Harry Knowles has reviewed a copy of the
Evil Dead script over at
Aint It Cool, one drafted after Diablo Cody delivered her take but without her name on the title page. While there will undoubtedly be some changes, chances are good chunks of the script will remain the same. Take this with a grain of salt, but again be forewarned this could be the real deal.
On the set-up and new lead character:
The overall tone of the script seems to be seriously scary. When you read that MIA is the new ASH for this EVIL DEAD reboot... I do have to say, that is a very loose comparison. She doesn't work at S-MART, in fact there is no S-MART. MIA is the reason everyone is at this cabin. Mia is a drug addict, rail thin as described. A shadow of a person. She perches on countertops as if she were a cat, slips into rooms unseen... and that's before anything wicked has occurred.
For about the first 40 pages of the script, we're basically being introduced to the 5 characters that have come to help save MIA's life. David [her older brother] doesn't really know how serious Mia's drug addiction has become. Her friends clue him in - and one of the 5 is a nurse that has worked through cold turkey cases in hospitals and wants to spare MIA the condemnation that she's experienced patients going through in places like that, thus... the old family cabin. As MIA begins suffering the withdrawl symptoms - she begins to actually experience some of the phenomenon's associated with another idiot in the cabin, who like a complete [dummy], has of course begun reading out passages from the Necronomican.
About the possessed campers:
Characters that become possessed, [use] their visage to torment their loved ones. Their faces transform into horrible visages, eyes going black. Just... to be honest - as written, this script is tougher than EVIL DEAD. The things that the possessed do, as described... shaving off parts of their faces with shards of broken mirror... But acting as though it is nothing. Like it is a basic grooming act. It gets real real nasty.
It also appears that Mia will wield a chainsaw, but we won't see her in the toolshed, rigging up a device to attach to her stub. Neither will the word "Groovy" be used repeatedly.
Knowles also says "
this absolutely feels like it is EVIL DEAD 1, but played even more realistic."
Also, from this draft of the script it isn't strictly a reboot. There is nothing confirming or denying the previous trilogy nor does this try to retell the first movie.
So, what are your thoughts? The first reactions were less than enthusiastic. Now that it isn't strictly a retelling or reboot, are you more at ease? Thoughts on the new info we have? Sound off below!
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