Third Thoughts After Seeing The Evil Dead Remake

[Posted by Ted H]

part 3 of 3...

This wasn't suppose to be long, just a wrap up where I also bring up the future planned installments.
--------------------------------------

 

There is a known distinction between The Evil Dead and its remake...the original is known as "The Evil Dead" while the remake is known simply as "Evil Dead"...so what's the point? Well, apparently this is happening alongside the original Evil Dead movies, and not just a remake, which makes it waaaaaaaaaay worse.

The apparent "plan" in action here (and whether or not Sam Raimi will actually do this is up for debate) is that this remake will get its own sequel, and then  Ash Williams will return for an Evil Dead 4, and then Ash and Mia will team up for a 7th movie.

But wait! Doesn't that excuse the remake for taking such a radical departure from the source material? These technically aren't the original 5 in the original situation, so even though the first 80% of shit going down went play for play like the original, it's actually suppose to be different! It's all kosher now, right?

No. Because now instead of half the action from the remake taken from the original being a loving homage or a reference, they all become blatant rip-offs. Nobody likes a sequel that offers nothing new and is constantly rehashing stuff from the previous installments. Take away everything that wasn't original and suddenly there isn't enough in this movie to make it good. Suddenly it's relying on an overabundance or gore and stupid character decisions to carry it, just like every other bad horror movie. It needs everything from the original to make it stand out as the best horror movie in years. As a remake, this would be excusable. But as another installment?

Lemme put it this way. Everyone loves the chainsaw hand thing Ash did in Evil Dead 2. And while it make an appearance in Army of Darkness, it was discarded for the mechanical hand. AoD didn't rehash the chainsaw hand. Instead it found something else.

I dunno...maybe I'm just one of those people who thinks it isn't a proper Evil Dead movie unless Ash Williams is front and center. But either way, this movie ultimately failed to leave a lasting impression on me. Anything truly good done was a rehash of a prior Evil Dead movie (and mostly done better in the originals). This movie was good, but if I find myself wanting to see a good horror movie late one night, I'm gonna reach for Evil Dead...the 1982 classic. The remake will still be on my shelf, but it will have to forever live in the overbearing shadows of its 3 superior siblings...