Actually really chilling stuff

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2014)

Let me start by saying I haven't seen the original film this was based on 'The Evil Dead', but if it's even half as good as this one I'll have to check it out. 'Evil Dead' (2013) blew me away.
Importantly, we aren't treated to a bunch of horny, unrealistic teenagers who we are sick of after 10 minutes and thus don't really care as to whether they die or not. The characters are real and down to earth and this added a lot to the quality of the film.
The scares are genuine. There's a little bit of 'The Exorcist' channeled throughout. It takes about 20-30 minutes to get things kicked off, but once they do it never relents for a moment. There's really no humour at any point and this works well. It pulls no punches and delivers frights even when they're expected - and yet they are still completely effective. Horror movies spend too much time these days trying to lure you into a false sense of security with fake build-ups time after time after time. 'Evil Dead' doesn't mess around with that kind of nonsense.
I was thoroughly impressed with this one. The acting is good, the direction is excellent and the overall quality of the movie is nothing short of superb. You will be left feeling very uncomfortable throughout. If this is going to be the quality level of all remakes I've got no problem with them being made at all.