My Review Of “Evil Dead” 2013

The triumphant return to real modern horror….

…Technically it may be wrong to consider a “remake” modern horror considering it is generally just retelling an old story but for me “Evil Dead” 2013 is as original a horror story for this generation as the “Evil Dead” 1981 film was for my generation. The characters were new, the story was new-ish, actually the only things that were the same were the cabin, the evil dead and the chainsaw. Aside from that this remake is pretty much it’s own little beast. I am not going to compare the 2013 remake with the original because hands down the original will win out! Because it was the original! Hell I have movies from the 80’s that the minute I realized it was a remake of a 50’s film or a 30’s classic I immediately clung to the original as a better pick. I have never seen a remake that was better than the original. So with that said Here is what I thought of “Evil Dead” 2013.

The story focused on the guerilla style intervention of Mia, who is taken to an old, practically forgotten family cabin in the woods to get clean and sober. A cool premise that strikes at the ongoing epidemic that young people face today ( when to say no- I will not go on a weekend getaway, especially off in the wilderness with ghosts from my past! The jig is up and this isn’t A&E!). Addiction management is better handled in clinic with professionals. Sorry I tend to ramble nonsensically. The well-do friends all agree to stay at the cabin, and force Mia to go through the DT’s with no chance of leaving before she is clean and anew-guess they are re-thinking that little tidbit in their own private Necro-Hell.

For me personally I did enjoy this film as a dark horror far more than I do when watching the original-no! I said I wasn’t going to compare-damn-it! The 2013 film was a more serious film with a darker atmosphere and near anesthetic nature. The characters were sullen and practically introverted which made the relationship between one another a bit more tense than the happy-go-lucky weekend getaway style. For me that set a tone that was a bit more edgier and made a statement that this wasn’t a surreal or reflective horror story-it was a straight up, raw, gory massacre event in the bowels of hell. The film wasn’t as scary as I would like for it have been. I didn’t jump or feel creeped out on any of the scenes, but the shear gory nature of the moments that unfolded, and the full throttle battle for the soul through almost the entire film was pretty intense-and thrilling.

The effects in this film are tops-they should be for the budget this pic had- the soundtrack that rippled through the film was chilling. The death and ultimate possession scenes were gruesome enough to the point of making me giddy about seeing them. I was a little disappointed by the woodsy rape scene with Mia-for some reason I was expecting it to be more graphic and offensive, I found it a bit tame. The overall story was well written, the film’s cinematography was great and I thought Fede Alvarez done a great job re-visioning the Evil Dead concept. “Evil Dead” 2013 is actually one of the few “remakes” that I haven’t been disappointed in. Yeah at times the story seems to rush the build-up, atmospheric spookiness and go straight for the kill switch but the fact that it started out dark and moody and just hit overdrive into Hellish horrors and all out nightmare wonderland right up until the end created a great viewing experience in my opinion. I really enjoyed this film and will definitely adding it to the list of films to watch over and over-especially during the Holiday seasons!