evildead | BLOODCRYPT

evil dead reboot: C

an ok horror movie that’s a little bit better than most horror reboots, but still not really a ‘good’ movie. i would probably be more lenient with it if it wasn’t such a typical horror movie that almost abuses the ‘evil dead’ name. i’m sure kids in high school are telling each other that it’s the goriest movie they’ll ever see and i’m sure raimi and campbell are in suits after the premiere shaking hands thinking they accomplished tastefully cashing in on an old brand. but as good of a horror movie as it is, it’s just too conventional, too lukewarm, too ordinary of a horror movie that makes me sad that it’s an evil dead.

sam raimi’s directing in the original series is what sticks out most in my mind as a breath of fresh air in the horror genre. it seemed campy for campy sake. the script was genius in its off kilter comedy and cheesy one liners, but none of that could have worked if raimi hadn’t shot it the way he did. fede alvarez was given the helm because of his exceptional work on short films that no one has seen. his not so subtle homages to raimi’s original directing style were almost irritating because you would want more of it amid his charmless own directing style. it’s like hearing the ice cream truck a street over but it doesn’t come down your street.

some of the logic issues were annoying as well, but i won’t get too into that. sure demonic possession and it’s a horror movie are great excuses for suspension of disbelief. but i mean, all sorts of questions popped in my head as soon as i saw that nail gun. what the fuck is its history at the cabin? did the thieves bring it with them or forget to steal it? considering it’s probably worth more than anything else there. it couldn’t have been there for that long since cordless nail guns are a relatively new technology…

all in all i probably took this movie too personal since it’s ironically stamping on sacred grounds. and i’d like to think that i’ll check out the unrated version eventually, but i probably won’t, since i doubt they edited out personality and the nail guns origins.

Evil Dead (2013): B+

If you went to this movie expecting to see something better than the original Evil Dead, what were you thinking? Have you not seen the remakes of Texas Chainsaw Masacre, Friday the 13th, or Nightmare on Elm Street? It really grinds my gears when people have skyscraper expectations for these remakes of films from another era. The remakes probably won’t be as good. Even if they are awesome, your own nostalgia has probably set up an unrealistic, untouchable expectation. So if you were expecting Bruce Campbell’s spasming eyebrows: get over it.

That being said: This movie was great. Tons of blood, gore, monsters, and all the iconic stuff you love about the original film. There were 1st person camera shots, severed appendages, choral deadite voices threatening to swallow souls, a Necronomicon, and, of course, the trap-door cellar.

There was comedy, but nothing like Evil Dead 2. I wouldn’t call it a splat-stick. The makeup was rad and the kills were fantastic. No off-screen cop outs or gratuitous CGI; you get to see beautiful teenagers smashed and slashed. I can’t remember the last time I saw this much blood in a movie. I’ll say there is even more than Dead Alive.

Go see it. or I’ll swallow your soul.