Team FYC: The Evil Dead's Make-up
Friday, December 13, 2013 at 10:34AM We're looking at our favorite fringe awards contenders just to widen the conversation. Here's JA on the drenched-with-everything Deadites of The Evil Dead reboot.
Happy Friday the 13th, folks! In the spirit of the day, let us make a wish upon a star (a very very far away star, and probably a red one for all the gore... a red dwarf, then!) that we lived in a world where not only the dead could rise again, but that they would do so to walk upon the stage of the Oscar telecast to collect a trophy for Best Make-Up And Hairstyling. (Granted we're ignoring the latter half of the award's title here - dead people are decidedly hair-don't.) As Nathaniel mentions in his Oscar predictions when he lists World War Z and Warm Bodies as most distant nomination possibilities, for some strange reason the Academy just doesn't nominate zombie films... so let us bridge the gap! The bad guys in The Evil Dead universe aren't zombies. They are dead-ish people possessed by demons. Totally different!
In all seriousness (alright, half seriousness) while Fede Alvarez's reboot of Sam Raimi's much-loved slash much-reviled series was greeted by many fans and non-fans alike with something akin to the emotional equivalent of projectile vomit (although I'll admit I personally enjoyed the heck out of it), the one non-negotiable highlight for fan and non-fan alike has got to be the film's old-school dedication to practical make-up and prosthetic magic. The team behind the Evil Dead reboot managed to honor the original designs of deplorable Deadite decay and destruction, while whipping it up into a modern day supernatural frenzy of red and green and black-as-sin fluids drenching every which corner of the screen. (And maybe right out into the theater itself? I felt deliciously dirtied by it, anyway.)
Did The Dallas Buyers Club show Jared Leto saw off his own arm with an electric carving knife? It most assuredly did not, even though it most assuredly would've been the better film for it. Remind me of the part in American Hustle where it rained fifty-thousand thousand gallons of blood from the sky? Oh wait that didn't happen, because suck it American Hustle. Get back to me when Jennifer Lawrence believably swallows somebody's soul and then maybe we'll talk. (Fab hair though, Jen.)
Evil Dead, FYC, Horror, Makeup and Hair
Reader Comments (4)
This. Oh man, do I agree with this! I was ambivalent about the movie - some parts I hated, some I loved - but the special effects makeup was… dare I say it… groovy!
I'd have personally chosen YOU'RE NEXT, but i can definitely get on board with this FYC. So much great horror make-up has gone unrecognised. I mean, hello HELLRAISER!
I'd be good with You're Next or The Evil Dead, though I'd also lean toward The Evil Dead. It was just a bit more stylish and otherworldly. You're Next was a bit too real for my tastes.
And let's throw out a real wildcard while we're at it: Antiviral. Amazing mix of practical and CGI makeup effects in that one.
NICE! A richly deserved spotlot for the best makeup work of the year (give or take 'Candelabra')! It really is vexing that the Academy's genre bias (unless its a Rick Baker creation) can even extend to a category synonymous with horror.