Less Than Impressive Gore Fest Leaves Few Scares

Rating: 4/10 (10 August 2013)

This is my first review on IMDb.
Usually remakes of horror movies are less than impressive. For example, the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street was almost painful to watch due to it's all around awfulness. The remake of Evil Dead, however was painful to watch for a different reason. After viewing one of the most gruesome and goriest "R" rated films I have ever seen, I was left with mixed feelings about The Evil Dead.
The film written and directed Fede Alvarez, tells the story of a group of friends who go to a remote "Cabin in the Woods" to help a fellow friend kick a drug habit. After the affects of withdrawal set upon the main female character and the ever so "Evil Book" is found, things start taking a turn for the worse. The next seventy or so minutes is a pure blood bath up until the very end as one by one demonic possession takes over them.
While watching the film, I found myself actually having to look away a few times during some of the most gruesome and gory scenes I have ever seen in an R rated movie. One scene in particular was harder to watch then when James Franco cut off his arm in 127 Hours. The film makers were not shy to show you ever gory detail when it came down to loss of a limb or life. After the credits rolled I was confused as to why the extremely creepy scene from the movie's trailer of the demon girl singing in the hatch was not in the film. The trailer from the film was definitely misleading as some of the potentially horrifying moments were either played down or non existent.
The film was acted sub par by five actors almost no one has heard about. I never found myself caring or rooting for any of the characters in the film and never really cared if any of them made it out alive. In my opinion the best character was the chainsaw used by Mia towards the end of the film. Surely a nod to the original in one pivotal instance when she battles her demon self and places the chainsaw on her newly severed stump of an arm. I also noticed several other nods to Sam Raimi's masterpiece including the "boom stick" shotgun and a quick and confusing cameo by a "GROOVY" guy after the credits end.
Overall I was mostly unimpressed by The Evil Dead and felt that the movie makers focused to much on "shock gore" instead of trying to really scare the hell out of us. Hopefully a sequel is not in the works and Mr. Raimi's trio of films can keep their nostalgia and dignity for future movie watching generations to enjoy.
So, should you SEE IT, SKIP IT or OWN IT?
If blood, guts and more blood and guts are your thing then SEE IT. If not and you're hoping for a good scare then SKIP IT. It's a film you'll probably watch once so most definitely do not OWN IT.

Richard Huenke Jr.