Review of The Evil Dead (1981) by Trey M — 02 Apr 2013

I had never heard of "The Evil Dead" until all of the talk of its 2013 remake started. I wasn't interested, partially because its a film from 1981. I'm 20 years old and oldies like that are not up my ally. Well, as the release date for the new one came out, I started gaining interest. I really wanted to see the new one. It looks terrifying. So I decided that I needed to watch the first one to see what I might be expecting. Luckily, Netflix came up in the clutch by streaming it with the release of the remake.. so I gave it a whirl.

Now this movie needs to ratings. Why? Because the standard for horror films now is NOT what the standard for horror films was in 1981. What I mean is this: the horror genre has changed as has our expectations for the films we watch. What worked in 1981 almost for certain won't work in 2013. So first for the 2013 rating.

2013 rating: I give this 2/5. This movie is very cheesy. It really is. The acting is sub par in most parts, and the people acting like idiots. Yes, I know thats part of the humor, but come on.. it gets kind of ridiculous. There is a few surprise scares. Those moments when something pops out and sometimes it genuinely made me jump. But other than those rare moments of surprise, you were never scared. No, you were probably mostly cringing at the disturbing violence contained within the movie. The gore is ridiculous in this movie. The violence is absurd. The hacking, the stabbing, the spewing. But hey this is where we come to my second rating.

1981 rating: This time its a 4/5. ITS 1981 FOR GOD SAKE. Its that sort of film which is "groundbreaking" in a way. It's that mega bloody horror film with all the little dumb horror cliches. I'm almost positive that people back than were probably terrified of that film. Or just enjoyed it. Either way, it's a fresh take on the horror genre in 1981.

I know I can't give the film multiple ratings so I'll average them out and give this film a solid 3 out of 5 stars. In this modern day, this film doesn't work for even a second, but I can tell that it was a moving picture in 1981.. and that was the time and crowd the filmmakers were making the film for. Very excited to see the updated remake.