A group of friends looking for a nice few days in the woods stumble onto more than they set out for. The Book of the Dead is read from a recording of the previous owner of the cabin, which awakens ancient undead demons who harass and attack the group, picking off the women first, then possessing Scott, leaving only Ashley J Williams to fend off what remains of his friends, and burn the book of the dead, leaving Ash the lone survivor in the woods.

While in something like a synopsis it feels quite bare, the film has a strong focus on the cinematography and score, along with incredible physical acting.

The expressions on the different characters' faces are consistently entertaining, the score always feels fresh and on point, and the cinematography looks as though it was constantly being experimented with.

The film, while the least explicitly comedic of the series, is genuinely funny and clearly a horror-comedy.

The expressions on the different characters' faces are consistently entertaining, especially in the first, "the humor is that it keeps going" joke when Shelly is "dying", spitting up milk, and screaming. I was laughing outside of my brain which is not common. Bruce Campbell and Richard DeManincor killed it in that scene.

Despite taking place in a small enclosed environment, the film has a wide assortment of different shots. From the wide shot of Cheryl going into the forest to the canted shot intended on being from behind the clock's pendulum, or even the spinning shot of each group member looking into the cellar, this film is extremely varied in its shots and I found it incredibly entertaining because of it.

In some scenes, the practical effects are wonderful, such as the infamous tree rape scene, or some of the possessions.

Nudity is very sparse in this film. Still is not necessary, but is not overblown either.

The "tree rape scene" goes too far, and that should be clear enough from it being titled the "tree rape scene". It is a shame because the practical effects are really well done here in my opinion.

The practical effects, while fantastic in some scenes, are horrible in others. When Cheryl is being smacked with the back of the ax into the cellar, it is so obviously fake to the point where what should be a scary scene is pretty funny. This could be a, "so bad it's good" situation, but still feels unintentional and as such not something I enjoyed.

The second "the humor is that it keeps going" joke was too much. This is when the possessed friends are falling apart due to the Book of the Dead being thrown in the fire. it goes on way too long and isn't as entertaining due to the lack of expressive acting seen in the first.

It is very unclear as to why Scott and Ash are more resistant to the possession, or why Ash can completely ignore it, while Linda gets possessed just from a stab in the ankle.

On the second watch, I found a lot more to specifically enjoy about the movie. The creativity in the filmmaking does a lot for this movie in my opinion and causes a somewhat dull idea to be made into an interesting movie. Aside from a handful of problems, The Evil Dead (1981) plays with the horror genre, dipping its toes into the horror-comedy, before committing more fully in the following two films. It plays with perspective and sound in unique ways, while still following usual tropes like P.O.V. shots and the occasional jump scare.

Beginning with the same short-film style opening as the Friday remake, we have a young girl pursued in the woods by two hillbillies, who kidnap her and bring her to a dark basement. There she sees her dad, who we first assume to be part of some evil coven, however, we soon learn the girl is possessed by a demon, and the group of hicks burn her to purge the demon from her. Now in the present, we are introduced to a group of 5 childhood friends, who have come together in order to help Mia get over her cocaine (?) addiction. They decide they will not allow her to leave their cabin even if she demands it, however as time goes on, Mia becomes more erratic. In an attempt to escape, Mia takes the keys to one of the cars and speeds away from the cabin, crashing into a lake after seeing a projection of herself, wild and bloodied. After crashing, Mia tries to return to the cabin, however, is attacked in a similar scene to the "tree rape scene" of the original. Mia is slowly possessed by a demon, spreading to the cabin mates, leaving only her brother to purge them all and save his sister. The brother, David, succeeds, and after reviving his sister, they come within inches of escape, before Eric, the one friend David failed to purge, returns and attacks David, leaving David and Eric to burn in the cabin, allowing Mia to escape by herself. But surprise! The ritual requiring 5 deaths completes due to David's death, awakening the soul-eating demon from hell who attacks Mia, leading to a final girl chase, and Mia splitting the demon in half, the cabin burning in the background, as the sky bleeds. Mia is picked up by a random truck driver, who takes her to a hospital, on the way there she opens her eyes suddenly, however they are the normal blue and not the demon yellow.

The movie was genuinely beautiful, and it felt to me as though the creativity they had in cinematography in the first film was transitioned into a sharp eye for visual beauty. It was extremely colorful in a way that never ruined the mood of the scene and always had my mouth agape. I wrote in my rough notes that "so many scenes look like paintings" and I find that incredibly impressive.

The movie didn't dwell on the original in order to create a story. Relying on the original isn't necessarily bad, but it means you then either need to have some interesting twist or do justice to the original's name. Instead, Evil Dead takes little detail from the original, has new characters, never refers to the possessed as Deadites, and uses only small references to call back to the original. A good remake foundation.

All of the possessed were played incredibly well, being extremely disturbing and horrifying, while still being somewhat cocky and taunting.

The movie was genuinely scary even when disconnected from the incredibly gory parts, such as Mia right after the forest scene, or the short-film style opening.

The acting of the living and unpossessed characters was not very good. It felt very flat often, almost as if the actors were trying to be serious, but also were having no fun doing so.

I hated almost all of the characters. I liked the blond lady, David's girlfriend. She was nice, and also made rational choices for the most part, but every other character felt very snooty or stupid. Eric grew on me a little by the end, but still not enough for me to actually enjoy him as a character.

They brought back the tree rape scene! Why?! I was excited to have it be just a physical attack but then they still went for the gross thing up the girl's vagina! Why?!

The ending feels sloppy. Mia is somehow alive again, she fights off the soul-eating demon despite losing so much blood, for some reason the demon is really weak? Basically just as strong as the possessed people, which feels like a let down for all the drama leading up to her being summoned.

The pacing was a bit confusing by the end, really rushing through the final encounter after a very slow trickle of scares in the beginning.

The underlying overdose and addiction story with Mia felt forced and uncomfortable, especially concerning the nurse Olivia, who is immediately introduced as a nurse, before running through a list of symptoms that Mia would be going through due to her withdrawals. It feels so unnecessary and as though they made the character a nurse just to list off these symptoms.

Evil Dead (2013) is more than the sum of its parts. The acting is even worse than a normal horror film, often feeling as though the actors hated filming their scenes. I despised almost everyone in the group, each of them feeling snooty and self-righteous at their worst, and only tolerable at their best, and the story feels forced and often unnecessarily complicated. Despite those problems though, I had a great time with the film. After somewhat of a slow start, I could hardly look away, even when I was peeking from behind my slightly opened hands. It was a visual masterpiece, playing with color, movement, and depth of field wonderfully, and didn't look to dwell on the series' past. It wasn't what I was expecting, and I don't think that is a bad thing.