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About the Movie
A secluded cabin. An ancient curse. An unrelenting evil. Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell reunite to present a genuinely terrifying re-imagining of their original horror masterpiece. Five young friends have found the mysterious and fiercely powerful Book of the Dead. Unable to resist its temptation, they release a violent demon on a blood-thirsty quest to possess them all. Who will be left to fight for their survival and defeat this unearthly force of murderous carnage?
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
61%- Reviews Counted: 178
- Fresh: 109
- Rotten: 69
- Average Rating: 6.1/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: Sure, this is a higher-budget re-tread. But a remake shouldn't exist simply to ramp up the graphic violence, even if special effects have improved immeasurably in the past 30 years.
Fresh: What this "Evil Dead" gets most right is its tone, paying homage yet staking its own territory; it's scary without being downbeat, fun without being too jokey.
Fresh: An effectively relentless gore-fest.
Fresh: Raimi set the bar high, and if Alvarez can't quite rise to his level, he overcompensates by drowning everything in blood. It's overkill, but in this case that's not such a bad thing.
Customer Reviews
A GLEEFULLY RIDICULOUS GORE-FEST!
Remaking an iconic classic usually tends to be risky business, even if the original filmmakers are on board as producers, but at least writer-director Fede Álvarez has a few clever ideas up his sleeve, and a willingness to go gleefully over-the-top with the grisliness. But aside from some gimmicky jolts here and there, the film is never actually scary. Even so, at least it makes up for its lack of consistent scares with a fun amount of absurd humor and bloody chaos. There are essentially only five characters in the story, which gives the actors a chance to find entertaining details along the way. Mia (Jane Levy) is an unstable young drug addict whose older brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) and three best friends (Jessica Lucas, Lou Taylor Pucci, and Elizabeth Blackmore) take her to her family's old abandoned cabin in the woods to help her go completely cold turkey. But none of them know that locals in the area have previously used the basement for a sinister ancient ritual, and they left a creepy book behind that supposedly has the power to summon a merciless, vicious demon who wants to possess them all. So is Mia's unnatural behavior because of her withdrawal, or has something evil got a hold of her? This twist is rather clever and even a bit surprising, as it adds a level of incisive wit to the flick, giving some texture to the relationships between these five young people who we fully expect to die horrifically gruesome deaths one by one. And indeed, what follows is an escalating series of outrageous, blood-soaked set pieces involving dismemberment and death at the sharp edge of any implement on hand. I won't describe any of the gory scenes in detail, but let's just say that once you see them, there's a solid chance you probably won't have much of an appetite afterward. As far as storytelling goes, Álvarez does his job skillfully, keeping the pace quick and the imagery slick, opting for realistic blood and carnage that never look too digital. And the crew behind the scenes is just as impressive (if not more so), as the dark cinematography captures all the deep shadows and bold colors in each frame with a viscerally edgy and grainy style. In addition to that, the camera shots are eerie and well-timed, the editing is snappy and unpredictable, and the suspenseful score by Roque Baños consistently keeps us clinging to the edge of our seats. But even with all of the excessive carnage, sneaky plot twists, and false endings it so eagerly packs into its swift runtime, the movie always remains more amusing than terrifying. And in this case, it really works. Everyone in the cast brings a sense of self-aware silliness to their performances, and it's a ton of fun just to guess the order in which each of them will die and which device(s) will end their lives. It's a fun little game to play when you're not focusing all of your attention on the rampant bloodshed. At the end of the day, while this ultra-gory modern reboot of "Evil Dead" lacks the same amount of imaginative tension, low-budget thrills, and pitch-black humor that made its predecessor the cult classic that it is, it still manages to find a unique style and wit of its own to set it apart from Sam Raimi's horror masterpiece. The script is well-written and contains enough imaginative twists to keep us engaged from start to finish, the over-the-top sequences of gore and torture are absurdly sickening in all the right ways, and the cast is a constant laugh riot, whether they intend to be or not. This is, without a doubt, the most entertaining horror film I've seen so far this year, even with its slight faults. Thanks to a committed sense of visceral absurdity and a nostalgic respect for the original flick that inspired it, "Evil Dead" (2013) is one psychotic cinematic bloodbath you won't soon forget. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you loved the 1981 version (or if you simply wanna watch a bunch of young people die gruesomely), this flick is well worth your time.
Best horror remake yet
I'm not a fan of most horror remakes because the majority of them are cheap cop-outs that ruin the original films. Therefore, I was very reluctant to watch the film.
I was blown away once I saw the remake in theaters. There was just enough gore and plot depth that really added substance overall. Jane Levy impressed me with her ability to take on a dramatic role and veer away from her familiarity with comedy. She was able to carry the film well. The score of the movie was brilliant and the special effects were absolutely stunning. I really admire the fact that the remake took the best from the original plot but added more to make it stand out on it's own. Some scenes were terrifying and chilling. This film will surely not dissapoint.
Gore for the sake of gore alone.
Pointless buckets of blood to dim your your senses with pointless remake of a classic.
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