"This time, the only @#$%ing way is the hard way!"

Rating: 6/10 (3 August 2013)

Over 30 years after the original "The Evil Dead" first started to earn its place in horror cinema, co-writer / director Fede Alvarez and company brought this reimagining to the big screen. While it's safe to say that their hearts were in the right place, this 21st century version just does not have the impact of the original.
The story is somewhat similar to the one concocted by Sam Raimi back in the early 1980s. A quintet of none-too-bright young people gather at a remote family cabin deep in the woods. The variation on the story this time around is that four of the kids are concerned about their friend Mia (Jane Levy), a habitual junkie, and are doing everything that they can to help her. But when the characters discover the type of ancient artifacts in horror movies that we know people shouldn't mess with, one of them, Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) reads through the book, not realizing what he's doing. The demons in the woods are then free to possess these hapless schmucks.
While Raimis' film was played straight (and commendably so) by its cast, it had a decidedly more playful edge to it. It wasn't about wallowing in unpleasantness so much as it was just about having some fun. This version is far more glum, and almost humourless. Some horror fans may appreciate a genre film that lives up to the word "horror", but it's simply a little too hard to care much about these characters. When they buy the farm in glorious, savage ways, one cheers basically because they're tired of spending time with these people.
"The Evil Dead" '13 pays homage to the original in certain ways: the "Force" P.o.V., the damned Book of the Dead, the necklace, the vegetation that comes to life, etc. But Alvarez and company don't come up with anything truly interesting of their own that they can add to this formula. But at least horror lovers who measure a films' success depending on the amount of its gore will be VERY happy here; once this flick gets going, it's just a non-stop onslaught of violence and sadism.
The cast isn't as memorable, for sure. Shiloh Fernandez is not too bad an actor, but he just doesn't have the charisma of B movie icon Bruce Campbell. Levy gives it her all as the victimized Mia. Pucci is saddled with the task of providing all the exposition that he can derive from the Book.
For the faithful, and those who are willing to sit through the end credits, will be rewarded with a cameo by a familiar face.
Six out of 10.