Evil Dead Reboot

 I recently watched the remake of "Evil Dead" at my local cinema and I am not ashamed to admit that I was thoroughly entertained by this remake (reboot, re-vison, or whichever).

 For those who aren't familiar with the franchise that made Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi household names, the plot is quite simple (and doesn't deviate too much in the remake) five friends travel to a remote cabin in the woods, where they discover a "Book of the Dead" and unwittingly summon demons living in the nearby woods. The original Evil Dead grew to cult status and spawned two, more comedic-than-scary sequels; Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and Army of Darkness.

 The remakes in the horror genre have had an arguably poor track record, many are quite hard to watch and some are down right insulting to their target demographic. So it was no surprise to see how hard the filmmakers were trying to "legitimize" the movie, i.e.; the backing and support of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. There was much hype prior to the release of the new Evil Dead to entice the horror community to embrace the fact that the beloved cult classic was getting a face-lift, such as; having a majority of the effects made practical, receiving a NC-17 rating for the first cut of the film, and releasing a "red band" trailer showing a glimpse of the carnage to behold in the final product. I ate it all up and was highly anticipating seeing it on the big screen.

 The film was strong in some areas, and weaker in others. Its weakest was the script and some of the acting. The cinematography was beautiful to watch and Jane Levy's performance was delightfully creepy. If you are easily offended by gore and violence, then this movie is not for you. The blood in this movie is spilled, squirted, and regurgitated by the gallons, and is sure to quench the thirst of most gore-hounds. The scenes involving the demon-possessed are awesome and well directed. My favorite scene involved a deadite wielding a nail-gun.

 If you are a fan of the original Evil Dead and love films with relentless gore, then I recommend you give it a chance. Just sit right back and enjoy it for what it is, a beautifully crafted gore-fest!

"Maniac" Matt Wilberg