Evil Dead (2013) review

(7/10)

This remake of the original horror classic is an amped-up blood fest that adds modern horror cliches while still paying homage to its source material. The performances were really good and the blood poured freely, but it's missing the dark humor that made the original a classic.

PLOT:On a road trip turned intervention, David (Shiloh Fernandez), his girlfriend, Natalie (Liz Blackmore), his best friend, Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), and other friend, Olivia (Jessica Lucas), meet together at a cabin in the woods to cure Mia (Jane Levy) of her drug addiction. However, things start turning dark when the group discover a former site of witchcraft in the basement of the cabin. There they find a mysterious-looking book with strange passages and incantations, which Eric reads aloud. Eric doesn't know, but he's summoned an evil spirit prepared to take all of them down, one-by-one, starting with Mia. It's a great plot executed pretty well.



ACTING:The acting in here was actually very good. A few of the performances really convinced me. Jane Levy played an excellent part as Mia, the possessed junkie reaching sobriety. I saw the fear and horror in her most. Shiloh Fernandez also played a pretty decent part as David, as did Lou Taylor Pucci as Eric and everyone else. There really wasn't a bad performance in the movie, from the few in the very beginning to the special cameo at the very end.

SCORE:The score in here was very intense and horrific. It was almost as generic as most modern horror movies, but I though it fit just right.

EFFECTS:The blood flows endlessly in this horror movie. The effects were pretty well done in my opinion. You could tell they were fake, but I believe the make-up effects of the demons, the visual effects scattered throughout, and some of the blood effects were really detailed and close to the original. They still succeeded at making the demons look scary in this one.



OTHER CONTENT:This remake actually wasn't as bad as it could have been. Though it added modern cliches to what used to be a classic, the movie still payed a thoughtful homage to the original by adding in scenes directly referencing to the original and its sequel. The main problem I had with this movie is the surprising lack of dark humor that the original had. There were little to no overdone, campy laughs as there were serious horror cliches. One of the things that made the original such a cult classic was its humor, which this lacks minus a few key moments and the very, very end. However, it was still pretty good for a modern horror remake.

OVERALL,a good horror remake with a great plot, very good performances, intense score, detailed yet fake effects, and a few modern horror cliches, but the cliches and bloodflow seem to take the place of the raging dark humor and camp the original had.