Nato: THE IMPLICATIONS OF GORY WIDE RELEASES
For those with a weak stomach, just know you’ll probably have a hard time making it through Alvarez’s Evil Dead. It’s not just gory, it’s downright revolting and sadistically violent, dismembering cast members while forcing us to watch in all of the gory glory. If you think Ash cutting his hand off in Evil Dead II was tough to watch, there’s a 95% Elizabeth Blackmore’s character Natalie’s appendage removing scene that will make you vomit. Some of the gore was so gruesome and lifelike, people walked out of my showing to wait outside the theater for their friends – which only makes the practical effects mastery by Alvarez’s crew all the more epic.
But what does this mean for mainstream horror? Maybe studios will stop playing it so damn safe with their powder-puff PG-13 snoozefests and give horror fans what they really want – buckets and buckets of gore. Gross us out! It’s a challenge we love facing! By stealing 1st place at the box office its opening weekend with a $26 million dollar gross (already making the film profitable), Alvarez proved audiences will still turn out for a blood-soaked masterpiece even if it makes them squirm with distaste.
Don’t get me wrong, gore still needs to be supplemented by proper storytelling and everything else that makes a good horror movie, but hell, maybe now studios will nut up and start taking risks again – it’s about damn time.