
(44:54):
hospital and the credits resume.
It was cut in my opinion,because it's pointless.
So in the extended cut that Isaw when her eyes open, I think
they were trying to make you go,oh my goodness, is she
possessed, but her eyes areclear and not yellow.
And even though I think it wastrying to make you wonder, Since
her eyes were clear, I think itwas definitely not Demonn Mia.
(45:17):
So in the end, I think it ispointless.
Other than answering thequestion, did she, she she got
saved.
Yes.
Now Ash appears after thecredits to say Groovy and
dramatically turn to theaudience, making old straight
white men everywhere have aboner.
Yep.
And probably jizzed in theirpants.
Yep.
Now at the end of the film,towards the end of the credits,
(45:39):
you can hear a man talking abouthis experience of having opened
and read the spell in the Bookof the Dead.
This extra, this exact track isfrom the cassette recording in
the original film from 1981 whenthe books first found along with
the cassette player.
Yes.
Now, director Fede Alvarezinitially kept things ambiguous
and said that due to severalinconsistencies, With the
(46:00):
previous Evil Dead Trilogy, themovie could be either a remake
or a late sequel.
However, Sam Ramey, Rob Tapperand Bruce Campbell later claimed
that this film was a sequel setin the same continuity as the
original trilogy.
Their plan was to make anothersequel starring Mia and then a
sequel to the Army of Darknessduring Campbell as Ash and one
(46:23):
final crossover film where Ashand Mio would team up to fight
the dead eye.
Universal Studios eventuallypassed on the sequels, which is
strange to me, seeing as howthis one made did so much money.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And they developed an army ofdarkness to idea into the TV
series, Ash versus the Evil Deadtogether with Ramey, Tapert, and
(46:45):
Campbell when the show wascanceled after three seasons and
Campbell retired from the roll.
All further plans were scrappednow.
The Evil Dead sequel wasreworked as Evil Dead Rise,
which came out just last month,and we haven't seen it yet.
But now I want to, I really dotoo.
All right.
Final thoughts?
I really like it.
(47:05):
I think it, it honors what camebefore, but gets the series back
on track in terms of purehorror.
Excellent.
I loved it too, and I considermyself a new fan of the
Deadites, or not themthemselves, but the horror
behind it.
Yes.
Yeah.
So I would love to hear whaty'all think of the Evil Dead
movie as well as the universe.
(47:27):
You can do that by emailing usat happy life pod gmail.com.
Or you can get in touch with uson all the socials, whether that
is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,or TikTok at Happy Life Pod.
And until next time, everybody,stay, stay happy and don't read
the book out loud.
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