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A few hours ago I saw Fede Alvarez's remake of Evil Dead at a large press screening here in London (so huge that it was in fact playing in two different screens to two different audiences simultaneously - Studiocanal went all out with this one!). I hope I don't have to give my credentials before giving my opinion, but needless to say I've been a hardcore fan of the trilogy for years, enough to eventually become a regular supporter and contributor to this very website. Of course my heart sunk when I first heard the news of the remake, though in the last few months I've generally been quite excited, not least of the thought of finally seeing an Evil Dead film that I don't know anything about and haven't seen so many times I have a running DVD commentary in my head every time I watch it. So here goes...

I quite liked it. It's not amazing, or anywhere near the level of the original films (how could it ever be?), but it's certainly far from terrible. To give a brief rundown of the good and the bad:

The script is not very good at all - a mishmash of ideas not just from the original but a bunch of other films too, including The Exorcist, [REC] and even an entire setpiece nicked wholesale from The Raid! Dialogue is at best perfunctory, at worst infantile and overreliant on swearing (not least from the demons, which sometimes comes off as silly).

It's stylishly made enough, nothing on the level of vintage Raimi of course but more effective than most modern studio horror films.

Is it scary? Well, it's definitely VERY LOUD, and I had my fingers in my ears throughout as I'm a wuss when it comes to jump scares, but no, it's not really scary as in unsettling and haunting. Its ambitions don't go much
beyond being an OTT rollercoaster ride, at which it pretty much succeeds. It's certainly rarely boring.

For those who feared the film would be grimly serious and depressing - it isn't. There isn't a lot of humour, but the film is so gleefully excessive in its second half you can't help but chuckle on quite a few occasions.

With the notable exception of Jane Levy (who really is excellent throughout - in your face, idiots who doubted a female lead!), the cast make very little impression in the first half of the film - it's easy to forget Elizabeth Blackmore is even there! Though they are all very game and do fine once the mayhem and bodily dismemberment really kicks in, except for Shiloh Fernandez, who starts off boring and more or less remains so to the end.

There are quite a few audio "tributes" to the original that pleased this die-hard fan.

To sum up - it's about as good as an Evil Dead remake can be. It was never going to come close to matching the original, but its heart is in the right place. I'd generously give the film a 6 out of 10, except for the very final few seconds (post-credits scene), which raised it to a 9. Stick right to the bitter end and murder anyone who threatens to spoil it for you!

And on that note - no, I won't be giving out spoilers via PM or anywhere else.

Thanks Evil James. That's the first inteligent & objective review I've read on this remake. I'm still looking forward to seeing it but I'm glad you say the original is still the champion.

And wait the end of the credits for the extra scene!

I have only seen it recently in bootleg, becuase it wasn't released in any form in Ukraine - seems to be censorship shame.
I'm mostly of the same exactly opinion (and Evil James review is also a pleasure to read) with a few differences. First of all - it's great that Evil Dead references not only three original films in just about ANY possible way, but also many other films - clever references to other works show us the basic cultural level of the filmmakers (and director first of all). I was very surprised and pleased with numerous refernces to "Pulp Fiction", for example - they were neat, subtle and clever.
Alvarez has a different style then Raimi and that's good actually, because we have Sam Raimi already and we don't need a copycat. And Fede Alvarez has a potential to become a great director on his own. What was very unlike Raimi is the structure - Raimi has his films being dynamic from start to finish, one way or another - whether suspense, horror, comedy or anything else - it keeps you turned. Alvarez slowly, but disturbingly pushes it through until the second half of the movie turns to be as fast as Raimi could have made it. It has body horror, which I liked, It has horror with shades of black humor and it was great to sit through the end credits (I really like credits and always try to sit through and read; I also really like filmmakers who put little jokes here and there and post-credits scenes or moments - such an award is always welcomed, though I enjoy even bare credits), which were still very creative and contained references (and fake shemps section!) to the post-credits scene, which was AWESOME addition and a real heart-wormer for a fan. I had it spolied but was still greatly pleased.
I can't understand people who were disappointed. For a film to reboot the interest in franchise before another three films - this one was great. I really hope that they will succed in all of the three new movies.