Evil Dead

It has been five years already since I last saw this incredible trilogy. What follows below are the old reviews from the trilogy and below that the recent review about the remake which came out last April.

The Evil Dead

And BAM, just like that! I can glady say that The Evil Dead is another movie who lives up to it's name as one of the best horror movies out there. Forget Halloween, forget Nightmare on Elm Street, forget Alien.

Having seen this movie for the first time today, I am honestly very surprised, considering the low budget, the special effects and the fact that Sam Reimi and friends just wanted to make a fun little horror movie.

It turns out that The Evil Dead is intense, very intense. It has scary moments, point of view scenes, suspense and fear and even lots of gore. Obviously not as much gore as Braindead, but it has a respectable amount if I may say.

The evil beings are not zombies, but demons in my opinion. A few parts are funny, intentional or not, but others are definitely scary too, so I am definitely happy to have found a scary movie once again. Sam Raimi's debut deserves all the respect in my eyes, for The Evil Dead truly is a great movie.

Rating: 8.5

 Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn

Delicious combination of horror and comedy! Evil Dead 2 is one heck of a ride of randomness, cat scares, gore, crazyness and entertainment. This is definitely a movie with no logic. Our hero Ash somehow gets stuck again in this crazy remakish/sequelish movie against the demons.

First he is busy with personal matters, then a group of humans arrive as well, and things start to get even more crazy. But although I enjoyed watching this wacko flick, I must say that I prefer the original Evil Dead over this one.

Evil Dead 2's greatest point is that it is mindless entertainment, but in my opinion, Sam Raimi went a bit too far by making too many over the top moments. Other good parts were the very quick scares, the "laughing scene" and Ash equipped with weaponry.

I also prefer the demons from the original over this one. So, in overall, Evil Dead 2 truly is a must see for horror fans, as it definitely is not always a comedy. Another worthwhile classic.

Rating: 7.5

Army of Darkness

The serie's weakest link, but it's humor was pretty funny. The fear and suspense moments were pretty much gone in this one. Army of Darkness feels totally different from The Evil Dead or Dead by Dawn, Ash being stuck in 1300 or something and all.

As I said, some of the humor was funny, and some ridiculous scenes are also present. The army of darkness was cheesy but entertaining, and some of Ash's one liners were funny, such as the infamous "This is my BOOMSTICK!".

It seems that at the end, the evil dead are still alive in present day, I wonder though...will they only disappear once Ash is dead himself? Remember, only he was the survivor from the past 2 movies, and the dead even follow him sort of in Army of Darkness.

The evil Ash was also briefly seen in Dead by Dawn. Eh whatever, it isn't that important. I applaud the absurd nature. And with Army of Darkness, it has ended well, but obviously the story is very much likely not over yet. There have been talks of an Evil Dead 4 for a while now by Sam Reimi. I wonder if it will ever get released, but meanwhile, there's a new kid in town.

Rating: 7.0

Evil Dead

Join the haunted house ride! You’re gonna love what we have in store for you, as anything is possible and expectations become lifted away. This is a new horror remake to challenge the viewers and the best of horror cinema in general. Regarding shock and gore, this is delivering very, very much. However, it does not surpass the original or even it’s quasi sequel.

Escalation regarding shock and gore include a demon licking a sharp working knife with tongue, ripping it into two, a girl slicing of her infecting arm with an electronic kitchen knife, a girl slashing open her mouth, a girl vomiting with either red blood or worse, a spike “gun” device being used to wound, crowbar violence, bone fragments, chainsaw to the mouth splitting someone in two and literally bloody rain.

You can tell from the opening scene that they are trying to deliver for the horror fans, after the first victim turns into the monster. Evil Dead the remake progresses quick, and classic scenes from the original include the ghostly camera technique, the tree “rape” scene, combined with new jump scares early on.

The new cast features a little sister who is unstable after her mother’s death and has overdosed already. Her big brother is annoyed upon in the group because of being quite often late with events. The high school teacher invokes the forbidden words to let hell return inside and around the cabin, and the two remaining girls are more supportive and minor than anything.

As you can guess, Evil Dead does not have a happy ending. It does feature a Bruce Campbell cameo appearance after the credits, pronouncing “groovy” in an older tone. It's an odd way of ending something like this, but at least it can be called fan service.

Rating: 7.5