Not a 'terrifying' experience but still worthwhile

Rating: 8/10 (26 April 2013)

'Evil Dead' is a remake of 'THE Evil Dead,' it follows five teenagers who unintentionally revive a demon who attempts to possess them so he can rise.
The original Evil Dead never really had a story; it is considered a cult classic because of this, there's a paper-thin story but the excessive amounts of cheap looking gore make up for this (the cheap gore simply added to the overall charm of the film). This new film also has this going for it, okay the gore isn't obviously fake or cheap and looks a lot more realistic, but it was still excessive and over the top. You don't see many wide release gore films today; the past decade is thought to be known for increasing the popularity of 'torture porn' but even those films tend to not contain spectacular amounts of blood and guts. This is certainly the goriest film in the last five years – since Paranormal Activity, most wide release horrors have been supernatural thrillers filled with tedious jump scares. The Evil Dead was part of the 'video nasty' phase in film which is undoubtedly where torture porn stemmed from. The violence in this film is so over the top you cannot help but laugh sometimes and realise how much you have missed this type of horror.
As remakes go, this is one of the better ones. You can tell Fede Alvarez (director) really did admire the original but has taken the brave step of trying to take the film/story in a new direction. I wouldn't say he is completely successful in this however since the story overall is pretty much the same. There were some interesting new touches though; the girl goes to the cabin to quit her drug addiction, the fact that the main protagonist was a woman, the brief story behind previous events in the cabin – these are all interesting additions but none are really explored thoroughly. It would have been nice to see some more references to the girl's drug habit, particularly towards the end.
I did like the new plot point where certain things had to happen before the demon could rise; skin had to be burned with boiling water, faces had to be cut off etc. – it was interesting and it meant that not all of the violence was completely nonsensical. There were undoubtedly some creepy scenes dotted throughout the film and some not-so-subtle references to the original – though if the producers of a remake are the director and star of the original then this is bound to happen. The director did try his best to make us care for the characters but there was no way that was going to happen; character developments were left suspended – I thought there was some angry tension between Olivia and *insert blonde girl here* but nothing ever happened with that – and some characters got next to no dialogue at all.
Overall, 'Evil Dead' is a pretty good film. If you're paying to see gore then it will be money well spent. The characters are basic, the story tries to be not so basic and the overall experience isn't terrifying but it is worthwhile. I don't really see the need for a sequel however, you won't be routing for Mia quite as much as you would for Ash.