Weekend Box Office: Evil Dead (The Remake)

Here is an interesting article from http://www.debbieschlussel.com/ reviewing some of the movies that came out over the past weekend. This follows this post about some of the movies from last week and THIS POST about some movies that have been released over the past few years that you might have missed! This all follows this post about guidelines to chosing good movies to watch yourself!

Weekend Box Office: Evil Dead (The Remake)


By Debbie Schlussel



I’ve never seen the original “The Evil Dead,” of which “Evil Dead” is a remake. I’ve seen some clips, but not the entire thing. But I saw this with people who saw the original, and they said this one was far more bloody, graphic, and so on. They said the dismemberment and gore factor was significantly up in this version, and that the campiness factor was down. For example, in the original, when someone’s hands are cut off, the hands end up crawling around the room. (*** CORRECTION: I’m told that happens in the second movie, “Evil Dead II.”) None of that kind of thing happens in this version. And this version is humorless. And it literally rains blood. Remakes are rarely better.


For the record, I like horror movies and thrillers, but this was a little too gory, bloody, and disgusting for me. People sawing off their body parts ad nauseam, people sawing off their jaws, people shot through with nail guns . . . not for me. But if this is your thing or you are a warped serial killer looking for new ways to senselessly torture, then this movie is for you. I found it pointless and a waste of time. Very few parts of it were scary to me. Instead, it seemed old hat and its “scariness” seemed anachronistic to me. At times I even laughed when I wasn’t supposed to at some of the absurdity that was intended to be fright-inducing.
The story: a bunch of 20-somethings go to the creepy cabin in the woods belonging to the brother and sister of the group. They go there, ostensibly, for a vacation of sorts, but really to get the sister cold turkey off of drugs. Instead, almost everyone eventually becomes obsessed by an evil spirit they’ve set free when one of the group discovers an old book of satanic spells that he utters out loud.



I’m told you should stay through the end of the credits for a “surprise,” but since I didn’t know this, I left and apparently missed it. If you’ve seen the movie, please post what the surprise is at the end.



Ain’t worth ten bucks. Not even close.



If you see this and have seen the original, please let us know in the comments section, whether or not you agree that the original was better and why or why not.



ONE MARX