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"Evil Dead (2013/Blu-ray/Sony Home Entertainment)" Review

Review: Like many other fans of The Evil Dead (1981) I was quite outraged when I first heard that the film I
loved so much was going to be remade. As time went on I followed various articles about it and once I ran across one that had quotes with Sam Raimi and especially Bruce Campbell praising the remake I became less angry and more curious. Sadly it came and gone way too fast at the local theater so I missed out. At long last I finally got to see it and I have to say that I am extremely impressed with what I saw.

I got way more than I would of ever expected, one of the coolest things was the various nods to the original including having the original car that is in alot of Raimi's films is shown behind the cabin. I usually hate remakes because they totally mess up the charm that the original had and just make a lame version of the original film, now with Evil Dead they did the complete opposite and made a remake that is very fresh and damn entertaining. Honestly this film feels more like a sequel than a remake because of how fresh alot the story feels. There is only one thing I did find to bother me and it only bothered me for a few minutes was the fact that there is a scene where a deadite uses a nailgun to try and kill. I have heard other people talk about this as well and I completely agree that it would be impossible without a air compressor which is nowhere in the film. Aside from that I really have no other complaints.
The characters I really liked as well and they chose the perfect actors/actresses to play them. I especially liked the characters Eric and David. I think that is due to them being the main protagonist fighting against the deadites. Now there is a twist with the characters that I did not expect and most other viewers will not expect it as well. Mia was awesome as well and she was the first to get changed and she embraced and took her character to the edge of hell excellently. The other two characters were great as well, but not as strong of characters in my eyes.
Now when it comes to the gore it is turned up to 11! Also it's great to see that about every single gore effect is done the practical way and the CGI is cut to minimal. Lets just say that if you liked the crazy amount of blood and gore from the original Evil Dead trilogy then you will absolutely love what this remake has to offer. If I had to pick one favorite gore moment I would have to pick when one of the deadites gets chainsawed in half. Overall the gore was fantastic and will please the gore hound in every horror fan who watches it!
Aside from the characters and the gore two other things that helped make this film so good was the look of the cabin and woods and the second thing is the camera work. The cabin that the film is set in looks exactly like the original one as well as the woods. Like I mentioned earlier in the review that the car from the original film makes an appearance as a broken down car in the backyard of the cabin. When it comes to the camera work they used alot of odd angles and even the first person view from the view of the demonic spirit as it travels through the woods. I liked that they did that because it was one of the things that made watching The Evil Dead such an awesome experience when I saw it for the first time so many years ago.
Overall this is a damn good remake and ranks up high with the remakes of The Fly(1986) and The Thing(1982). Like each of those two this one was different enough to make it interesting and fresh. I think if you have doubts about it then rent it first, but I honestly think if you love the original then you will most likely enjoy this remake.  I give this film 4.5 scalpels out of 5!

-Daniel "Damnation" Lee

Director: Fede Alvarez
Genre: Horror
Blu-ray Release Year: 2013
Theatrical Release Year: 2013
Time Length: 91 mins.
Company: Sony Home Entertainment
 
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