Evil Dead: The Best (and Worst) Horror Has To Offer
The overall plot and themes explored in the story are a close second to the characters themselves in terms of infuriatingly lost potential. Evil Dead starts very promisingly by conquering the age old problem of horror films: what on earth would make people go to that creepy cabin in the woods or the abandoned house or the dark basement (and no, because the plot says so is not an acceptable answer here). Evil Dead gives us an interesting setup and a compelling reason for said setup: Mia is a drug addict who has overdosed, and her friends are bringing her to the out-of-the-way cabin so that she can detox cold turkey. One of her friends is even a registered nurse, giving more credence to what might otherwise seem like a juvenile, not to mention dangerous, plan to help Mia. This plot setup also provides an opportunity for an interesting drugs as monsters metaphor to be played out over the course of the film. This isnt an argument for moralizing in a horror film like Evil Dead just an observation that there is potential for layered, more complex storytelling thanks to the basic conceit of the movie. But here again, we run into the films greatest flaw: abandonment of deeper storytelling in favor of blood and frenetic terror. The two concepts are not mutually exclusive, but this movie chooses to look at them in that way, which only hurts its overall resonance. 
Theres no denying that The Evil Dead is a hard-R horror movie, and it earns that rating at every turn. Theres nothing wrong with that. A major plus, and one of the more interesting production elements in the film, is its use of almost 100% practical effects. Rather than cheap-looking CGI, prosthetics, squibs, plain old buckets of fake blood, and other practical effects were used to maximum effect, recalling the glory days of practical filmmaking. Frankly, if the filmmakers claims about practical effects work on the film are true, Id pay to see an in-depth documentary about the making of the movie. Theres no denying that these production choices allowed for some fantastic, unflinching filmmaking on the part of director Fede Alvarez. In particular, the constant rain of blood in the penultimate scenes, the onscreen amputations, and demon makeup all served to draw the audience deeper into the world of the film. The question, though, is: how good is that, really? The pacing of the movie is frenetic and almost nonstop after the first possession occurs, but peel away the layers and its at least partially hollow because, going back to what was discussed earlier, we dont care about the people these things are happening to in-film. Were impressed, sure, but are we really invested? Probably not. I know I wasnt and I really, genuinely wanted to be. I wanted to be terrified not only by what was happening, but for the people it was happening to.