As a long time horror fan, it’s great to see that the genre is back on top with the remake of Evil Dead coming in at #1 this weekend on the box office charts with a $26 million take.
At the same time, it’s a mixed blessing. It’s cool to see that horror is doing so well these days, but I’m not exactly crazy about the fact that so many great classics are being remade.
Nevertheless, audiences came out in droves to make Evil Dead #1, and it also got good reviews. In its critique of the film, the L.A. Times called Dead “a gleeful, gory, goofy good time,” and Dead also got 65% good notices on rottentomatoes.com.
The mainstream press seem surprised that Dead beat out Jurassic Park 3D at the box office. USA Today wrote, “The film marked the surprise of the weekend, collecting $2 million above expectations and earning surprisingly strong reviews for a genre not known for critical laurels.”
Entertainment Weekly’s report also noted that Dead’s performance “brings life to [the] industry. The 2013 box office has been stuck in a bit of a rut…high-profile releases like Jack the Giant Slayer, The Host, Beautiful Creatures, and A Good Day to Die Hard have badly misfired.”
Not only is horror back on the big screen, but it has also been doing well on TV, with Bates Motel already being renewed for a second season after only two shows. Coming up later in the year is the remake of Carrie, and there’s a lot of buzz all over the net because the longer trailer is now out in the world, but it doesn’t look that much different from the original, which I still love dearly. It’s an important story these days with so much focus now on bullying in the media, but can the new Carrie genuinely add anything new or innovative to a tale already well told?
Ultimately, fans should keep coming back for horror remakes this year, but here’s hoping the new fans will do their history and go back to the classics. Don’t fret about the hair looking out of date or the fact that no one’s got an iPhone. A great scary movie is eternal, and here’s also hoping they’ll be some new, original classics down the road as well.
