Evil Dead 4K (2013)

 

        Studio Canal are releasing Fede Alvarez’s remake of the Sam Raimi classic in a special two disc UHD edition that will also include a booklet, poster, slipcase and O-ring with the credits on to keep the slipcase free of them. Both versions of the film - theatrical (just over 91 minutes) and unrated cut (just over 96 minutes) are in 4K, with other special features all on disc one.

Four friends meet up at a remote cabin with the intention of helping the fifth, Mia (Jane Levy) to go cold turkey with her heroin addiction. The cabin is in quite a state, but that’s nothing compared to the basement, where they discover numerous dead cats hanging from the ceiling, and what looks like a book wrapped in barbed wire.

Presumably unable to resist the lure of an unopened book that’s been bound in human skin, Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) cuts the wire off, opens it up, and is pretty soon uttering some familiar words to fans of the franchise. Before you can say ‘Necromicon’ something is rushing through the grim forest and taking up residence inside Mia, but it’s not long before the demonic presence is causing others to hack off their faces and arms and generally causing mayhem.

EVIL DEAD 2013 does it’s absolute best to be as bloody and as painful as possible, especially if you watch the unrated cut (which of course you should). Other than that its greatest strength is in not trying to slavishly remake the original. It’s far slicker than the Raimi film, of course, and lacks that nightmarish quality that had so many of us rewatching it time and again in the early 1980s. But in terms of gore and grue for a modern audience it does a good job.

New to this release is a short, decent talking head piece on the movie from critic Chris Tilly where he talks about the film & ties it into EVIL DEAD RISE and EVIL DEAD WRATH at the end. Otherwise extras are all archival, including a commentary track from Alvarez, co-writer Rodo Sayagues and actors Levy, Pucci, and Jessica Lucas (Olivia). There are a host of featurette interviews, including Alvarez (seven minutes and four minutes), Levy (nine minutes and two minutes) and Bruce Campbell (nine minutes) as well as two interviews with producers Rob Tapert, Bruce Campbell and others (ten minutes and five minutes). Finally there’s an on-stage Q&A from The Ritzy in Brixton from 2013 with Alvarez and Levy. 

Fede Alvarez’s EVIL DEAD is out from Studio Canal in a two disc UHD set (ie no Blu-rays) on Monday 19th October 2026