high on gore, low on scares

Rating: 7/10 (2 July 2013)

The gold standard for horror fans all over the world till this date is still the troika of The Evil Dead, The Omen and The Exorcist. The Omen remake could not hold a candle to the original, and to be frank, I was not looking forward to the Evil Dead remake because I never thought anyone could do justice to Sam Raimi's brilliance, Bruce Campbell's class act and the seamless manner in which the movie blended horror with black humor.
Having said that, the 2013 Evil Dead remake has its own strengths in relentlessly gratuitous levels of violence and is a worthy homage in itself to a classic- the basic plot remains the same, with 5 youngsters trapped in a cabin with a demon raising book for company. Teenage curiosity is often the staple for the existence of the horror film genre- the demons rise, possessions take place and each of them get to die in imaginative ways. Gore lovers rejoice as there is plentiful to look forward to as director Fede Alvarez shows his creativity where it counts. Dismemberments, burnings, decapitations, bashed in and blown-to- smithereens heads, homicidal nail guns, mountains of vomit- it is all there along with an oversupply of blood. References to the original trilogy in the form of the iconic chainsaw and possessed hand also feature, as does "that" iconic scene in the woods.
At 90 minutes the length of the movie is just right- there is never a dull moment, the editing is tight, and the visual effects are extremely believable. This is a horror film for today's generation bred on Saw and Hostel, it has the capability to jolt you from your chair and turn your face away in disgust. However, one thing this remake cannot do is to make you chuckle now and then, like the original did. This is a very serious movie with lots of shock value, but none of the simultaneous feeling of light heartedness, suspense and fear the classic evoked.
To sum up, the 2013 Evil Dead remake is a good horror movie in its own right, which is more of an indictment of the sad state of affairs the genre currently is in. But it is no seminal achievement like the original was. I believe the 70s and 80s produced the best horror, whether it was Italian giallo or standard monster feasts- there was more emotion, fear, a sense of foreboding, less of gore. Now with advances in VFX the gore is more prominent, sometimes all important, while other values get dumped by the wayside. Raimi and Campbell wore producer hats in this, but they could not repeat the ultimate experience in grueling terror once again. The cult classic triumvirate remains intact then. So long, remakes :)