Post by jmodlinc on Apr 4, 2013 14:36:46 GMT -5
In the ongoing line of genre remakes, "Evil Dead" (dropping the "The" of the 1981 original) now arrives. According to critics, how does it fare?
Some positive...
"The rare remake that likely will be enjoyed most by diehard fans of its predecessor."
- Joe Leydon, Variety
"Alvarez is primarily interested in upping his corpse count, in the most gruesome ways imaginable. In this, he is undeniably successful. He also establishes an effectively breathless pace, and weaves in a steady stream of fan-friendly references."
- Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
"Evil Dead, however, accomplishes what it sets out to do: Scare viewers silly and uphold a tradition."
- Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
"Alvarez just keeps on amplifying the gory intensity until the film becomes absurd and weirdly infectious, an exercise in seeing how far the audience will bend without breaking."
- Scott Tobias, AV Club
'This isn't just the scariest movie in recent memory, it's also the most viscous."
- Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
"For all of his movie's predictability, director Fede Alvarez finds several ways to increase the creep factor, largely by playing the scares straight and sticking to an unabashedly old-school approach."
- Jason Anderson, The Grid
"Unlike Raimi's classic original, it won't be remembered in 30 years time, but it is amongst the best horror remakes of the last decade."
- Jordan Farley, SFX Magazine
And, some negative...
"I'm bored to death and sick to death of movies that seem to have one goal: How can we gross out the audience by torturing nearly every major character in the movie?"
- Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
"The really scary thing about Fede Alvarez's Evil Dead is its failure to shock. Are we all now completely desensitized to movie horror?"
- Peter Howell, Toronto Star
"The Evil Dead was an absolute blast. Evil Dead is just a well-made gross-out, and it's kind of a bummer."
- Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
"If the original was Raimi's inventive soufflé of horror and slapstick, in the remake Alvarez seems content to simply show us the ingredients...without knowing how to put them together into anything scary, involving or inventive."
- Cory Everett, The Playlist
"It isn't that Evil Dead is particularly bad; it's fine. But it's without much of an identity; it's never allowed to become its own movie and is constantly forced to reference or bow to or swerve from the original."
- Devin Faraci, Badass Digest
"Is it gory? Sure. This is one of the most disgusting movies I've ever seen, grading strictly on a scale of blood and guts and viscera -- and burns and slashes and stabs and cuts and bashes and so on. But terrifying? Hardly."
- MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
"Evil Dead suffers the curse of its own mediocrity: while it is really not bad, it would linger longer in the viewer's mind if it were better - or indeed worse. As it is, the fun ride is over and forgotten as soon as its brisk 90 minutes have elapsed."
- Anton Bitel, Eye for Film
What says you?
www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_evil_dead_2013/
Some positive...
"The rare remake that likely will be enjoyed most by diehard fans of its predecessor."
- Joe Leydon, Variety
"Alvarez is primarily interested in upping his corpse count, in the most gruesome ways imaginable. In this, he is undeniably successful. He also establishes an effectively breathless pace, and weaves in a steady stream of fan-friendly references."
- Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
"Evil Dead, however, accomplishes what it sets out to do: Scare viewers silly and uphold a tradition."
- Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
"Alvarez just keeps on amplifying the gory intensity until the film becomes absurd and weirdly infectious, an exercise in seeing how far the audience will bend without breaking."
- Scott Tobias, AV Club
'This isn't just the scariest movie in recent memory, it's also the most viscous."
- Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
"For all of his movie's predictability, director Fede Alvarez finds several ways to increase the creep factor, largely by playing the scares straight and sticking to an unabashedly old-school approach."
- Jason Anderson, The Grid
"Unlike Raimi's classic original, it won't be remembered in 30 years time, but it is amongst the best horror remakes of the last decade."
- Jordan Farley, SFX Magazine
And, some negative...
"I'm bored to death and sick to death of movies that seem to have one goal: How can we gross out the audience by torturing nearly every major character in the movie?"
- Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
"The really scary thing about Fede Alvarez's Evil Dead is its failure to shock. Are we all now completely desensitized to movie horror?"
- Peter Howell, Toronto Star
"The Evil Dead was an absolute blast. Evil Dead is just a well-made gross-out, and it's kind of a bummer."
- Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
"If the original was Raimi's inventive soufflé of horror and slapstick, in the remake Alvarez seems content to simply show us the ingredients...without knowing how to put them together into anything scary, involving or inventive."
- Cory Everett, The Playlist
"It isn't that Evil Dead is particularly bad; it's fine. But it's without much of an identity; it's never allowed to become its own movie and is constantly forced to reference or bow to or swerve from the original."
- Devin Faraci, Badass Digest
"Is it gory? Sure. This is one of the most disgusting movies I've ever seen, grading strictly on a scale of blood and guts and viscera -- and burns and slashes and stabs and cuts and bashes and so on. But terrifying? Hardly."
- MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
"Evil Dead suffers the curse of its own mediocrity: while it is really not bad, it would linger longer in the viewer's mind if it were better - or indeed worse. As it is, the fun ride is over and forgotten as soon as its brisk 90 minutes have elapsed."
- Anton Bitel, Eye for Film
What says you?
www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_evil_dead_2013/
