Review of Evil Dead (2013) by Zack2981 — 08 Apr 2013

This movie has provided a roller coaster of emotions for me in the sense that when I first heard about it was vehemently opposed to the idea. I don't understand how they can spend 20 years saying that no one would be interested in an Evil Dead 4 but somehow suddenly an Evil Dead remake would be a great idea. Then, I saw the trailer and found myself interested again. The look was interesting and there seemed to be a lot of cool effects. But let's move on to how I felt after actually seeing the movie...

Overall, the movie was fine. There was actually a lot of stuff there for the old school fans like the music, the look of the cabin and some lines that were obviously pulled from the original movies to help it appeal to all of the fans who were pissed that there's no Ash character. (Yes, including me.) However, the dialogue was a big part of what made this one of those movies that was good enough for one viewing but that I will probably never see again. I have no problem with bad language but when ALL of your characters use nothing but the F-word and the S-word then it just makes them sound stupid. And all of the business with the main character (Mia) being a drug addict seemed tacked-on and pointless. I mean, it's fine but when they kept going back to it, it just got old. It was like, fight death horror, oh wait remember how you left our family when mom was sick? And on top of that, I found Mia to be just a really unlikable character. Partly the way she was written, partly the acting. But that's subjective.

SPOILERS Okay, there was a point where I was actually really into this movie and it was where David (essentially the Ash character) was kicking Deadite ass. He does all the work of figuring out what needs to be done and taking out the Deadites one by one. Then... he buries Mia (which is one of the ways of saving her soul as opposed to only bodily dismemberment as in the originals) and then bringing her back to life so she can be the sole survivor. He even constructs a defibrillator out of tools in the shed which is very Ash. But yes, she comes back to life and even after being drenched in scolding hot water, she is TOTALLY FINE! Fine enough that she can destroy whatever the evil is after David did all the work.

Look, I realize I'm an old-school fan here but I just don't see the point in excising the very thing that made the original awesome in the first place. The male hero of the series (Ash) is so uncommon in horror films. Name another horror film where the hero is a guy. Name another horror film where fans go to see the good guy (instead of Jason, Michael, Freddy)! And now, the remake has just made it into another Girl Survivor movie and not even a likable girl survivor at that. And the "extra scene" after the credits isn't even worth sticking around for. I should point out that it's FINE that the survivor is a girl. My point is that now the movie is just like every other horror film ever and who wants to see the same thing over and over? END SPOILERS.

So, while I can't say this was a horrible film at all, I just think it took everything that made the original fun and different out and replaced it with every other horror film cliche that you've seen for 20 years.