Evil Dead (2013)

Good movie but grossly overrated

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Five twenty-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin. When they discover a Book of the Dead, they unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.

I watched the original, "The Evil Dead", not long after it came out on video in the early 80s. It was low budget and, while the story was pretty basic, at least it made sense, thus:No-one had a choice. All events were unavoidable once the book had been read out loud.The "hero", Ash, isn't injured by an entry wound at all - he just gets lots of blood and guts dumped on him and hit by a poker. Hence he is never possessed.Nobody makes any really (and I mean really) stupid decisions.Nobody who is possessed can be retrieved.In this version all four of those rules are broken, most of them multiple times.This film goes for over-the-top gore, but in so doing it just loses any fright power it might have had. The more understated original is far more frightening.I'm giving it 3 stars - two more than it deserves - because at least they tried to make the ending somewhat different to the original.

Had I not grown up on the original starring Bruce Campbell and watched with expectations this would have been delightfully terrorizing. There is plenty of blood and guts that would be scary if they hadn't tried to include the jokes that Mr. Campbell dominated making the original a cult classic. If the talented Campbell had not stood behind the remake I would not have bothered watching. He made the original work. Standing alone this movie is filled with gore and terror. One of the better 'modern horror' movies out there. It has a completely different flavor than the original.

I can only assume that the film makers supplied several swimming pools filled with fake blood...because there is so much of it. Blood on the floor, blood on clothes, blood on faces, raining blood, blood on...wait a minute, raining blood!? Yes, it goes to that extreme. So Evil Dead is a remake of the original of the same name, we follow a group of teens in a cabin in a remote location who try to help their friend to stop taking drugs. They find the book of the dead and what ensues is a heck load of blood and gore! Oh, and all of the following: tree rape, slicing tongue and snogging someone, car crushing a girl's hand and her pulling it out...and my favourite, absolutely decimating someone with a chainsaw. I'm talking ripped to shreds! Total annihilation! Ohhhh so satisfying to watch...in a sick weird way. As you can probably tell, I enjoyed the hell out of this and have done for several viewings. It knows exactly what it is, a fun gory flick that does not take itself too seriously. Yes the characters are bland and expendable and yes the acting is mediocre, except Jane Levy who was actually really good. But you didn't watch this for an Oscar nominated performance. No no no you wanted to see a girl slice her mouth open with a shard of glass! I mean the enhanced use of makeup, prosthetics, costumes etc. just made the experience all the more enjoyable and authentic. I appreciated the dark comedic undertone, particularly from the possessed Mia, that definitely harked back to the original. Director Fede Alvarez did a good job, lots of creepy camerawork and I adored the opening bird's eye view shot where the teenagers are driving along the road. His usage of visual exposition, such as flashbacks to the opening scene, were pointless and unfortunately spoon fed us everything. You'll guess the whole plot in the first 10 minutes, which is its downfall. However, I wanted to see gore and it delivered...massively. My advice: don't read a book made of skin and wrapped in barbed wire. Just don't.