Bold Art on a Boring Canvas (spoiler-free review)

Rating: 6/10 (15 April 2013)

I had modest expectations going into this movie. I was ready to be disappointed, and I was hopeful to be impressed. Both happened. But unlike many critics, I found the film has more identity than meets the eye.
The remake stays on the basic path forged by the original - a simple, disturbing, darkly funny gorefest. The production values are much higher however, and there's more of an attempt to develop a story amongst the bloody chaos. And here lies the good and bad/Evil of the modern 'Dead.
This is not an amateur work anymore. The lighting and cinematography are done professionally and there is meaning behind the look and feel of the film. It's far removed from the raw look of the original, so I feel the pain of purists. But this high level of production not only gives the film a unique look, but also a texture.
Many details work in concert to create such an effect - color-saturation and high contrast, the peeling garbage back over the Necronomicon, and the incorporation of water and its accompanying sloshing sounds to name a few. There's also a highly memorable siren that howls during intense moments to ratchet-up the intensity.
Unfortunately, a ridiculously trite backstory, lack of character development, and the inability to build-up momentum make it hard to appreciate the wonderful depths of the details. Any sense of dread is extinguished by premature reveal, and there are few effective moments of foreboding. This all leaves the terror predictable, hardly startling, and rather boring. It wants to be its own movie, but can't break free of the original's grasp, leaving it in a disappointing in-between.
For Evil Dead, the devil is in the structure and writing, not the details. The script isn't so much charming as it is weak, and this reduces the effectiveness of any scares. The film leaves it up to the gory details and texture to carry audience interest, painting a wonderfully tangible film on a boring canvas, leaving it devoid of much excitement.