Perfectly crafted shock movie

Rating: 9/10 (13 June 2013)

---There shouldn't be any major spoilers in the beginning of this review, at the end there are so watch out please---
First of all, i just saw Raimi's original THE EVIL DEAD a couple weeks ago. I'd never realized it existed before, and only came across it because of this remake. So i watched it with a very open mind and i did really like it and could easily see why its fans have always been so passionate about it. I don't't think it is a scary film at all, though it does have some thrilling moments, especially when the deadites pack out their filthy and mean language. However, it is a very cheesy movie and it doesn't try to hide that but instead makes its trashiness a virtue.
Now the remake. They basically took the premise of the original and some of its best trademark moments, but other than that made a movie that is a totally different kind of thing. ED is a much, much more serious movie, and with a lesser director, a lesser DOP and lesser actors, that approach might well have resulted in a catastrophe. But ED is just plain excellent filmmaking. Everything in this movie is so exceptionally well crafted, that it just grips you, thrills you, disgusts you, and sometimes makes you cover your eyes, even if you're a hardcore horror minded, gore-resilient kind of person.
The cinematography is absolutely outstanding, and i honestly rate it as one of the best examples of creative, effective camera work i've ever seen. Never heard of Aaron Morton before, but he is hugely talented, always finding an intriguing spot to place the camera and very smart in how he uses light and darkness. Especially with scenes "in the dark", which are always hard to pull off so as to make the viewer see it without using ridiculously unrealistic lighting, his lighting is very intelligent and just works perfectly. The Closing sequence (chainsaw, blood-rain), is visually amazing.
Score and sound-effects are perfect. Right after the intro scene, the "EVIL DEAD" title is shown, accompanied by a blasting mix of sounds and instruments that will cause you a massive goosebumps attack. It goes on like this. The sounds alone are good for a couple of serious jump scares, and you hate the filmmakers for succeeding with one of the oldest and most clichéd horror film tricks, but they do pull it off... again and again. Finally, when the credits started rolling, i actually said to my friend who wanted to leave quickly "wait a minute, i like the music here". Yes, apart from perfect effects, the score is also very cool and just very high quality.
I'm not a native English speaker, but as far as i'm concerned the acting was very, very tight without a weak moment from any of the cast. This of course has also a lot to do with directing, and in this movie, you can clearly see what a difference a director makes that knows 100% what he is doing and who has a strong vision in his mind about what a shot is all about and what it is supposed to do with the audience, and what he needs from his actor to get there. The scene after the tree-rape, when Mia tries to convince her brother that there is "something in the woods" is real, real filmmaking art.
----------NOW COME THE SPOILERS!---------- One last thing: in this movie, it is actually raining blood!!!!!!
Again: IT RAINS BLOOD! A SOAKING WET GIRL STANDS IN FRONT OF A BURNING CABIN WHILE MILLIONS OF LITERS OF BLOOD ARE POURED OVER HER AND SHE OPERATES A CHAINSAW FROM A FORCEFUL LUNGE STANCE AND DISMEMBERS A DEMON WITH THAT FRIGGING CHAINSAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wrap-up, and comment on the hate-reviews: EVIL DEAD is a great film. 9 out of 10 stars because the final demon was a little weak and could have been made harder to kill.
THE EVIL DEAD is also a cool movie but totally different.
If you wanted this remake to be exactly like the old one just with modern "graphics", you're probably 12 years old.