23rd October, 1959, saw the birth of Sam Raimi...
Three months ago, Sam Raimi announced that he is going to be remaking The Evil Dead (1981) into a television series along with Bruce Campbell, the key character in The Evil Dead franchise. As you may already know, this is not the first rehash of the original film, and certainly not the first at reworking the film into a different medium. There have been adaptations of the film in the form of video games, comic books and fan fiction. As a die-hard fan of the original film, I am extremely excited but also worried about what is to come of a television series.
Before seeing the remake (or “reboot”, as Campbell liked to call it) of the original The Evil Dead into a spruced up version in 2013, Fede Alvarez’s directorial debut, I was extremely confused as to why they felt it necessary to make another. On the one hand, I was torn between thinking they were giving a younger audience an experience of seeing a horror film that was not brimming with special effects and digitized blood. On the other hand, my cynical reasoning being that they wanted to make more money from the franchise, and felt that rebooting the original film was an easy project.
This was certainly not the case with the reboot as it cost around $17,000,000 to make, opposed to the original’s modest $375,000 budget. Thankfully, the bigger budget was not thrown away on a top bill cast or over the top CGI. It was thoughtfully delegated on the actual production of the film, making sure that they were able to pull of practical special effects. This was due to the two main producers for the film being Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell; they were able to understand what the director needed in order to make the film successful.
After watching an interview with Bruce Campbell, I understand his reasoning for the reboot. He discussed that Raimi and himself wanted to make the film again without all the limitations they faced during the original film, such as budgetary constraints.
It is understandable that Raimi and Campbell would want to remake the film with a bigger budget considering the love/hate relationship they hold with the original. After all, it has got them to where they are now. However, it is arguable that the original film’s success was due to its low budget filmmaking as this forced Raimi to think more creatively. The limitation of the locations made the film feel claustrophobic, and the cinematography gave the film a visceral edge that tricks the audience into thinking what they are watching is real life. Raimi’s debut film, The Evil Dead is a testament to what you can achieve with a small budget, limited cast and isolated locations.
Raimi didn’t always stay loyal to the horror genre; he went on to direct the Spiderman (2002-2007) franchise with Toby Maguire, which is superior to the reboot starring Andrew Garfield. These films, although not technically groundbreaking or refreshingly original, do hold a charm that can only be found with directors who have a real passion for cinema. Furthermore, he directed the Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), which chose to focus primarily on the Wizard of Oz instead of Dorothy in its original feature in 1939. This was a very brave move, and unsurprisingly, one that did not pay off exponentially, with its budget being around a whopping $215,000,000 and it only being able to make $234,903,076 in its native country.
According to IMDB.com, Sam Raimi is set to produce a remake of Poltergeist for 2015, along with an adaption of the popular video game The Last of Us, both with new directors. This could be a new trend for Raimi, as he’s certainly shown his ability to be creative with a more limited budget rather than the blockbuster sized budget.
by Jennifer Lyne
