Scary, gruesome, over-the-top reimagining of Sam Raimi's classic horror

Rating: 8/10 (3 February 2016)

Remakes of classic 70s and 80s horror films tend to fall victim to mediocrity nowadays, mainly due to their failure to stay faithful to their original source material. However, once in a blue moon comes a remake of a horror film that though doesn't live up to the bar of its original, manages to pay respect to the original film. Fede Alvaraz's 'Evil Dead', a remake of Sam Raimi's classic horror thriller happens to one of those films, while paying some noticeable liberties. This film follows twenty-something year old David (played by Shiloh Fernandez), along with his three friends who take his younger sister Mia (played by Jane Levy) up a remote cabin to help her recover from her heroin addiction, as opposed to the original which centered on a vacation. When one of the friends unintentionally releases a demonic entity from the Book of the Dead, Mia becomes possessed and unleashes a horrifying terror on everyone. What results from this horror thriller is a truly terrifying experience filled with spine chilling scares as well as enough blood and gore to push its R-rating to the very limit.
It is no surprise that this horror remake doesn't manage to top the classic, but after all, has any remake managed to do that? What is important is that this movie succeeds on embracing the spirit of what Sam Raimi brought the 1980s classic by not only paying homages to some of the most memorable scenes like the "tree rape" scene, but also executing the story in an effective manner. The major difference between this and the original is this takes on a more dark and dramatic tone, unlike Sam Raimi's film which had a more cartoony, tongue-in-cheek approach. This film delivers plenty of scares from start to finish and a sheer amount of suspense to leave at the edge of your seat. If the scares are not enough, many scenes also treat you with an outrageous amount of blood and gore, enough to sensitive viewers sick to their stomach, including the climax which involves raining blood. So this movie stops at just about nothing to shock you to the core and there is rarely a dull moment throughout its runtime. The characters are well drawn out, especially Jane Levy's character who serves as the most prominent character in the story from the moment of her horrifying demonic possession, and the performances earn a solid thumps up. The characters may not stand out like what Bruce Campbell brought in the original Evil Dead trilogy as Ash, but they do whats worth.
While it may top what Sam Raimi brought the original film, this Evil Dead remake is both entertaining and spine-chilling scary. It is a great movie to please horror fans and one of the few horror remakes manages to succeed. Fede Alvaraz does an amazing job on capturing the spirit of the original and bringing it to this modern adaption. However, I only recommend this to those with strong stomach to absurd amounts of blood and gore because as I said, there is plenty of it. Otherwise, enjoy!