Bloody, rip roaringly brilliant...the best movie experience I've had in...MONTHS

Rating: 10/10 (8 April 2013)

This is a big milestone. I went through the entire year of 2012 without finding a single 2012 movie that I thought was a perfect 10. I don't hand them out lightly. A ten has to be near perfection for me, and something I know will be a favourite of mine for the rest of my life. I even hesitated to slap a ten on this but after a day, when I was still thinking about it and excited about when I could see it again...I know. This film was absolutely drop dead amazingly brilliant. They single handedly proved why remakes should and can exist. Some of my favourite horror films are remakes (Hills Have Eyes, Amityville Horror, The Crazies) However, I'm not sure I have ever seen a remake done so well and so poignantly. It is disgustingly, viscerally violent. Does it go for sheer shock value? Absolutely and does it well. I read a great many negative reviews that called out the violence as "disgusting." Did you seriously not know what you were going in for? The trailers and the reviews all talked about its violence. I was well prepared for it and it delivered. But the brilliance is that this isn't what it was all about. The story which should be mostly a stereotypical horror flicks works so well and the cast handles everything so perfectly that you don't even realize that it really is just the same old as far as plot. There are definitive nods to the original without once letting it go to a "campy" place. The humour is so dark that you will literally feel guilty even chuckling at anything so that makes it complete opposite from the original. And the one liners were absolutely EPIC!! "Feast on this..."
Every person in the very small cast is great with the exception of one person. And I don't blame her but rather the character. I will start with her. Elizabeth Blackmore plays Natalie and the character is completely useless. She has no back story like the rest of them and her purpose for being there is strictly to have five people in the cabin. However, she has one truly outstanding scene involving her arm and a meat saw...'nuff said. She just doesn't get any character development to really show off her ability. Jessica Lucas is truly great as a young doctor trying to help her friend detox in the cabin. She really hits her stride when she gets to showcase her demon side which is downright demented and she really shines. Lou Taylor Pucci plays the new-age-ish teacher who ultimately brings the demon out by reading the incantation in the book. Pucci's character is probably THEE toughest SOB I have ever seen in a horror flick. The man takes a beating, stabbing, nail gun, needle and just keeps on coming. He is a machine and such a great character with a touch of being sort of a scumbag in some aspects. Shiloh Fernandez and Jane Levy are drop dead amazing. They are our heroes so to speak playing brother and sister with a deep back story. You can feel their animosity towards each other and their broken relationship. They handle roles that could have been ho-hum and knock it out of the ballpark. They are riveting to watch and Levy gets the opportunity to really shine as the main possessed person and also a desperately detoxing drug addict.
I actually thought going into this that Sam Raimi directed this but he was just a producer. However, whoever gave the reigns to Fede Alvarez who also worked on the script and is also a brand new director to feature films picked a talent that will be a force to be reckoned with. Usually a director with little experience make for a bad horror flick but clearly Alvarez is that diamond in the rough. He created something that is sheer brilliance, a horror masterpiece. All the pieces simply fall into place and make this an incredible horror movie experience. The film has it all. It does the cheap scares (the loud noises, or weird faces that make you jump), it has gore galore that make you wince in absolute agony, it has a solid story and an even more solid back story for its characters and the origin of the demon. The whole film practically is in the cabin and you would never want it any other way. Its claustrophobic and the pouring rain and ambiance they create is perfection. There are scenes in this movie that were jaw-dropping. Mia, near the end, in the rain holding the chainsaw was pure Gothic art. Many will disagree with me and frankly I don't care because I want everyone to know this was the best film I have seen in MONTHS...certainly years when it comes to a good horror flick. I watch a ton of horror and most of it is so awful that the only horror is trying to make it to the end. This vindicates the horror genre, and the remake genre. I can't wait to see it again and please horror fans do yourself a favour and see this yesterday!! 10/10