Evil Dead 2013

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The new "Evil Dead" has none of the first movie's handmade charm or hilarity, intentional or otherwise. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: For fans of hard-core horror, "Evil Dead" definitely delivers. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: The rare remake that likely will be enjoyed most by diehard fans of its predecessor. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Alvarez just keeps on amplifying the gory intensity until the film becomes absurd and weirdly infectious, an exercise in seeing how far the audience will bend without breaking. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Whether you think it's a good movie will depend largely upon your stomach for gruesome violence. Then again, if you are going to see a movie called "Evil Dead," you're probably going to be OK. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: There isn't much to do here except turn the gore up to 11; if you've ever wondered what it would be like to jam a chainsaw into someone's mouth (and who hasn't?), this will give you a good working idea. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: You can't remake a sense of humor. Alvarez may well have one, but it'll have to wait for the next project. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: Raimi set the bar high, and if Alvarez can't quite rise to his level, he overcompensates by drowning everything in blood. It's overkill, but in this case that's not such a bad thing. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: [This] is an efficient, exceedingly grisly horror film that goes places that Raimi could only dream of in the '80s ... Yet, without the low-rent cheesiness ... that made the originals so enjoyable, [it] becomes a numbing exercise in overkill. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: The new Evil Dead is not only made with an affectionate nod and a wink to the 1981 version, it's also the bloodiest, goriest, slapstickiest horror movie since, well, The Evil Dead. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: ...certainly a considerable and occasionally commendable dose of the ol' ultra-violence. Read more

John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter: Gory scares abound in a remake that will win the hearts of many of the original's fans. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: What this "Evil Dead" gets most right is its tone, paying homage yet staking its own territory; it's scary without being downbeat, fun without being too jokey. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The Evil Dead was an absolute blast. Evil Dead is just a well-made gross-out, and it's kind of a bummer. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: "Evil Dead" turns Raimi's homemade horror treat into a professional-looking, overscripted bore. Read more

Bruce Diones, New Yorker: An effectively relentless gore-fest. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: It's a fun spookshow - if chainsaw violence is your idea of fun - but it's sure not my "The Evil Dead." But that's OK. It's someone else's, now. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: This Evil Dead is polished and meticulously planned, and it benefits from the attention to detail as well as from Alvarez's obvious love for the spirit of the source material. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Alvarez is primarily interested in upping his corpse count, in the most gruesome ways imaginable. In this, he is undeniably successful. He also establishes an effectively breathless pace, and weaves in a steady stream of fan-friendly references. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: If it hadn't been my paying job as a critic to watch Fede Alvarez's remake of Evil Dead all the way to the end, I probably would have headed for the exit door long before the point where somebody cuts off her own arm with an electric carving knife. Read more

Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: While it's impossible to surpass the original - so much of its fame is a function of its time - Alvarez's version still manages to measure up. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: It's not scary. It's not shocking. It just wallows in viscera. Read more

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: I'm bored to death and sick to death of movies that seem to have one goal: How can we gross out the audience by torturing nearly every major character in the movie? Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Though it never channels the raw DIY energy of the original Evil Dead series -- what big-budget version could? -- this polished, clever remake remains true to the spirit of the original, which was at once viscerally terrifying and weirdly lighthearted. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Bloody havoc? Check. Exuberant gore? Check. Fun? Meh. Read more

Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: This blood-soaked remake improves on its cheeky source material, paying homage while establishing its own identity for younger horror fans who never knew there was an earlier "Evil Dead." Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: A stylish and worthy homage: inventive even as it is derivative, never quite jokey but never taking itself too seriously, and clocking in at an entirely appropriate 91 minutes. Any longer would be unmerciful; any shorter, ungenerous. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: So long as you grit your teeth and keep your eyes on the screen, it's an enjoyable, if almost academic, exercise in bad taste. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The really scary thing about Fede Alvarez's Evil Dead is its failure to shock. Are we all now completely desensitized to movie horror? Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: This isn't just the scariest movie in recent memory, it's also the most viscous. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: Despite much old-school splatter, it's seldom frightening and oddly unfunny. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Fire-and-brimstone teaser sequence notwithstanding, Fede Alvarez's slick, hard-R remake of the 1981 cult horror hit by Sam Raimi takes its sweet, tedious time getting going. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Sure, this is a higher-budget re-tread. But a remake shouldn't exist simply to ramp up the graphic violence, even if special effects have improved immeasurably in the past 30 years. Read more

Chuck Wilson, Village Voice: The plotting as a whole feels fresh, as does the emphasis on women strong enough to defend themselves. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Five years from now, will you want to watch this bloody $14 million extravaganza or Raimi's shoestring original, which was Amateur Hour elevated to pop art? Evil Dead just bleeds money. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: A gore fest that's just effective enough to whet fans' appetite for a sequel, even as it kills everyone else's appetite for dinner. Read more