Jane Levy's Cabin From Hell: Evil Dead 2013

Evil Dead (2013) is a supernatural horror film directed by Fede Álvarez, in his feature debut, from a screenplay he wrote with Rodo Sayagues. It is the fourth film in the Evil Dead series and a soft reboot of Sam Raimi‘s The Evil Dead (1981). Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Robert Tapert produced. Jane Levy stars as Mia, a young woman trying to quit heroin at her family’s cabin in the woods. When a friend reads from a book found in the cellar, a demon begins taking the group one by one. Álvarez avoided CGI almost entirely, and the film first received an NC-17 before cuts brought it to an R. Reviews were mixed to positive, and it grossed $97.5 million on a $17 million budget. It was followed by Evil Dead Rise (2023).

At a glance

Release date	March 8, 2013 (SXSW); April 5, 2013 (US)
Director	Fede Álvarez
Writers	Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues
Based on	The Evil Dead by Sam Raimi
Starring	Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore
Runtime	91 minutes (theatrical); 96 minutes (extended cut)
Rating	R (US), for strong bloody violence and gore, some sexual content and language
Budget	$17 million
Box office	$97.5 million
Franchise	Evil Dead: follows Army of Darkness (1992); followed by Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Plot summary

In a prologue, a possessed young woman is tied up in the cellar of a cabin in the woods, where her father burns her and shoots her to free her soul. Years later, David (Shiloh Fernandez) and his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) arrive at the same cabin, his family’s holiday home. They meet his estranged younger sister Mia (Jane Levy) and their friends Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), a teacher, and Olivia (Jessica Lucas), a nurse. They have come to help Mia quit heroin. Her last attempt ended in a relapse and an overdose that left her legally dead for a time.

Someone has broken into the cabin. The cellar is full of dead animals, and they find an old shotgun and a book, the Naturom Demonto. Eric reads an incantation from it aloud. Mia starts seeing a double of herself in the woods. When she tries to leave, she crashes the car, is trapped by vines in the woods and becomes possessed. Her friends think it’s withdrawal until she scalds herself in the shower and turns on them. Eric learns from the book that the demon needs five souls to raise “the Abomination.” Mia can only be saved by burial alive, dismemberment or burning.

Spoiler section: blood rain

Olivia and Natalie are possessed in turn. Natalie tries to cut off her infected hand with an electric carving knife and later attacks with a nail gun. David chooses to bury Mia alive, then digs her up and revives her with a makeshift defibrillator, and she wakes up herself again. The demon possesses Eric’s corpse, and David blows himself up to stop it. His death is the fifth soul. Blood rains from the sky and the Abomination rises from the ground. Mia loses her hand under David’s overturned Jeep, then splits the creature in two with a chainsaw, and the rain stops. She walks away, not knowing the book survived. In a post-credits scene, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) says “Groovy.”

Production and behind the scenes

Talk of a fourth film began as early as 2004. In 2009, Campbell said a remake was “going nowhere” after fierce fan opposition. By April 2011 he was promising on Reddit that “the remake’s gonna kick some ass.” The film was announced that July, with Ghost House Pictures producing and Álvarez directing. Álvarez and Sayagues wrote the script, and Diablo Cody polished the dialogue to make it sound more American, since English was not the writers’ first language. Lily Collins was cast as Mia but left in January 2012, and Levy replaced her a month later. In 2018, Álvarez said the film “continues the first one.” He called the parallels with Raimi’s film “dark fate created by the evil book,” and noted that Ash’s car is still at the cabin, rusting away.

Filming took place outside Auckland, New Zealand, from March to May 2012. Álvarez, who has a background in CGI, said the film had no CGI apart from touch-ups: “Everything that you will see is real, which was really demanding.” He described “70 days of shooting at night” and said the team researched magic and illusion tricks. Roque Baños composed the score, which La-La Land Records released in April 2013. Bob Dorian and Ellen Sandweiss briefly return through archival recordings as Professor Knowby and Cheryl.

Release and reception

Álvarez said the film first received an NC-17 and was cut to reach the R his contract required. In the UK, the BBFC passed it uncut with an 18. It premiered at South by Southwest on March 8, 2013. TriStar released it in the US on April 5, and it opened at No. 1 with $25.8 million. It went on to earn $54.2 million in the US and $43.3 million abroad, for $97.5 million worldwide.

It holds 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, whose consensus says it “may lack the absurd humor that underlined the original,” but makes up for it with “brutal terror, gory scares, and gleefully bloody violence.” Metacritic scores it 57, and CinemaScore audiences gave it a “C+.” IGN’s Chris Tilly gave it 9/10, calling it a “terrifying, exhilarating and relentlessly entertaining new chapter.” John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter called it a “remake that will win the hearts of many of the original’s fans.” Matt Singer said it “out-Evil Deads the original” with even more gore.

Legacy and influence

Mia replaced Ash as the lead, though Campbell’s cameo kept a link to the original. Campbell returned as Ash in the TV series Ash vs Evil Dead (2015), which ran for three seasons. In October 2019, Raimi announced another film, which became Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise (2023). Álvarez and Sayagues later produced and wrote the story for Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022). For the originals, see The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness.

Trivia

The family dog is named Grandpa.
Accounts of the shoot differ. Production reports describe about a month of principal photography, while Álvarez spoke of 70 days of night shooting.
Channel 4 aired an extended version with deleted scenes and an alternate mid-credits scene in the UK on January 25, 2015. Sony released the 96-minute unrated cut on Blu-ray in October 2018.
Scream Factory released a 4K Ultra HD edition with both cuts on September 27, 2022.
Evan Dickson called it “amazingly gory and fun” after its SXSW premiere.