Movie Review Evil Dead Remake Delivers a Blood Monsoon

Sony TriStar Pictures/AP Photo

For many it doesn t get better than The Evil Dead. The 1981 original and its two sequels are the perfect blend of blood drenched graphic horror and B grade camp giving birth to one of the most abused horror movie clich s of all time na ve college or high school kids alone in a cabin or other secluded area making predictably dumb decisions that will only make their situation worse.

This new Evil Dead remake (which drops the definite article from the title) is produced by original The Evil Dead director Sam Raimi and his trilogy star Bruce Campbell. Make no mistake these two are extremely protective about their property have a great relationship with the franchise s many fans and I fully believe wanted to deliver the best possible Evil Dead remake they could. In order to do that they put the franchise in the hands of director Fede Alvarez which was exactly the right thing to do.

This time around we find five friends gathered at a remote country cabin to help one of them Mia (Jane Levy) kick her drug habit. Joining Mia is her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) his girlfriend Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) who s angry at David for leaving town and apparently forgetting about his friends and Olivia (Jessica Lucas) a nurse who supposedly will be able to administer any sort of drug should Mia need it.

Turns out the cabin sits above a cellar once used to exorcise a demon from a young woman who was burned at the stake while surrounded by dozens of dead cats hanging from the ceiling and cast of characters who looked like they were on a break from the set of American Horror Story.

Thanks to the odor emanating from the basement the friends discover the creepy subterranean dwelling where they also find the demonic book used to dispatch of the possessed girl. Clearly Eric hadn t seen many horror movies because the barbed wire wrapped around the book certainly should ve raised a red flag. And if that wasn t a clear enough signal to stay away the Frankenstein like stitching of the book cover suggesting that the book isn t leather bound but perhaps human skin bound should ve been another dead giveaway. But NOOOO Eric just had to know what was in that book and when he got it open he just had to read the various Latin phrases inscribed below the demonic pictures covered with messages written in blood.

So far this sticks close enough to the original movie when the recorded messages unleashed hell literally. Soon enough Mia in the throes of drug withdrawal becomes possessed.

Putting Jane Levy (TV s Suburgatory ) in the role of Mia may very well be the best bit of horror movie casting since Naomi Watts in The Ring. This is a breakout performance for her. Her energy whether it s nervous frenetic scared is infectious. Levy pulls you into this disgustingly gory graphic tale and never lets you go making you feel as though you re experiencing everything she is. Alvarez certainly deserves credit for utilizing his young star s prodigious talents.

While not as funny as the original The Evil Dead and none of the characters are quite as memorable or iconic as Bruce Campbell s wisecracking Ash there s plenty of humor in this remake most of which can t be repeated here. Campbell promised fans a blood bath and the team that he and Raimi assembled delivers.

Except it s less a blood bath and more like a blood monsoon. But if you re paying money to see Evil Dead you know what you re getting yourself into and you re not going to be disappointed. While there s room for improvement Evil Dead is still a cathartic nauseating (in a good way) crowd pleaser you ll want to see more than once.

Three and a half out of five stars.

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