A benchmark against which all other modern horror franchise revivals ought to be judged, Fede Alvarez's "Evil Dead" is exactly the kind of blood-soaked, action-packed freakfest that a 21st century "Evil Dead" movie ought to be. Though it may be lacking Ash Williams, the movie provides a similarly badass protagonist in the shape of Mia Allen (Jane Levy), whose journey from basket case addict to chainsaw-wielding queen over the course of the movie's runtime is one of the best final girl transformations in recent memory. Her unfortunate friends, who have brought Mia to a remote cabin to go cold turkey and discover and read the Necronomicon in its burned-out basement after a demon-roasting mob fail to do an adequate cleanup job after the movie's great opening sequence, may not be quite on Mia's level as fully fleshed-out characters, but the actors do a great job and it's a perverted delight to watch them get put through the wringer after unleashing demonic forces upon themselves (well, Eric does anyway). This is a movie I've watched a whole bunch of times and never get tired of. Like 2003's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", it continues to age like a fine wine.
