Is Evil Dead Just Another Remake? Lets Break It Down...

The film I reviewed this week was Evil Dead.

Evil Dead has been described as both a remake and a reboot by industry and audience members.

The director, Fede Álvarez, is putting the record straight arguing that these terms "aren't relevant".

However, he did describe it as a 'rebirth', "as if it's adapted from a novel".

And I think it suits rather well.

Fede Álvarez became an extremely coveted man in Hollywood after his short film, Panic Attack!, went viral on YouTube.

In fact, it led to him being hand-picked by the original The Evil Dead director, Sam Raimi to write and direct the rebirth.

When reading that such a classic cult film was going to be remade by a director who had only produced short films, I was a tad apprehensive...

So let me break it down for you.

The first thing that I looked for was the comedy element.

The comedy element is a classic feature of horror films from the 1980's. We all remember laughing or even cringing at attempts of humour from the likes of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Fright Night.

Both of the above have been remade or rebooted and the comedy element has been almost non-existent.

This was no different.

There were definitely traces of humour and nods to the original film, however it was clearly evident that Álvarez was going down a more serious route than the original cult classic.

I don't think that's a bad thing though. He's clearly catering to a different and more evolved audience.

Analysing and reviewing films on a weekly basis, I know that a film score can make or break a film.

This score stood out to me. Composed by Roque Baños, it was reminiscent of 1990's horror films such as Scream and also had hints of The Shining and Psycho.

Something I wouldn't expect from this particular film.

I felt that it created an undertone of suspense throughout, keeping me gripped.

The way the film was shot gave the film an almost 3D feel. Being shot in confined spaces, it felt as if I was in the frame with them. Always a great technique used in horror films to give an immediate effect.

A somewhat obvious thought that came to my attention was 'has this been done?'

It reminded me of The Exorcist at times and made me think of all the demonic possession films Hollywood has continuously been churning out the last few years.

The difference with The Exorcist, was that it came at an ideal time in society.

Society was dominated by religion, leaving the audience questioning themselves, 'could this happen to me?'

Now, we realise it won't. But I think with the mixture of gore and possession we have an edgy, boundary pushing Evil Dead rebirth whilst still giving nods to the original film.

I would definitely recommend it to horror fans!