Movie Review: Evil Dead (2013)

Let´s start off by saying the things that are the most obvious:

No, it is not like Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness

No, it does not need to be

Yes, it orients itself more on the first Evil Dead

No, it is not directed by Sam Raimi

Is it good?

Well... 

How the hell do you define "good" in a Horror movie anyway?

Doesn´t a Horror movie betray it´s own purpose when you feel good (after) watching it?

It advertised itself as "the most terrifying movie you will ever see"

it certainly was not the most terrifying movie I´ll ever see

but it sure as hell wasn´t pleasant, either.

The problem is that I am probably not the best person to talk about this movie. 

It´s a very gorey movie. It was very gross and yes, it was disturbing.

I don´t like those things in a Horror movie.

But for a splatter movie it was pretty much the best it could be... for me.

The plot is quick to summarize: A few tweens drive to a shack in the woods to party, have sex and get killed by a monster. Wait, no. Sorry, that sequence of words is ingraved into my brain after watching one too many horror flicks. No, actually the story of Evil Dead (2013) is a bit more interesting: 

See, they drive to a shack in the woods because one of the girls is a drug addict and they plan to make a cold detoxification. From the get-go it´s also pretty obvious that some things happened in the past and that there is some unresolved tension between them. Soon after one of them discovers the necronomicon and - reading a page out loud - summons a demon, who will bring the apocalypse as soon as he has feasted on five souls. And thus begins a game of "and then there were none" with lots and lots of self- and regular mutilation.

The good:

* The effects were VERY effective, apart from maybe one or two scenes, what happened on screen made me sick to my stomach or made me cover my nethers (those who know the scene know what i mean)

* The lady playing the demon was awesome. She was so good in fact that only after the movie I did remember that she was playing two different roles and that the demon was in fact not played by a different person.

* I did not hate the characters, nor did I find them particularly interesting, BUT: The way the group started to play off each other, their resignation, despair and anger when facing the cold intoxification really got to me. It was a realistic portrayal in my opinion and the premise alone would mak for a fascinating film on its own.

The bad:

* Good GOD the brother character. He was very, very frustrating to watch. He was exactly the wrong blend of gutless and gutsy. 

* Resulting from the above: The thing with the grave. Errr... no. No, suspension of disbelief went ooout daaa window. I know that it´s a Horror movie and logic does not need to apply, but still nope. I can believe anything the demon does, cause the demon is magic. But that? No. That´s just bullshit. Nice bullshit. But still bullshit.

* The sexual... things... Which is weird to critizise, because I am pretty certain that it´s there JUST to make the viewer uncomfortable. But still, it only happened to the girls and... argh, i don´t know. It does make sense from the perspective of the demon to do nasty stuff, but I... just can´t not put it on the bad list. I would have to write an entirely different entry for this particular can of worms, just bear with me here, this review is long enough as it is.

So all in all: It was an interesting experience, to say the least. I am still not entirely sure what I should think about this movie and I think that´s actually a good thing. It makes me rethink the parameter by which I consider a Horror Movie good or bad and it is an interesting thought to be had:
Does it make sense to critize a movie for being disturbing?

As it is obvious: I would not watch it again.
Should you watch it?
Reading the above I´m sure you already know.

- Nekromantenhase

PS: Concerning the stinger:  (¬▂¬) *shrugs* eeehhh...