The characters are at once the most interesting and infuriating part of the film because of their immense amount of wasted potential. A cardinal sin of many contemporary horror movies (and one that Evil Dead commits in spades) is giving us characters who are flimsy sketches at best, and annoying caricatures at worst. The archetypes that have existed for so long in horror are not interesting enough to carry a film alone anymore, and they havent been for decades but Hollywood clearly hasnt gotten that message. What makes this all the more frustrating is that most of the five characters are actually pretty promising at the start, only to be undone by the abandonment of their development in favor of frenetic horror and violence from about 30 minutes into the film and beyond. Its a glaring mistake because (as well discuss later) Evil Dead impresses on a thematic level, but failing to give us interesting, multilayered characters to suffer through said thematics means the whole film is less impressive and less effective overall. David, the long-haired teacher, is the shoddiest character in the film. Hes the very definition of a plot puppet every last thing he does only happens as a literal machination of plot without any legitimate character dynamics behind it. This is especially frustrating since he is the one who unleashes the horror thats at the crux of the movie, and thanks to his puppet role, were never given anything resembling an actual reason for his actions. The lack of characterization also comes back to bite the filmmakers most crucially in the case of Mia, who turns out to be not only the catalyst, but the heroine of the movie. Her shoddy characterization causes problems on two levels. First, we lose her to the demons before we really have an opportunity to understand and sympathize with how much her loss means to the other characters in the cabin. Thus, were less engaged with them as they seek a solution to the problem despite how viscerally frightening that problem is to begin with. Secondly, once she comes back and (in an admirably clever spin of roles) becomes the heroine and the last woman standing, we root for her mostly because we dont have any other choice. Shes the last human being left at the cabin, and shes fighting what seems to be an impossible battle in a rain of blood. Sure, that situation in and of itself is compelling, but the downside is that were more interested in seeing the evil vanquished than we are in seeing Mia triumph.