Evil Dead

When I wrote my Most Anticipated Movies of 2013, this was one of the films on the list. I saw it the night after opening night which, not surprisingly, warranted a big turn out. The kind of people that go to see this film are generally the laid back crowd, which is my personal favorite kind of audience to see a movie with because it helps you get into the experience. (One of the guys actually arrived in full Bruce Campbell cosplay with a chainsaw arm and everything. If you're that guy and you ever read this review, props.) They all laughed at the subtle dark comedy, cheered at moments of badassery and was audibly repulsed during the gratuitous, gut-splattering, in-your-face, violence.

 Of which, of course, there was no shortage. Any audience willing to watch this film would endure an insane level of gore. For a movie that's rated R, it's pretty darn violent and it's clear that the filmmakers were pushing the rating as far as it would go. There were a few people who actually got up and left the theatre during the more extreme parts and I saw numerous people looking away or closing their eyes.

I think I see where this is going.

I only found out the night before seeing the film, that Sam Raimi was reprising his role as producer  along with Bruce Campbell, the star of the original film. I think that actually helped this movie a lot and kept it from completely copying the '81 version. Speaking of which, this movie is a great example of a proper remake. As I just said, it didn't copy and paste the original script but it also had plenty of respectful nods to it's predecessor, which any member of it's enormous cult following would catch.

The movie opens with a short scene of some demonically possessed woman being put to rest via burning at the stake followed promptly by shotgun to the face which I get the feeling is a treatment that was not doctor recommended. I almost wish that this scene wasn't included because it serves almost no purpose and makes the movie feel a little bit dumb, especially with that shotgun bit.

But anyway, after that, we're introduced to a bunch of twenty-somethings who all head out into the woods to chill in an old, slightly-dilapidated, cabin. They take some time laying down the groundwork of the film and we get some character backstories. Not long into the movie, we find out that the real reason they're roughing it in the cabin is to try and get one of their party members, Mia, off of her drug addiction. At first, it almost seems as though the movie is going to be pretty slow but then they find the original 'purging' site from the first scene in the basement and along with the various witchcraft items, The Book of the Dead.

So one of the guys takes it upon himself to "accidentally" perform the entire summoning ritual, effectively fucking over all of his friends.

"It's not my fault man, the directions weren't very clear."

Well, that's about where the shit hits the fan harder than a sack full of bricks and just never stops coming. I won't spoil anything after that, but I will say that the movie continues to get better and better as it goes on, with the entire last act being an exciting and memorable climax.

That all sounds pretty good (and it is) but unfortunately this movie is brought down by the, expected, poor actor quality as well as the occasional shoddily-written bit of dialogue. That's to be expected with movies of this caliber, but it's disappointing nonetheless. Besides that, it has some thinly veiled characters, several of whom are simply throwaway characters I didn't care about, it's pretty predictable up until the last act and it relies too heavily on it's gore-factor. I would be more disappointed in the heavy application of violence, but I knew what I was getting into and I was expecting a mindless bloodbath (as I've said before, it's all about the mindset), so in that respect it didn't bother me that much and, with a budget of $17 million, at least it looked good..

If you can get past that (and trust me, it's not hard) this movie is a blast that's a lot of fun. It's garnered some pretty low reviews from guys like Richard Roeper who has tried to fill the hole in cinema subculture left behind by the late Roger Ebert (rest in peace), but in my humble opinion, he didn't do this movie justice. It's made $26 million in the opening weekend topping G.I. Joe: Retaliation for the number one spot by a full $5 million (suck it). As I said in the paragraph above and so many times before, it's the mindset. You go into a movie like this with some friends and some popcorn and you have a good time and in that respect, this is a great, above average, horror movie. Check it out.

7.5/10 - A fun horror flick.