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Evil Dead

Sony Pictures
What it's about:

In the much anticipated remake of the 1981 cult-hit horror film, five 20-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin. When they discover a Book of the Dead, they unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.

What we thought:

Evil Dead
is yet another horror remake, this time of Sam Raimi?'s classic video nasty from 1981. It tells much the same story: Five kids young adults go to a cabin in the woods, one of them reads from a cursed book, all hell breaks loose. Some details are updated, but for the most part, that's the story. 

They are hardly the same film though. For one thing, this is no bucolic visit to the great outdoors ; instead, the five have gone there to in an effort to help one of their group, Mia, kick her drug addiction. For another, where the original had some humour about it, this film is largely humourless. Perhaps that was meant to help it be taken more seriously, but it just makes the characters dull and the story feel flat. 

And while the 1981 film was clearly made on a meagre budget (calling it shoestring would be putting it mildly), this new film has some relatively high production values. It's pretty strong visually and the filmmakers take pains to give the film an appropriately grimy texture. Its budget also means that the film can afford enough fake blood to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool. 

Rest assured, this is a film that goes straight for the jugular as well as several other parts of the anatomy. If gore isn't your thing then you'll find much about Evil Dead that will have you squirming in your seat. Limbs are gleefully sliced off and various other body parts given some pretty ill treatment. 

All that being said, this is not a scary film. Gross, yes, but after a while, the gore didn't shock me. Doubtless, this was because I didn't care about any of the characters. As for the story, it didn't go anywhere that interested me, merely existed as a thread that moved from one bloody set piece to the next. 

How do I recommend this film? You?'ve already seen its sort cleverly pulled apart with last year's entertaining The Cabin in the Woods. That was a film that was inventive and made the effort to give its characters quirks. Evil Dead can't be bothered to set up its characters as anything more than fodder for the plot. 

What Evil Dead lacks in an interesting story and characters, it attempts to make up for with gore, which, admittedly, does show some imagination. This is pretty hardcore horror. Gore-hounds will find plenty to sate their grim appetites but for the rest of us, that wears pretty thin, and you'll find it has little to offer after that. 

Groovy? No. Not even a little bit.

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