a review of 鬼玩人

I’m a fan of Sam Raimi’s original The Evil Dead, a unique mix of creepy horror and caricatural madness. Because of that, I’ve avoided watching this remake since it came out in 2013, because I was afraid it would be superfluous. Now that I’ve finally watched it, I can only conclude that this Evil Dead reincarnation is indeed superfluous, at least to my taste. It doesn’t have the unequalled atmosphere of the original, which felt almost authentic, because of the low budget sets, the experimental cinematography, and of course Bruce Campbell. The gore effects of the 2013 Evil Dead were solid, but what bothered me most was the blandness of the characters. The acting was too emotionless and stoic for the radical, excruciatingly painful events. A good horror flick should make even the least credible events gripping through emotions and responses you can relate to. The 2023 Evil Dead Rise film also suffers from a similar lack of credible, gripping emotional responses to its horrific events, as if everyone is on tranquilizers.