But when you look a little closer, these two films actually have a lot in common. “Except this time,” she goes on to explain,” I’d makeover my soul.”Īt this point, you’re probably wondering how this all relates to the Evil Dead remake, a film that appears to be the brutalistic opposite of a movie like Clueless not only in plot but also in the overall aesthetic. When glamorous teen schemer Cher Horowitz finally realizes that giving a shy girl a bitchin’ new wardrobe isn’t the same as being a good friend, she astutely determines that she is the one who needs “a complete makeover”. Take, for example, one of the most popular remakes of all time, Clueless (1995). To paraphrase another horror film that has been remade, the call to action needs to come from inside the house. Superficial changes can only go so far, especially when the subject of them is resistant to them. Think about all those teen movies that want us to believe that switching a girl from glasses to contacts is going to solve all her problems when in fact she just needed a good pep talk (and okay, maybe a budget to get some fresher specs). The secret to remake success is respecting the fine art of the makeover. “Mia literally goes to hell and back in Evil Dead resurrected in the film’s blood-soaked climax.”

This is absolutely the case with Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead (2013). But when they do work, they can actually improve upon, and even expand, our understanding of their source material.

Not all horror remakes are successful, of course, with many being nothing more than unremarkable rehashes of beloved (read: bankable) properties, reminders that imitation isn’t actually the sincerest form of flattery after all. In fact, they are more or less expected, with some of the most “classic” modern horror films actually being remakes, or at least reinventions of earlier genre experiments (take, for example, the 1986 version of The Fly or John Carpenter’s The Thing).

Jane levy evil dead