Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 66% (Critics) / 82% (Audience)
Directed By: Fede Alvarez
Written By: Fede Alvarez and Diablo Cody
Starring: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas and Lou Taylor Pucci
Studio: TriStar Pictures
Synopsis: Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods. The evil presence possesses them until only one is left to fight for survival. (Source)
The Good:
As a devout horror fan I was geeked out like a mofo at the unrelentingly gory and graphic violence that makes up pretty much the entirety of this movie. Body parts go flying at an alarming rate and no breaks are given to the viewer in the form of cutaways or fades to black…we see every horribly wonderful second of brutality and it is great.
Kudos go to director Fede Alvarez for the way he shoots this movie. While throwing in many shots that are direct reshots of the original film, Alvarez also does some pretty inventive things with camera angles and slow reveals.
And Jane Levy spends the last 15 or so minutes of this movie channeling the amazing Bruce Campbell and completely made me want to see more of her going HAM with a chainsaw on evil bastards.
The Bad:
While there are moments of fun in this movie it could have used a bit more humor especially in the early scenes with the principal characters where the viewer is forced to sit through an episode of backwoods INTERVENTION.
The Ugly
THE CABIN IN THE WOODS was a constant presence in my head while watching this film. Every time one of the characters did something completely stupid and illogical (and believe me there were many instances) I immediately started thinking that there was a control room somewhere nearby the cabin with a bunch of horror movie programmers controlling the character’s every move. Damn you Joss Whedon!!!!
Final Verdict: A love letter to horror fans and a respectful recreation of a horror gem. Sure the standard horror movie tropes are littered throughout but in the grand scheme of things people acting like morons is what you expect from a movie like this. While not for the faint of heart or the easily traumatized, the EVIL DEAD remake is a truly worthy addition to a classic horror franchise. And makes sure to stay through the end credits.
Grade: B+
Crustula 
Sweet! Nice review. Going to see it this weekend, and thanks for the tip about the end credits.
As far as lack of humor, though, the original ED was intended to be more serious than ED II or Army of Darkness was . . . it often didn’t succeed in being taken seriously, but it didn’t mug for the camera anywhere near the way its follow-ups learned to do.
I was reluctant about this, but I have to say, the commericals during the Walking Dead finale with Bruce giving it his seal of approval was what won me over — if he’s cool with it, and it wasn’t done with lawyers because of rights loopholes, that’s good enough for me.
LikeLike
I went into it with a bit of apprehension mainly because I have always considered the original Evil Dead to be Raimi’s trial run with the subject matter and Evil Dead 2 was him getting it just right.
And I have been reading stories about the possibility of having the two Evil Dead universes collide in a future movie which I think would be amazing.
LikeLike
I actually didn’t catch Evil Dead until Army of Darkness, and I can remember going into the theatre and kind of not knowing what to expect, and just literally sitting there mouth agape at the awesomeness. I don’t know that I’ve ever walked out of a theatre just that awe-struck. Maybe from the first Matrix, *maybe*, that would be the closest to beating it.
And *then* I went back and discovered the originals on video.
LikeLike
Just watched it and I am very disappointed, laughed more than I was scared š¦
Good Review š
LikeLike