Review: Alberta Theatre Projects resurrects EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL in all its gruesome glory

I knew that Alberta Theatre Projects’ ‘Evil Dead The Musical’ was sure to be a popular show due to the cult following for the original 1981 film. For my own part, I haven’t seen the films nor had I viewed any versions of this musical previously. I was mostly looking forward to a horror-themed show to fully celebrate the imminent arrival of Halloween. I actually tend to avoid horror movies since I am one of those cowards who finds it all a bit overwhelmingly scary, but I must say, this musical was absolutely hilarious! I did not expect so much humour, but it is definitely more of a satire of horror shows, not unlike the ‘Scary Movie’ film franchise. The jokes came so fast and furious it was hard to keep up with the excellent wit and humour the writer was throwing our way!

The classic horror trope of ‘horny teens on vacation’ is amplified in the show, with each character leaning into their given stereotype: jock, ditz, nerd, etc. The ridiculous self-awareness when it comes to the absurdity of plot points, and character flaws was absolutely outrageous, yet so fitting. I have been going to a lot of performances lately that are so serious, so polished, and generally impressive in all ways technical and otherwise, that having a show that is basically making fun of itself the whole time and finding ways to do gags in ludicrous ways was a breath of fresh scare. I was also pleased to see that the writer, George Reinblatt, is Canadian and the world-premiere of this show took place in Toronto in 2003.

Amazingly, even though the show is seemingly hokey in most ways, the performances by this talented cast were truly phenomenal. There is non-stop action with some incredibly complicated choreography that includes both dancing and stage combat and the actors were giving it their all physically, while also belting out the songs with superb showmanship. For anyone who has not tried singing and dancing at the same time, it is incredibly demanding. The amount of training and discipline that this cast exhibited was so eerie-sistible.  

As promised, there was plenty of blood and gore for all the horror fans in the audience and thankfully they were so over the top that anyone who is particularly squeamish will find it all to be good, gruesome fun! The brave souls that decided to upgrade to the on-stage splash zone seating were thoroughly drenched by the end of the show. The certainly had a lot of attention from the cast who mercilessly sprayed them with fake blood to a ludicrous extent, although I will caution anyone interested in that seating option, you will likely miss some of the funny yet fleeting moments that happen in the recessed areas that are only visible from the front of the stage including the windows and the kitchen area, so be warned. 

Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.