Review: 'Evil Dead' (2013)

Okay, the Evil Dead remake has been released upon us. My first thought I took from the film: it just may be the goriest bloodbath to ever hit the big screen.

I'll keep this short...

As far as remakes go, I was a little disappointed, but as far as a genre film, it is extremely enjoyable.  While the film offers little substance, the scares keep coming.  You always hear the term "hit the ground running".  Well, Evil Dead definitely hit the ground running -- and had little to no down-time.  Which, again, for a picture of this kind, is not a bad thing...although, I wouldn't have minded a little more character exposition.  Like a lot of remakes, especially horror, there is a severe lack of character development (something which made the originals so great) -- and Evil Dead is no different.

But all the negative aside, I'll focus on the positive.  There are some really great homages to the original.  For instance, there's an old rusted-out Oldsmobile parked on the property, clearly a wink at Ash's car from the original trilogy.  And I mention that this film is bloody?  It's bloody.  Very, very bloody.  At one point, it literally rains blood.

This remake uses a drastically different story arc than the original, which I believe slightly works against the movie.  We get it, Mia's a heroine addict.  But I suppose one could say the events in the movie is sort of a rebirth for her.

Finally, this is a movie that does false endings right.  Just when you think it's over, another twist comes.  But it shouldn't come as a surprise as the ground work is all layed out earlier in the movie.  And the final payoff is the biggest homage to the original -- a chainsaw gets used.

All in all, Evil Dead works as a stand-a-lone genre film, but as for a remake, like the others, it fails.  If you're a fan of the original, you'll either love or hate it.  It's weird like that.  I liked it, didn't love it.