Review of Evil Dead (2013) by Harry W — 25 Sep 2013

Before witnessing the remake of The Evil Dead, its important to understand what made the original such a classic. Its because although the story is incredibly basic, it was stylish low-budget fun and used absurd humour as the medium for telling its story.

When it comes to the remake, it seems unoriginal because its a remake of a story told tons of times, but it approaches it in a basic way without anything much to it that would render it iconic like Sam Raimi did. It basically feels routine, and that Evil Dead is a basic horror film laden with predictability for most of the film. It doesn't have creativity in its premise, and so it doesn't provoke any real thoughts for the viewer whatsoever.

And the story is inferior to its original on the basis of the fact that the original was about surviving the zombies as well as about fighting them, whereas the remake's only real focus seems to be on the survival which lowers the quality of entertainment and the feel of kicking ass provided by Sam Raimi's trilogy.

However, by the standards of modern day horror films, Evil Dead is great.

The chills in Evil Dead are haunting and intense, due to the atmosphere being rich with horror and thrills coming from various directions.

The cast are all very dedicated actors, and for unknowns and amateurs they really give it their all and make it a well cast and well acted film, even if they don't make themselves that memorable as they're basic characters that die fairly fast. Particularly Jane Levy and Shiloh Fernandez are the two who stick out and take the chance of Evil Dead head on, coming through successfully on the other side. Although, the cast really didn't share such a great chemistry with each other.

The dialogue in the story flows from the mouths of the actors very naturally, and although the characters don't seem like you can get attached to them with the exception of David who works with the emotional drama of the story and the atmosphere, they seem to be real, which is what helps the horror hit close to home.

And it is a stylish film, as Evil Dead features great cinematography and editing and a fine musical score, but above all a focus on use of makeup and production design in lieu of visual effects which makes it a more effortful horror film than many others today that put sole focus into visual effects above all. That makes Evil Dead memorable.

Finally, as a remake, although not as original or creative, Evil Dead pays homage to The Evil Dead through small quirks, which is what Sam Raimi would have done, and so Fede Alvarez deserves praise as director because of how he treats Evil Dead as a solo project while paying homage to The Evil Dead through minor elements such as David getting thrown into a wall, the montage edited sequences and the always awesome cameo by Bruce Campbell, whose genial presence is the cherry on top. It's the best scene in Evil Dead is undoubtedly the highlight of the whole movie.

Essentially, Evil Dead has room for improvement as a film which holds the name it does, but its still a chilling and finely crafted horror film which is worth seeing.