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Before he slung webs and journeyed to Oz, director Sam Raimi kicked off his career by writing and directing the low-budget horror flick, The Evil Dead—which, along with its wacky sequels, soon became a cult classic. Now, more than 30 years later, the supernatural thriller is getting a blood-drenched, big-budget remake.
Evil Dead stars Suburgatory’s Jane Levy as Mia, a troubled young woman who travels to a rundown cabin in the woods with four of her closest friends and family members to spend the weekend battling her addictions.
During her detox, Mia is convinced that there’s a horrible smell in the cabin—and when her brother, David (Shiloh Fernandez), goes into the cellar to investigate, he finds all kinds of unspeakable horrors. He also finds a strange package that’s wrapped in plastic and barbed wire, which he brings back with him. When his friend, Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), opens the package—which turns out to be a mysterious book—and reads an inscription from its pages, he unleashes an evil that threatens to kill them all.
Any good horror movie should have its hook—something surprising and memorable to make it stand out. For some, it’s a surprising twist or a particularly horrifying villain. For Evil Dead, it’s the blood. I think it’s pretty safe to say that this is by far the bloodiest movie you’ll see all year—perhaps even this entire decade. The set is bathed in buckets and buckets of blood as characters are hacked and mangled while spewing forth fountains of gore. It’s all rather creatively disgusting, too. There are impromptu amputations, along with plenty of slicing and dicing and projectile vomit. So if blood and gore are your thing, then Evil Dead is a must-see. Race right out and see it—and don’t forget to pack your barf bag.
Aside from the blood and gore, though, Evil Dead is a pretty typical horror flick. The remote, rundown setting is just the first in a long line of horror movie clichés. The characters are flat and forgettable, and it’s hard to care about their fate when they seem to go out of their way to make the most dim-witted decisions. Clearly, none of these characters have ever seen a scary movie before. If they had, there would be no story to tell, since they’d know better than to spend the weekend in a creepy, rundown shack filled with charred cats—and they definitely wouldn’t go around chanting incantations from a book that appears to be covered in human flesh.
In other words, aside from the extreme gore, you’ve seen this movie time and time again—and you may find yourself waiting for a shocking twist that never comes. It’s completely clichéd and generally predictable, too—up until the end, which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Of course, it’s really no use debating the logic of a movie like this one, but when the filmmakers take the time to explain the rules, it’s best to make a point of playing by them.
So, in the end, your enjoyment of Evil Dead really depends on your own personal taste in horror flicks. If you’re just in it for the gore, this could very well become your favorite movie of all time. But if you need something more than blood and clichés to hold your attention (as I do), you’ll most likely lose interest after the first few scenes.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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