Five years from now, will you want to watch this bloody $14 million extravaganza or Raimi's shoestring original, which was Amateur Hour elevated to pop art? Evil Dead just bleeds money.
The current reboot feels uncreative. Watching the new film just made me miss Bruce Campbell's chin and shots of Raimi running insane through the woods.
A stylish and worthy homage: inventive even as it is derivative, never quite jokey but never taking itself too seriously, and clocking in at an entirely appropriate 91 minutes. Any longer would be unmerciful; any shorter, ungenerous.
Though it never channels the raw DIY energy of the original Evil Dead series -- what big-budget version could? -- this polished, clever remake remains true to the spirit of the original, which was at once viscerally terrifying and weirdly lighthearted.
Alvares nails it. His Evil Dead has the fun spirit of the original (you need to have a very particular sense of the word fun, of course). His camerawork is inventive, occasionally beautiful.
