There have been a lot of movies, especially with how much development has been made in special effects, that have really made use of blood and gore to properly tell their story. However, “Evil Dead” takes this to an all new level as the movie sacrifices a compelling plot and frightening sequences for the never-ending fountain of gushing blood and gore that is thrown at the audience through the majority of the film.
The story opens with a group of friends gathering at an old family cabin in order to help the youngest in their group, Mia, played by Jane Levy, overcome a long lasting drug addiction completely cold turkey. The tough battle seems to start out alright until the group finds an old demonic book that, upon reading a few words aloud, releases an ancient demon that possesses Mia and thus the story takes a turn for the worse.
From this point on in the movie, the plot from writers Fede Alvarez, Diablo Cody, and Rodo Sayagues who have all worked on other horror films, is never explored further, such as where this book came from, who this demon really was, or just what exactly it ultimately wanted. Only that through the devouring of five souls would it be released from the gates of hell to prey upon the living. Instead of furthering the plot line, the movie completely becomes an all out gore-fest that never takes a break. After the initial 20-30 minutes that introduced the characters, the gore doesn’t stop until the end credits begin to roll.
I have never been one to really be bothered by gore, the most I’ve ever had to do was look away from the screen for a few seconds and then be perfectly fine because the scene had moved on and the gore was over. This was the first movie where I could literally not sit still, constantly shifting from the uncomfortable feeling director Fede Alvarez created. There was even a point half way through the movie where I felt like I was going to be sick if I continued watching further.
There was not even a single moment within the film where fear was a factor. This is not a horror movie by any means. It is a shame, if the movie had actually explored the story a bit more or added more of a fear factor to cause the audience to jump out of their seats from time to time, then it would have leveled out the extreme overuse of gore and ultimately made this a better movie.
There is absolutely nothing else about this movie that would give a compelling reason for someone to watch it other than fans that enjoy constant blood and gore within their films.
Others, like myself, should avoid “Evil Dead” like the plague as it will do nothing but sicken you and possibly cause you to prematurely leave the theater if you have an even weaker stomach than I.