In 2013, Fede Álvarez resurrected the "Evil Dead" franchise with a remake that plunged viewers into an unrelenting nightmare. The film opens in a shadowy forest where a blood-soaked young woman is pursued by a sinister figure. Captured and bound, she awakens in a dank cellar, surrounded by burn-scarred strangers and a Welsh-speaking woman. Her father appears, accusing her of murdering her mother. The scene escalates as the woman’s eyes turn demonic yellow, and she vows to consume her father’s soul. As he ignites her with gasoline, he tearfully proclaims his love before ending her demonic rampage with a shotgun blast to the head.
Sometime later, a group of friends arrives at an isolated cabin in the woods, seeking to help Mia (Jane Levy), a recovering drug addict, overcome her addiction. David (Shiloh Fernandez), Mia’s estranged brother, is joined by his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore), and their friends Olivia (Jessica Lucas), a nurse, and Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci). The tension is palpable as Mia’s withdrawal symptoms manifest violently, straining the group’s resolve.
Mia’s heightened senses detect a foul odor that leads them to a hidden cellar. There, amidst rotting animal carcasses, they find an ancient, sinister book wrapped in plastic and barbed wire. Ignoring its dire warnings, Eric reads aloud from the book, unwittingly unleashing a malevolent force. Outside, Mia is accosted by terrifying visions and, fleeing in Eric’s car, crashes into a swamp. The malevolent entity traps her in a thorny embrace, and a monstrous doppelgänger of Mia violates her with a writhing, black substance.
Rescued but distraught, Mia’s behavior grows increasingly erratic. David discovers their dog, Grandpa, brutally killed, suspecting Mia in his grief. The situation spirals as Mia scalds herself in the shower, and during an ensuing confrontation, she ominously declares, "You are all going to die tonight." The group manages to lock her in the cellar, but the evil continues to spread.
Olivia, succumbing to the curse, mutilates herself and attacks Eric, who defends himself with brutal finality. Meanwhile, Natalie’s attempts to aid Mia end with her own possession, leading to a grotesque self-amputation with an electric knife. David and Eric confront the grim reality: Mia’s soul is ensnared by a demonic entity that seeks to unleash the Abomination.
As the friends fall one by one, David resolves to end the terror by burying Mia alive. Despite her desperate pleas, he completes the grim task, only to revive her using makeshift defibrillators. Mia, now free of the curse, emerges just as Eric, now possessed, attacks. In a self-sacrificial act, David locks Mia outside and incinerates the cabin, perishing in the flames with Eric.
The nightmare intensifies as blood rains from the sky, heralding the rise of the Abomination. Mia, armed with a chainsaw, battles the relentless entity, ultimately severing her own trapped arm to deliver a fatal blow. The Abomination sinks back into the earth, and as the bloody rain ceases, the sun rises, signaling Mia’s liberation. She walks away, battered but free, leaving the cursed book lying in the smoldering ruins, awaiting its next victims.
In a final, tantalizing nod to fans, Bruce Campbell’s iconic Ash Williams appears post-credits, delivering a succinct "Groovy" with a dramatic turn to the audience, linking the new nightmare to the legacy of the original "Evil Dead."
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