A "remake" that doesn't disgrace

Rating: 8/10 (6 April 2013)

This movie is actually really good as an homage/sort-of remake, though in all honesty it could be a sequel to the original trilogy; it's less a remake than a re-imagining/retelling. Instead of redoing the entire story we've already seen with the same old characters, this film opted instead to tell a new, different story that follows the same basic plot while doing things a bit differently. This is certainly for the best; any attempt to replace Ash with a new, non-Bruce Campbell actor would have been a fatal error on the part of those involved .
In this story, David has come to a getaway with his girlfriend to meet some old friends of his and his sister Mia, who the group is attempting to get off of drugs. Things take a turn for the worse when one of them finds the Necronomicon and reads aloud from it, calling forth the forces of hell.
This movie does a good enough job at telling the same basic story as the original Evil Dead, and even throws in a bit of Evil Dead 2 to the mix. They pay tribute to the chainsaw, the severing of the hand, the POV force of evil, the Oldsmobile, even the tree rape! Still, it doesn't do everything exactly the same; the detoxing of Mia is actually done really well and realistically, and adds a dash of realism to this story.
The acting isn't awful, but it's not really amazing either; still, it's better than most modern 'horror' films. The amount of gore is what you'd expect from a modern horror film, though in all honesty it's just as over-the-top with its gore as the original films.
Of course, there are two problems with this film, and they're kind of big: The first is that the Necronomicon is never explained at all, or even named on-screen. Its origin is only implied, and it's implied it's the same as in the original trilogy, but you wouldn't know that unless you have watched them. This is a bit annoying if you aren't a long time fan.
The other problem is how the deadites are summoned: One of the group reads aloud from the Necronomicon, despite multiple warning notes written in blood inside the book, which he sees. In the originals, they had an excuse, as there was no way of knowing that the tape recording they listened too would summon evil. There's no excuse here, just plain and simple idiocy.
Still, it's hard to fault this movie when it's such a good tribute. It probably would have ended up a lot worse without Campbell and Raimi's involvement. Overall, it's a very good movie and one of the best re- imaginings out there if you give it a chance. Still, it's even better if you think of it as a stealth sequel to the original, and that soon we'll get a movie where Ash and this movie's hero team up to destroy the Necronomicon once and for all.
Overall, it's a solid standalone film, and certainly one of the better horror films to come out in a long time. It's best to go in not looking at it as a remake; you'll find a lot more to enjoy that way.