Demonic possession, dismemberment and over-the-top gore were the subjects of one of South By Southwest’s scariest film debuts, Evil Dead.

Evil Dead is about Mia, Eric, Olivia, David and Natalie—five friends who go to a cabin in the woods to help Mia kick her drug habit. They find a mysterious book in the cabin. It’s wrapped in barbed wire and someone has scribbled warnings all over the book not to read it out loud. Despite this, Eric clips off the barbed wire and does just that. He unwittingly unleashes a demon, who possesses Mia.

The movie that premiered March 9 is actually a reboot of the 1981 cult classic of the same name. Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, who were involved in the original, produced the reboot.

The reboot stars a new cast of young stars, including Jane Levy (“Suburgatory”) as Mia and Shiloh Fernandez (“Red Riding Hood”) as her brother, David. The new script was written by Fede Alvarez, who directed the film.

An umbrella on a dangerous adventure to reunite with the love of his life is the subject of Pixar’s latest short animated film “The Blue Umbrella,” which debuted at South by Southwest last week. 

In the film, which will appear before Pixar’s Monsters University, a blue umbrella in a sea of black ones is happily keeping his owner dry from the rain. He then notices a beautiful red umbrella next to him. The red umbrella notices him and gives him a shy meaningful glance back, but before they know it, their owners are headed in different directions. 

The blue umbrella pulls away from his owner, but is quickly swept up by the wind and into the city. The gutters, vents, mailbox and other objects in the city conspire to rescue the blue umbrella from danger and get back to his love. 

Saschka Unseld, the writer and director of the short, was inspired by an abandoned umbrella laying in the middle of the street in San Francisco.

Zero Charisma, directed by Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews, follows anti-hero Scott as his weekly fantasy tabletop game falls apart, as does everything else around him. 

Scott is the Dungeon Master of his Dungeons and Dragons-like game, and it is the most important thing to him in the world. He plays with his four friends, but when one of them quits to work on his failing marriage, Scott has to find a new player to fill his spot. Enter Miles, a mustache toting hipster who runs his own geek news blog. 

Miles is everything Scott isn’t— funny, cool, charismatic. Scott’s friends like Miles way more than him, and justifiably so. Scott is abrasive and borderline abusive, especially towards his best friend Wayne. 

But not only is his fantasy world in turmoil, his family life is also headed downhill. 

By far the most beautiful and disturbing movie I’ve watched all festival was a film a woman made about her sister’s suicide.

Director Petra Costa narrates over a mix of home movies and dreamy images, splicing in interviews with her mother, leading the audience from her sister Elena’s childhood to her death. Costa tells the story in second person, speaking to her dead sister as she describes scenes from their life together. The movie hits it’s emotional peak when Costa describes how Elena thinks her dreams of working in theatre will never be realized and overdoses on pills.

Costa had thought of making the movie since she was 18 years old, but a recent dream of her sister promoted her to take the plunge and finally start filming.

“It’s empowering to share this story. Of course it’s hard to be with the material and deal with death, and miss my sister again and again, but sometimes I could see it just as a story I wanted to tell,” Costa said.

After making The Avengers, Joss Whedon had a couple weeks off to relax. Maybe sit out by the pool with a drink, or do some traveling.

Instead, he gave us Much Ado About Nothing, an updated movie version of the Shakespeare classic shot over the course of 12 days in his own home.

The movie, which stars Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker, is about Beatrice and Benedick, two people who hate each other’s guts, but get tricked into falling in love through their friends’ scheming. Meanwhile, Beatrice’s cousin is engaged to be married, but her fiancé leaves her at the alter because he is tricked into believing she’s been unfaithful. A bunch of craziness ensues.

The movie was shot with the original Shakespearian script. Some actors, including Nathan Fillion, who plays a bumbling cop, were intimidated by the dialogue.

“I peed a little,” he said at the Q&A after Saturday’s screening.

While watching Evil Dead I:

1.) Screamed out loud twice (I don’t usually do that)

2.) Thought I was going to throw up all over the Paramount

3.) HAD SO MUCH FUN!

Evil Dead is about Mia, Eric, Olivia, David and Natalie— five friends who go to a cabin in the woods to help Mia kick her drug habit. They find a mysterious book in the cabin. Despite the fact that it’s wrapped in barbed wire and someone has scribbled warnings all over the book not to read it out loud, Eric clips off the barbed wire and freaking reads it out loud. He unwittingly unleashes a demon. The demon proceeds to possess everyone except David, who is very handsome.

While watching Evil Dead I:

1.) Screamed out loud twice (I don’t usually do that)

2.) Thought I was going to throw up all over the Paramount

3.) HAD SO MUCH FUN!

It’s two in the morning and I just got home, so I’m going to make this pretty brief, and then update it tomorrow with all the great quotes I got from the lovely cast, producer and director. They were a lot of fun to talk to. They made my first red carpet experience a blast.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Evil Dead is about Mia, Eric, Olivia, David and Natalie— five friends who go to a cabin in the woods to help Mia kick her drug habit. They find a mysterious book in the cabin. Despite the fact that it’s wrapped in barbed wire and someone has scribbled warnings all over the book not to read it out loud, Eric clips off the barbed wire and freaking reads it out loud. He unwittingly unleashes a demon. The demon proceeds to possess everyone except David, who is very handsome.

Tibetan monks from the Drepung Loseling Monestary bless the San Marcos River Feb. 1 by pouring sand from the mandala. The blessing is meant to bring healing to the area.

After four days of hard work and painstaking attention to detail, Tibetan Monks on Texas State’s campus finished colorful artwork made entirely of sand that spanned about 2 feet in diameter. 

Then on Friday, they destroyed it. 

Texas State alumnus Ross Bolen’s account of wild, rowdy fraternity life has made the New York Times Best Seller List. 

“Total Frat Move” comes in at spot No. 10 on the list of Nonfiction Hardcover Best Sellers for Feb. 3. The book is just two spots below a Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s biography of Thomas Jefferson and one spot above the memoir of Stanley McChrystal, retired United States army general.

It also came in No. 8 on the list of E-Book Nonfiction Best Sellers. 

The book follows protagonist Townes Prescott as he joins a fraternity, gets drunk and high, has promiscuous sex and narrowly escapes a run-in with the law. The story is humorous, often profane and puts Prescott in outrageous situations. The book contains photos and quotes from the popular TotalFratMove.com. 

Danny Lutman got his first big break with the help of a can of soda and an exercise ball.

The audition was in 2007 for a Pepsi commercial, which started out ordinary enough. The people casting the commercial handed Lutman a can of Pepsi and asked him to act like he was “really enjoying it,” but the situation took a bizarre turn.

“They throw me this exercise ball and are like, ‘ride it,’ and I said ‘okay,’ so I take the ball and I do goofy things with it and make these ridiculous facial expressions,” Lutman said. “As absurd as it sounds, that’s only one-tenth of how absurd it actually was.”