Five friends spend the weekend in an old cabin in the woods and inadvertently stumble upon a mysterious book. After reading aloud from the cursed text, the 20-something gang awaken the evil dead, which sets out to consume each and every one of them in the most disgusting way possible.
Though there’s certainly been a potent buzz during the built up and release of the remake of Sam Raimi’s seminal shoestring shocker, it’s difficult to understand why. Raimi’s horror track record hasn’t exactly been glowing during the past couple of decades, and as producer he’s been responsible for a slew of underwhelming and forgettable forays into the genre, from The Grudge remakes to The Messengers. And who is Fede Alvarez? The director of a mixed bag of short films and that’s about it.
While the name Evil Dead mainly conjures up frenzied excitement with 30-something horror fans always happy to reminisce about the good old days of VHS, video nasties and stop animation gore, it’s also a name that’s been whispered down to the next generation or two, gaining infamy over the years as being that movie where a girl gets raped by a tree.
Add to Evil Dead’s notoriety a few choice quotes from critics and a touch of Cabin Fever red and yellow on the new film’s poster, and you’ve got enough to convince young audiences that the Evil Dead reboot is the horror second coming, and sure enough, the kids are gonna eat this up.
The Evil Dead remake is as violent as they come, with Alvarez unleashing a barrage of back-to-basics (minimal CGI) blood-and-guts horror where each wince-inducing act of depravity outdoes the one before it (with the aid of chainsaws, electric knives the lot). And yet, while the film delivers on its promise of shocking violence and anything-goes debauchery, there’s very little beneath the bloody surface.
While the original film had, well, originality, and bucket loads of personality, this Evil Dead does not. It’s not funny, smart or self-aware, and with Cabin in the Woods still fresh in the mind, it even feels somewhat passé. With no smarts behind the screams, Evil Dead is as forgettable as any other remake of an iconic 80s horror, from Nightmare of Elm Street to Friday the 13th. The kids are prettier and the production’s glossier in these 21st century remakes, but the individuality and innovation that made the 80s originals classics in the first place is nowhere to be seen.
As nice as it is sometimes to see a guy repeatedly get shot in the face with a nail gun, sometimes it’s just not enough.
Overall Verdict: Bloody, violent, forgettable.
Reviewer: Lee Griffiths