Evil Dead (2013): A Review

It's no surprise, the excited chill I felt when saying "Two tickets for Evil Dead please" at the cinema on Monday.  Despite being a huge fan of the original Sam Raimi horror classic and its sequels, age forbade me from being there upon its original release.  To be present at and old enough to appreciate a new installment in the geeky franchise is simply a joy.
But that's just being there.  What about the film itself?
Evil Dead is both a remake and, as a familiar old car and a much-anticipated post-credits scene demonstrates, a loose sequel to Raimi's original.  Five young friends travel to a remote cabin in the woods with the intention of helping one of them overcome a severe drug addiction.  Unfortunately, after stumbling upon a sinister old book in an equally sinister old cellar, one of them foolishly unleashes an evil, demonic force that begins to overcome each of them one by one.  Cinema-goers unacquainted with the blisteringly graphic original would raise a skeptical eyebrow at how familiar this premise sounds, and they'd be right in doing so.
A horrific prologue in which a group of demon hunters capture and execute a possessed girl (the girls' father being among the executioners) serves as a promising start to the film, and it doesn't abandon its promise; Evil Dead continually outdoes itself on the gore front, veering constantly between slasher cliche and surprisingly inventive ways of torturing our protagonists that the original trilogy would be proud of.  Many of the demonic set-pieces are among the most delightfully sickening images committed to film in a long while.  Despite this, there is the constant, nagging sense that we've seen it all before, and not just in the parent series.  1981's The Evil Dead has been so influential toward the zombie/slasher sub-genres of horror, the end result is that 2013's effort is at times its own worst enemy.  There are echoes of other films, not least last year's terrific Cabin in the Woods, that prevent Evil Dead from being a truly original horror event.
Also surprisingly, for a film with such a simple premise and small cast of characters, is just how meandering the narrative is.  Aside from a third-act character twist that will no doubt surprise fans of the original, the film never seems completely sure of where it's really going, who the characters are and even what it's building towards. 
The late-to-the-party finale monster is surprisingly underwhelming and a somewhat tired effort, given that they bring nothing to the table that the possessed teens throughout the film haven't already achieved, so the end result is more of the same.  The long-overdue acquisition of the iconic chainsaw will undoubtedly illicit a rousing cheer from long-term fans, but the casual viewer is left in danger of wondering what the purpose of this film is; director Fede Alvarez wears his fondness for the original on his sleeve, but one feels he could have made a better effort of treading the line between nostalgia and originality.
That's not to say Evil Dead is a bad film; far from it.  The characters, while mostly one-dimensional and familiar to the genre, are refreshingly unobnoxious, particularly brother/sister protagonists David and Mia.  The absence of Bruce Campbell's legendary Ash serves to up the horror stakes; there is real peril in the knowledge that he won't be barging through the door, shouting "Groovy" and effortlessly gunning the monsters down any time soon (though he may turn up eventually).  The protagonist has to earn the right to 'be' Ash, and it's going to hurt.  The demonic entity is perhaps scarier than it's ever been, as are the possessed, with makeup that simultaneously pays homage to the original and has shades of The Exorcist.  Jane Levy's Mia is particularly unsettling, especially when taunting her captors from the confines of her basement prison.
Overall, Evil Dead is a mixed blessing; it is doubtful that the wider audience will remember it in years to come, while fans of the original will see it as a nostalgic, unsettling but ultimately pointless chapter in the horror franchise.