We're Gonna Get You ... NOT!

Rating: 5/10 (6 April 2013)

I'm a huge fan of the original, but not so much of this remake. I'll disqualify myself as a zealot immediately by saying the original "Evil Dead" was far from perfect and the inexperience of the filmmakers—at that time—becomes more and more apparent as the film ages. But "The" Evil Dead didn't achieve cult status by being a great technical film. Raimi and companies weird adaptation of the narrative style of The Three Stooges turned evil, an assault of bloody and disgusting gags, is what made the film so great. It's not a terrific story. It doesn't feature terrific acting. And the makeup is pretty awful, really. And I love it. I love it for the relentless gag after gag after gag style, and the moments of photography that portent the genius to come in Sam Raimi.
What I had hoped from the remake was for a new film-maker to seize that raw assault on the senses aspect of Evil Dead and to turn it on a new generation. A generation that has gotten used to the camera cutting away before the really awful thing happens.
"Evil Dead" suffers from a front loading of rationality that really kills the atmosphere. One of the best examples I can think of is the sense of isolation that permeates the first film after they discover the bridge has been destroyed in some obviously supernatural act. Also, later, one of the Cabin's captive attempts to escape through the woods only to return mortally wounded to warn of the terrors that await in the forest.
In "Evil Dead" 2013, they are trapped at the cabin by a road being washed out by a flood. Other hard edges of the supernatural are ironed out with rationality as well, most notably when Mia, the first to be possessed, is cast as a recovering heroin addict going cold turkey.
The rationality is certainly disarming if you are a character in the film, as a member of the audience though it comes off as a bizarre attempt to temporarily 'elevate' the narrative.
Even though the rationality eventually dissolves, it's too late. "Evil Dead" lacks the sense of supernatural captivity that the original, with all of its faults, managed to establish with simple and effective plot devices.
Evil Dead '13 DOES manage to establish some graphic images that will most definitely stick in the mind, so I expect it will have a lasting impact on younger audiences; but die-hard horror buffs hoping this film would help the genre get out of the wussy all-talk and no-balls trend it has been stuck in for so long might be a little disappointed.