Evil Dead

[bleeding heart]

I understand it's not to everybody's taste. And you might argue that the "cabin in the woods" theme is downright lazy.

But I think this a pretty great movie. And the young-people-going-to-the-cabin-in-the-woods trope is not fundamentally different, or more lazy, than is the "haunted house" theme. Both still work fine, depending only on the skill of those making the film.

Like the original, it's absurdly over-the-top, and delights in its own manic lunacy. But they've (mostly) done away with the slapstick comedy, and have concentrated on the visceral dread of the thing. And it is extraordinarily violent, and verges on the nihilistic....but has its own strange, if qualified, upbeat quality to it.

I give it four and a half dismembered bodies, nail guns, and rape-y trees out of five.

[Moonlight Graham]

Haven't seen it yet, but am a fan of Sam Raimi's original Evil Dead plus Evil Dead 2 (not so much Army of Darkness, though it was funny). My film-buff friend, who is an Evil Dead fanatic and a tough critic on remakes, said it was pretty good. Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and the producer for the original trilogy of films all produced this remake, so it has some cred.

[bleeding heart]

I liked the old ones too. The relationship to the new one is obvious enough...but it is also different enough to make the remake worthwhile. (I'm looking at you, scene-by-scene remake of Psycho! )

This one is also, in my view, somewhat more vicious than the original. I suppose that's a sign of the times.