Could have been a good stand alone film

Rating: 7/10 (3 July 2013)

But Hollywood are far too content with bastardising classic films instead.
Now fully aware that people are getting sick to death with remakes, Hollywood has started a course of "reimaginations" - as with Carrie et al. This basically means that they can leech from the franchise and fan base of the original films whilst blaming all the changes and hate on the fact that it's "supposed to be different".
Well here's an idea. If you desperately HAVE to make a remake. Make a remake. If you're going to change things, make a new film.
44 seconds in and my surround system was in effect, that was great - for about 5 seconds plus one or two points later in the film. They could have utilised the ever present multichannel audio to a far greater degree.
4 minutes in and we see the "first death", more a prequel death really. And with it some of the worst CGI of the film. And this was a big disappointment, because the original was scary. The way the stop frame animated body's moved was surreal and unnatural. Nowadays studios try to make effects so real that they become unbelievable. What's scary is the unknown, the way these things moved and acted was out of character. Now we just get realistic bodies in realistic fire - I'm by no means a serial killer, but it's just common place these days. Whilst at points the cringe factor is near Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), I've seen fire, I've seen a hand with a nail in, there's nothing scary, unknown or unworldly about it.
But as I say, if Evil Dead never existed, this would be quite a good shock horror. But it does exist. So you inevitably draw parallels between the two.
ED 2013 takes itself FAR more seriously. It's not campy like the original, not humorous, no crazy hand or goo. And while there is slightly more character back story than the original, there is, ironically, less soul to the film. If you read up about the original, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell did the camera work themselves, long nights, cameras in shopping trollys/carts, real blood and sweat - and that comes through in the film. In this remake you know that they are covering up in the dry with a cup of coffee after every take.
I think Jane Levy is lovely :) and at points in the film her acting is spot on and almost strikes a nerve. However...
*spoiler*
What I am getting absolutely sick of is this forced penchant for feminism in films. In Evil Dead 2013 the Bruce Campbell character dies and is replaced by lone survivor, dismembered handed, chainsaw wielding, Jane Levy. And after she defeats the evil, cut to a sunrise as she walks off the amazonian heroine of the film. No doubt on her way to pickup the kids and have morning coffee with Sanaa Lathan of Alien vs Predator and Noomi Rapace of Prometheus.
It's a good watch with good production values and, after the first CGI death, the graphics are pretty good. But the second you think back to the original classic of 1981, your blood will begin to boil and you'll feel nothing short of let down.