Evil Dead

I don’t remember much about the original “Evil Dead,” seeing as how I watched it four years ago and haven’t delved into the series since.  Not out of dislike or anything, I just haven’t gotten a copy of Evil Dead II, more laziness than anything, but what I do remember was quite different from the re-make.  That is, if it IS a re-make, I’ve heard this might be a storyline that intersects with the storyline of the original, I don’t know how that will work but who am I to judge?  Either way, this movie has sticks with the strategy of the first movie which is trade in memorable characters for gore, gore, gore.

Most critics say this like it is a bad thing, but I’m not completely in the same boat.  I won’t completely hate a movie because of shoddy character work, but if a movie can make me care about the characters in the story I will like the movie indefinitely more.  Now, that being said, I didn’t like the characters in this movie.  The nurse was probably the only interesting character, but that’s only because I was busy wondering if she took time off work?  Did she resuscitate Mia when she O.D.’d at the hospital?  But all of the other characters were pretty bland.  Mia was a druggie who’s had trouble quitting before, and her brother is a one note character always remembering the bad times with his family.  The girlfriend is pretty much non-existent, and the long-haired teacher’s only redeeming quality is he could get stabbed 2,700 times before dying.  The movie lacked punch most of the time because I didn’t really care.  I “oh’d” and “ah’d” at the gore or the vicious deaths, but at no time was I worried about the character’s livelihood.  The only moments that made me wince was the machete scene, the hand trapped under the car, and the needle in the eye.  Other than that I was only watching a movie unfold.

On a good note, the end did surprise me.  I expected a different character to make it to the end and I feel the movie did a decent job of twisting the story and making a surprising end.  But, even though I liked the twist, I felt that Mia’s miraculous healing was absurd.  Even though she was possessed, her body was still badly disfigured.  Demons don’t damage an alternate body when they are inside of you.  That is ridiculous.  Although, I shouldn’t judge this movie based on other movies or my own thoughts on the subject, because this is the writer’s universe and up to that point they didn’t have a precedent on the subject so if they want that to exist in their universe, more power to them.

I thought “Evil Dead” was entertaining in spite of being empty of character and to some extent, emotion and logic.  Even though I liked the twist at the end, and this complaint was integral to the twist, I still believe that David would go through all of that trouble to save his obviously beyond help sister.  The fact that she came back fully healed was a fluke.  Anybody in their right mind would’ve burned down the house.  No questions asked.  Even with these complaints I enjoyed it, so watch it.  Enjoy this bloody movie!  Yeah, I enjoy saying bad jokes.

3/5

Would you have handled Mia’s situation differently if you were David? 

Comment with your thoughts.