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First Cut of the 'Evil Dead' Remake Received NC-17 Rating from MPAA

by Ben Pearson
January 28, 2013
Source: STYD

Admit it. When you first heard that a remake of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell's cult classic Evil Dead was in the works, you rolled your eyes just like the rest of us. But as time passed, things have actually started to look pretty good for director Fede Alvarez's take on the cabin in the woods story. Campbell himself called the remake "fabulous," the marketing claims this is "the most terrifying movie you'll ever experience," and the red-band trailers have been pretty damn insane so far. Now, Alvarez adds to the buzz by tweeting (via STYD) that the film's first cut got an NC-17 rating. Could this be that bloody and scary?

I just saw The Evil Dead for the first time a couple of years ago and I was just as skeptical as everyone else when this remake was announced, especially considering Jennifer's Body writer Diablo Cody wrote revisions to the screenplay. But the red-band trailers look scary as hell, and since Raimi and Campbell are on board as producers, I'm confident that this remake is in good hands. Alvarez was hand-picked by Raimi, and it looks like he was the right guy since Alvarez tells a fan that the film received an NC-17 from the MPAA when its first cut was sent in for review, even though it will be R-rated in the end:

Was proud of scoring a NC17 when submitted! But we had to cut stuff out to get an R and get the film into theaters.

— Fede Alvarez(@fedalvar) January 28, 2013

The fact that Alvarez was "proud" of the NC-17 rating should mean a lot for horror fans. We've seen disappointments in this department before as Guillermo del Toro talked about how proud he was that Don't Be Afraid of the Dark received an R rating for "pervasive scariness," and that movie ended up being terrible. But Evil Dead is starting to look like it might live up to the seemingly impossible claim on its poster.

It's also important that this Alvarez wasn't bragging about the NC-17 rating as part of some marketing ploy: he was just talking to a fan about the movie, which makes this whole thing seem more genuine than some calculated hype machine revving into overdrive. Evil Dead has its world premiere at this year's South By Southwest Film Festival, and hits regular theaters on April 12th, 2013.

Filed under Horror, Hype, Movie News

From around the web:

Greg dinskisk

THIS is good... I love the Evil Dead series, and this NC17 should give hope for this remake.. It has a good cast and crew, so I'm expecting great things from it!! I just hope I'm not disappointed.
http://youtube.com/flavoredshampoo Matt

the MPAA are a bunch of pussies. I've yet to see an NC-17 that was deserving of a "more than R" rating.
- http://www.facebook.com/TheChosenPessimist Jon Odishaw
  
  I've seen some R rted tht could have been Nc
lewinston

Well, considering the original Evil Dead 2 was rated 'X'... not sure what to think.
- Greg dinskisk
  
  I thought the Evil Dead original was rated NC17, not the Evil Dead 2...
  - David Banner
    
    EVIL DEAD got the following ratings in the USA: "NC-17" and "NOT RATED"(NR). EVIL DEAD 2 got the following ratings in the USA: "X", "NC-17" and "UNRATED"(UN). X is usually only for porn, not sure if there a difference in NR and UN, but NR means boxoffice death; or no theater will screen it. Those two movies have been cut and re-cut and edited the hell out of all throughout the eighties and nineties. I mentioned last week in a comment about this remake that I suspected a lot of the blood in the remake would change color, the reason is that's one of the things they did with EVIL DEAD 2; the blood is not only red, its yellow, blue, green, black. These changes helped lower the rating, as red is very bad, red is the enemy of the MPAA. Maybe they should have tried that with the remake, the blood thing?
    - dianeT
      
      god, you're boring.
      - David Banner
        
        STFU Beevis' GF
    - Greg dinskisk
      
      Maybe... Why the hell did Evil dead 2 get NC-17???? It is pretty tame...
      - castingcouch
        
        Tame? No, it's not.
      - Greg dinskisk
        
        Yeah, it has a ridiculous amount of blood, but not a realistic amount (not that realism is big in horror, I meant just a stupid amount. By stupid amount, I mean perfect amount). There are three f-bombs, I believe, and no nudity either. A mild R, really.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Troy-Heesch/526219365 Troy Heesch
  
  Yeah, in 1987. It's a little different now-a-days.
http://www.facebook.com/TheChosenPessimist Jon Odishaw

Give me some sugar, baby.
- Greg dinskisk
  
  Hail to the king!
Comic393

ah man! that kinda sucks, hope they don't cut out the tree rape scene if they hav one even though that kinda sounds sick of me. Can't wait till it comes out on Blu-Ray august 4 uncut version!
Comic393

And fuck the MPAA! I saw that documentary about them!
- http://juanaricky.myopenid.com/ Juana Ricky
  
  like it might live up to the seemingly impossible claim on its poster. ...WWW.Madeupto69dollareveryhouronthecomputer.qr.net/j6lZ/presidential-1223
Xerxexx

...will there be a tree rape? or have they gone a different direction? That scene was...a little...much...never mind...watched the red band. O.O Hopefully it doesn't rely on gore for the scares only...horror is about atmosphere, not blood and guys...that helps of course. Too much blood...does not a horror make. I might see this at some point...maybe with a bunch of friends.
- son_et_lumiere
  
  ha! indeed, that certainly caught my attention when i was young. like many, i hold the original very dear, but i remain open to this sequel - provided it's not just 101 Things To Do With Prosthetics. Ben said 'the red-band trailers look scary as hell' - ? well, they look *gory* as hell... and gore is absolutely fine. but for scares, i get more out of tension, suspense, unsettling moods, not when they are brought on by orchestral blasts and cheap jump cuts. i know this has gore, hope it has scares, too. the MPAA rating is an open goal, Alvarez would be silly not to take advantage of it, like news reports of people having to leave the theatre to be sick when Saw III came out. it's all good PR.
  - Xerxexx
    
    A lot of Horror today is all about tits and blood and that get old quick. Atmosphere is key.
http://twitter.com/Subserviant Alco de Groot

MPAA…again! How on earth is this utter crap still possible!? I can only hope that the Netherlands will screen the uncut version as they seem to do most of the time. I am gutted to see that the mpaa is able to F this all up again. Damn I hate those bastards with a passion, horrible. way to go mpaa on destroying something a LOT of fans were looking forward to. and on the director’s cut and what not; why?….they make these films with a goal, mpaa demolished that. I cant understand that people are ok with the cutting and will go like “ah ok..no worries, will see the director’s cut” which will be available most likely in october…april towards october…I am going insane here.the movie will LOOSE a lot of it’s brutal visceral impact when cut, just realise that. screw the mpaa hard…bastards..we live in 2013 not in the damn middle ages. censorship out of the airlock, now!
- castingcouch
  
  * lose
http://www.facebook.com/kell.finch Kell Finch

won't be more horrific than martyrs. that film is an absolute terror to watch. good but insane
- the_situasian
  
  Martyrs was horrific, for sure, but it's not really in the same genre as Evil Dead. Martyrs had a fairly developed story and made an attempt in the third act to wrap some sort of socio/spiritual message into it. Evil Dead is a straight up gore and scare fest.
  - http://www.facebook.com/kell.finch Kell Finch
    
    nah i think its the same. sure Martyrs might have a message but its still a horror film. like Evil Dead which also has a story whether we admit it or not
rwdy

dont theaters play NC-17 movies
Cody W

Bloody? Yes Scary? No...this looks like more gore porn to me. If peoples idea of scary is having to cringe and look away due to ridiculous amounts of gore then the horror genre is in serious trouble.
the_situasian

A few unique things set the original Evil Dead in a league of its own that I'm not sure a remake can touch. Sound design is off the charts. Even though it's campy, the sounds the undead make are bone rattling. The original also knew what it was and didn't take itself too seriously; I'm not seeing that self-awareness in the trailers so far. And yeah, there's plenty of gore, plenty of ridiculous gore, but it's not so much torture porn as it is parody of a genre's requirements through exaggeration - again, the first one knew what it was. Kind of a forerunner to Cabin in the Woods. I have no doubt that the remake will be gory, and maybe even scary, but I highly doubt it'll capture the original's sense of dread through sound and its self-awareness.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Troy-Heesch/526219365 Troy Heesch

This gave me the greatest boner.
David Banner

He's not talking to a fan face to face, he's talking on Twitter-for all to read....
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Dawkins/100002207329301 Jim Dawkins

Gore did not make evil dead great. it was the weird spooks, the quirky demented scenes and suspense. The demons and spirits etc. Blatant gore is not good spooky horror.
- castingcouch
  
  And it was so over the top, especially in Dead by Dawn, that it became comical.
http://twitter.com/davide_coppola Davide Coppola

I hope they release the full version on dvd/blu though!
http://www.ilobresources.com/ Marc Callado

My eyes brightened up, not rolled! Keeps opening wider with each news associated with the film. Can't wait!!