Letterboxd — Your life in film

Now, don't get me wrong, I really, really like this film. Its a great splatter movie with some excellent effects (mostly physical) and some pretty good performances... but its not "The Evil Dead". It's a great attempt to give a modern audience the same experience that audiences from 1981 would have had, but, for me, it has a couple of issues that are too distracting and doesn't make it feel like the Raimi classic.

THERE BE SPOILERS HERE... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Firstly, the opening scene. Totally unneeded. Foreshadows the entire movie, tells you exactly what you are going to get, and takes the "bite" out of the horrific experiences the main characters are about to go through. When the cast finds the basement and all the strange things down there, it would be so much better to leave it a mystery.

Secondly, there are other moments of foreshadowing throughout the first half, the book tells you exactly what is about to happen, there are reflections of flashes that again, give away what is about to happen.

Thirdly, and this is the one that really annoyed me... the possessed/infected can be cured!!! How to make the "threat" completely unthreatening. Also, if you can cure the person, wouldn't all the injuries they suffered while possessed still be there? OK, this "curing" scene did led to one of the bloodiest and coolest showdowns at the end of a movie for a very long time, but I didn't like it.

There are a couple of other things I didn't like such as making the entity physical and really feeling like its not sure if its a remake or a sequel... but the rest of the film is great. The atmosphere set up in the cabin as thing start spiralling out of control is excellent, it feels like the cabin is rapidly getting smaller and there is nowhere you can go to get away from it. The real highlight for me was the gore (hey, if you go to see an Evil Dead movie and don't like gore, then you have no one to blame but yourself). The effects are amazing, from the first blistering skin to the last chainsaw through flesh, they are just top notch and its great to see this kind of splatter on screen again.

So, overall, apart from a couple of "grrrrr" points, for me, a totally enjoyable, if a little frustrating horror movie that looks great, is well acted and works as a great splatter horror film. It doesn't quite live up to the tag line on the poster, but it is a must see for horror fans. I will be seeing it again and it is going on my "Blu-Ray must buy list".