Café de Nuit

For those of you who have seen the original Evil Dead produced by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell, you'll probably be familiar with the synopsis. A group of five friends go to a cabin in the woods where a scholar had retreated to translate a book called the Necronomicon. When a passage is read aloud from a tape recorder (in the original) it awakens the primordial evil that lurks in the world. An evil that possesses human beings, turns the forest into something malign, and even raises the dead.

The remake is produced by Raimi and Campbell and so remains true to the original in spirit. What is changed is that this time the producers have more than a couple thousand dollars as their budget and more time to make it. I've not had the time or budget to buy this yet (health problems) but it's getting rave reviews and the trailers show scenes reminiscent of the original made 31 years ago and launched a cult classic that spawned two sequels, six games (with the first for Commodore 64!), comics, and even a musical! Like the original this appears to be more horror than horror-comedy. If anyone has seen this, please post.

Wow, this post has been up for a while.

I too am a big fan of the original movie, and if haven't seen the remake yet I would highly recommend it. It generally follows the same story line with added character development. The movie is a gore fest which is in spirit with the original, so I would recommend taking it for what it is and enjoying the ride. It's a fun look at a classic, but it is easy to be a hipster snob about it and over critique. This isn't an art film. It is a meat grinder.

BigBadQDaddy wrote:It generally follows the same story line with added character development. The movie is a gore fest which is in spirit with the original, so I would recommend taking it for what it is and enjoying the ride.

Given that they aren't limited to creamed corn and colored kitty litter this time around that's got to be pretty gross.

I've seen the remake, and I was not very impressed. Now, to be fair to the film, it was a very competent movie, well paced, and very frightening in the right places. The problem lies with me: I've seen Evil Dead before, and for this movie, that is a problem.
In fact, I've seen both I and II, as well as Evil Dead The Musical, and even "Within the Woods" (sort of Rami's Evil Dead 0). It is a bad sign when the enjoyment a viewer derives from a remake diminishes with their familiarity with said film. The very point of a remake, to pay homage to the original (or in this case, originals) and to give the audience another a new mix of the taste they so enjoy.
I got the feeling that the film was made by someone who really didn't want to make an Evil Dead film. I think the story hit all the right plot points even though the movie and actors were desperate to diverge in a completely different direction. I think that the film suffers for trying to follow Evil Dead in the technical sense but not in the story sense. It would have been more faithful to the Evil Dead series to do the exact opposite - a different story and plot but the same style.
Evil Dead 2013 would have been much better if they had come up with their own original name and not masqueraded it as part of this franchise. The bottom line is that if the writer and director have an original story to tell, tell it straight and don't muddle it up with a pre-existing story.

ScS of the Fraternity wrote:In fact, I've seen both I and II, as well as Evil Dead The Musical, and even "Within the Woods" (sort of Rami's Evil Dead 0). It is a bad sign when the enjoyment a viewer derives from a remake diminishes with their familiarity with said film. The very point of a remake, to pay homage to the original (or in this case, originals) and to give the audience another a new mix of the taste they so enjoy.

Don't forget Army of Darkness. Sam Raimi and his brother have announced they'll be making Army of Darkness 2 and The Evil Dead 7 after Alverez and Campbell (the producers of the remake) finish a remake of Evil Dead 2. Yes, the original writers and directors are backing this version. To the point they're incorporating it into their own creations.

And never forget the cardinal rule of remakes: forget what you know about the original and judge the new on its own merits. Before anyone brings it up, The Thing wasn't a remake but a prequel and I did judge it on its own merits. It didn't have any.

The new Evil Dead is definitely worth seeing. It did take me a bit to stop trying to compare it to the original, however. That happens with this sort of thing. I kept trying to compare every character to someone in the old movie, etc.