Disappointingly, the remake of Sam Raimi’s classic horror, “The Evil Dead” is more gore than horror. This go round we are back in the haunted woods but there is a convoluted plot about trying to detox a junkie sister by the cliché brother who was never there for her and her screwy friends. Honestly, if I had friends this annoying and stupid, I’d be a drug addict too! With arms slowly cut off and people stabbed with needles and shot with nail guns, my audience spent most of the movie going “ewwwww!”
The bad script is a shame because the film is beautifully shot and in the beginning holds real promise. But as dumb decision after dumb decision is made and obvious things happen, the horror dissipates. The best scary movies – like “Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 – leave you scared once you LEAVE the theatre and are in the dark confines of your home. For example, after watching the Japanese version of “Ringu,” I had have the lights on for three days and three nights, was afraid to answer the phone, and couldn’t turn off the TV. However, Evil Dead is cartoonish and will not jar your nerves even if you hear a bump in the night.