KWEENY REVIEWS THE NEW EVIL DEAD!

THE MOST NICK PICKY REVIEW YOU'LL EVER READ! 

KWEENY REVIEWS THE NEW EVIL DEAD!

May contain spoilers

I will start by saying this is a really good flick. It's nice to see some horror getting into the mainstream that doesn't hold back or pull punches. This movie is a downright gorefest, and I am sure the extras that were cut from it will only add to that factor when the DVD is released. I do enjoy a good in-the-muck horror movie. Watching people cut themselves open with an exacto-knife, the nail gun scene, hell the whole thing is drenched head to toe in gore sauce. It's definitely fun and I watched my pals sitting around me get squicked with dark bemusement.

I liked how they wove the nods to the old Evil Dead movies in seamlessly, and not just thrown them in to be fan service. The way they did this was great and kept you in the movie for the most part. And the woman who plays Mia, is by far the best actor out of all of them. She steals the show, especially at the end. The end sequence is amazing, and my favorite part by far of the film. Mia goes from whiny junkie bitch into finally taking some charge in what's happening. When she picks up the chainsaw at the end and dishes out her own pain, it was glorious. After all she had been through in the film (and yes, there is tree rape) the "deadites" deserved her wrath.

The thing is, it's not a great flick. Not by a long shot. While it's enjoyable, fun and had some nice nods to the Evil Dead franchise, it still had problems. And while I will share the problems, I still think horror fans should see it. Hell, see it merely for the after credits thing at the end. It's pure fan service and I admit, I giggled like a school girl when I saw it.

Maybe I'm just being nick picky, but there are some things I saw that bugged me. One was the way the Deadites looked. This movie does plenty of homages to the original. The way the camera work was done, the color scheme, the fan service. Lots to love that reminds you of the old Evil Dead. But they completely changed the look of the Deadites, and for me, the Deadites were a key element of the Evil Dead franchise. The Deadites in these seem more along the lines of the creatures in Demons instead of Deadites. It might be a change most people wouldn't give a crap about, but as a hardcore Evil Dead fan I didn't like it. The Deadites are iconic. Changing their look was unnecessary.

Original Deadite.

New Deadite look.

Also, they tried to add depth to the story, which was great, except they don't follow through completely. It just seemed like the movie starts trying to give the characters depth, then gives up once the book is opened. I mean, we are here for the gorefest, not the story right? And to be fair, the original has NO CHARACTER DEPTH, except for Ash who kind of makes his own due to the amazing acting skills of Bruce Campbell.

And here is a question people are debating: Was Mia the Final Girl we were promised? I wouldn't give her an A+ in agency. She did more reacting than acting, was more of a victim than a heroine through most of the film. Stuff happened to her, and she didn't really fight until the end. I'm not sure I'd say she is the strong female role model we were promised. Actually all the hype of this film really ticks me off. Because to me, it was not needed, and it takes away from the awesome of this film. Things like the posters that said, "Most Terrifying Film You'll Ever Experience", really bothered me. I can tell you with certainty it is NOT. It's fun, it's gory, It's shot beautifully, and it's got some good fan service, but not much else. No true Final Girl to look up to. No "Female-Ash" we keep hearing about. Just a bunch of mostly bland teenagers reading the book like old times and pissing off hell. But it's entertaining to watch for sure!

I swear I saw a Deadite out there...

So my final verdict is GO SEE IT. Go see it because despite everything, it's better than a lot of remakes being made, and probably going to be way better than that stupid Carrie remake I saw the trailer for while watching this one. Seriously, the Carrie trailer just laid out the whole movie. I know we horror fans know the story, but it seems trashy to me to show us the ending in the trailer. Plus, it just looks shitty.

The New Evil Dead though, is a pretty groovy film.