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Health & Fitness

"Evil Dead" Roars Back To Life Onscreen

There should be a law that prohibits anyone younger than 30 from spending time in remote cabins.

Anyone who seeks to remake an almost universally beloved classic is generally greeted with suspicion. After all, why risk so much on something that is already so acclaimed and doesn't need to be improved? And how would you make such a thing palatable to both fans of the original and newcomers? Then you hear that the plan is to remake “Evil Dead,” and your first instinct is to step back in case insanity is catching.

But “Evil Dead” not only succeeds, it's a compulsively watchable, unashamedly gory, gleefully disgusting bloody romp that refuses to turn away when things get ugly. So you better be prepared to cover your own eyes.

It's also a little refreshing that after all the “Scary Movie” parodies and movies like “The Cabin In The Woods,” it's still actually possible for a film to get back to basics and make a horror movie about five twenty-somethings who head up to a remote cabin without any ironic gimmicks or twist endings. But hasn't this been done?

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Yes, but not quite like this. These characters may be in their twenties but most of them are a little bit older and well on their way into their careers. And they actually haven't come up to the cabin to party. They've come to support their friend Mia, who's decided to come back to the old family cabin and finally get clean.

However things quickly go awry when they discover that beneath the cabin there's a bunch of animal corpses along with a very creepy book called the Necronomicon. When one of the five reads a passage aloud (you know, the one that he's specifically warned not to) he accidentally unleashes a dormant demonic force that quickly racks up the body count.

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Part of why “Evil Dead” works is because the filmmakers wisely chose to remake the first film, rather than trying to replicate Bruce Campbell's jerky appeal. So the filmmakers are free to take chances, mess with audience expectations, and make 'em wait before they bring out the chainsaw.

Of course, a horror movie can't work unless the characters do something incredibly stupid. Luckily, the talent behind “Evil Dead” gives them good reason to be. These kids actually have a logical explanation for some of the weird stuff their friend Mia does after she becomes the horror's first victim: they interpret her behavior as symptoms of withdrawl, and their refusal to allow her to leave is understandable due to their fear of her relapsing again.

While the characters feel thin at times and Sam Raimi's trademark wit is mostly absent, the film mostly compensates with great pacing, an excellent instinct for bloody mayhem, an unexpected ending, some interesting female characters, and doing things the hard, old-fashioned way by refusing to let CGI make the carnage more comfortable.

The result is one of the best (unironic) horror movies in awhile that may actually stand the test of time. Plus there's no greater testament to a film's success when the sequel is ordered up before the film has even entered theaters. Well, I can't wait for what's planned next time around.

Grade: A-

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