Evil Dead
Starring: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore
Directed By: Fede Alvarez
Reviewed by Danielle Muir

[rating: 3.5/5]

Well, it’s not the most terrifying movie you’ll ever see but it’s certainly the bloodiest.  What the Evil Dead remake lacks serious scares, it makes up for in its over-the-top hideous gore – and that will be what causes the old hands-over-the-eyes self-defence, not the psychological fear.  But, taken at face value, Evil Dead is a wonderfully good time for anyone keen for an amusing, potty-mouthed demon-littered bloodbath.

The story is generic as all hell – a bunch of wayward teenagers journey out to a disused cabin, you guessed it, in the woods.  The clan have come out to detox drug addict Mia (Levy) whose going through some horrific withdrawals, with her brother David reconnecting with the group and his addled sister after a lengthy absence.  Smelling something funky in the basement, resident stoner Eric (Pucci) has the gall to crack open a barbed-wire bound text found down below – releasing a demonic force that threatens to off them all in various horrific ways.

And it does.  That’s a given.  This is an R-rated movie people.

Limbs are severed, chunks are ripped, skin is boiled, and there’s a particularly nasty chainsaw scene that will have you cringing something fierce.  As I said, there’s plenty of gore to go around, and there’s not really any more I can say other than the special effects are very realistic (hence the added disgust).  But the question is, is the story itself terrifying or is it just all style no substance?

The answer is, about midway between the two.  The brother/sister relationship plot of ‘you abandoned me as a child and here’s your chance to redeem yourself’ fits seamlessly in to give the group its hero.  The whole opening of the book and reciting of the devil’s incantation by the resident goof is quite infuriating – but hey, I guess it had to happen somehow.  That said – if you found a book bound in skin, written in blood and with giant ‘DO NOT READ’ messages scrawled everywhere, what would the ordinary person do?  Perhaps (event though it’s a remake) they should have found a more inventive way to kick the story off.  The demon itself is entertaining but I assume will be laughable to many – especially when a possessed Mia spouts the threat of some nasty sexual escapades, mostly towards her older brother, with the delivery of a pissed off teenage girl.  This is one of those scenarios where you just go along for a ride – it will be awesome if you let it.

Evil Dead, whilst not the psychologically terrifying film it seemed to be marketed as, certainly makes for a good time if you take it at face value and enjoy the over-the-top gore you’ve been promised.