Seems Familiar

Rating: 6/10 (14 December 2009)

I really wanted to like this movie. I'm tired of the sick torture-fests of Hostel, was never excited by the rather silly plot twists of Saw no's 1-80. I was downright disgusted at the sacrilegious remake of The Fog, and bamboozled by the countless remakes of Japanese horrors that miss the point when they're translated to the world of Hollywood models.
I was, therefore, disappointed when I saw this movie. I expected the outrageous slapstick of Evil Dead 3, or at least the suspense of the original Evil Dead. Yet there seemed to be neither. The story contained virtually no plot twists to keep me interested (Night of the Demon anybody?) and seemed to consist solely of things being splashed in the unfortunate heroine's mouth! Yes, the special effects were wonderful (they always are). But it's no substitute for a good story. I mean, there just happens to be an anvil suspended from a frayed rope in a garage when our heroine needs it the most? How many of us even possess an anvil? And why would it be tied to the roof??? I desperately want to say good things about the movie. I love Sam Raimi's work so far, especially the underrated Crimewave. Much has been said about whether the heroine is too nice to justify such a fate - but that ignores the arbitrary nature of the plot. Story seems to have taken a back seat - but to our constantly jaded eyes this movie seems to be long talky sequences punctuated by special effects which we have all seen before. Not frightening, just kinetic.