I'm easier on movies than I am on books and music. I suppose that I am not much of a critical thinker in that regard. The truth is, I like horror movies. Even bad ones. Even mediocre ones. When I was a little boy I would cower by the TV screen watching them, and there were few that I didn't enjoy. I want to keep that wide-eyed little boy alive inside me.

I later watched horror and exploitation at drive-in theaters, and me and my buddies had a great time at them all. Sure, we loved seeing a great horror movie, such as the original Evil Dead, but we were happy to see anything. I always considered it a lucky occasion when I could see a new horror movie.

I tend to subscribe to the Joe Bob Briggs school of movie classification. If a picture delivers the blood, the breasts, and/or the beasts, I will generally have a good time with it.

Not that I like everything I see. I think Rob Zombie is a dreary hack, and I hate the Saw series. I also have no patience for movies that look like they were made on a computer. You know, computer modified backgrounds, unnatural looking sky and trees, and the dreaded CGI that make a good horror movie look like something out of a computer game.

But, yeah, I like horror movies for the most part.

It certainly did not hurt that I was in a good mood when I went to see the Evil Dead remake. A movie that was reviled before it even begun to be made. This might seem like heresy, but I like remakes. Again, not all of them, of course, but I don't mind a modernization of a classic. Sure, I wish that I could go to the multiplex and see a movie made from a Bentley Little story, or maybe a Laymon novel. Sadly, that just isn't the way things work.

I had gourmet burritos with two lovely ladies before seeing Evil Dead, and I was in a great mood before, during, and after the showing. And yes, we all enjoyed the movie.

I'm a little puzzled though. Everyone was saying that this Evil Dead had eschewed the humorous approach of the earlier movies. You could have fooled me. I thought the whole thing was ridiculous. Intentionally so.

Going in to an Evil Dead movie is like walking into a funhouse. Logic and common sense are left at the door. These movies are unrelenting roller coaster rides. If you want logical motivations or realistic actions from characters, you'd be better off watching a Jason Straitham picture.

None of the character were remotely likable. The same thing is true with the old ones. Sure, Bruce Campbell as Ash is hilarious, but he is also an arrogant ass.

What would a horror movie of this kind be without a character to loathe? Like Harry from Night of the Living Dead, Franklin from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or Ned from Friday the 13th, it is fun to watch a douchebag suffer and die. In Evil Dead we have the educated moron who summons the demons and acts like a total fish taco the entire time.

Hell, the entire case is made up of idiots. The arrogant doctor-in-training who has no clue about how to care for a junkie going through withdrawals. The brother of the addict who stands around pulling his dick when he should be torching demons. A woman who is basically fodder for the Evil Dead. Hell, the addict is the only sympathetic person in the story, as well as the only one with any common sense.

Yes, I had a blast with this remake. Which is really sort of, kind of, the second remake. The first sequel was a lopsided remake too. Things are topsy-turvy in the world of the Evil Dead.

While I thought the movie was completely silly, I still applauded the intensity of it. They really pulled the stops out. I was squirming in my seat when I was supposed to, and I was laughing when I was supposed to be laughing.

It's an Evil Dead movie. That is what these things do. I don't think the Evil Dead remake can hold a candle to parts one and two, but I like it more than Army of Darkness.

I thought it was nicely shot, crisply edited, with a jarring soundtrack (love that siren!), and the effects were top notch. It was exactly the thrill ride I was expecting and hoping for.

The theater was almost empty and me and my companions even cracked a few jokes during it. It felt like being at the drive-in again. Don't worry, I did not transgress against my morals. We were in the front row and no one was near us. We whispered our comments back and forth. It was fun. A hell of a lot of fun.

This Evil Dead movie has been a modest success, and I hope that means we'll see an Evil Dead 2. I know that not everyone agrees, but that's part of the fun of the community.

Two thumbs off.

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