Truthfully, if it hadn’t been my paying job as a critic to watch Fede Alvarez’s remake of “Evil Dead’’ all the way to the end, I probably would have headed for the exit door long before the point where somebody cuts off her own arm with an electric carving knife. 
 
 Of course, then I’d have missed another character being severed lengthwise with a chain saw while some members of the audience hooted in approval. 
 
 Gorehounds will have a field day with the plentiful mutilations, decapitations and other blood-drenched moments in the redo. 
 
 It amazingly sports an R rating, though it’s far grislier than Sam Raimi’s 1981 original (which was initially released without a rating but acquired an NC-17 for a 1995 re-release). 
 
 The effects are also far more realistic than there were in the bargain-basement original from 32 years ago. 
 
 Which means that instead of spoofing the excesses of that era’s slasher films, they’re basically being offered up for the delectation of contemporary moviegoers. 
 
 While there were a couple of squeamish walkouts, many young men and women at the promotional screening I attended seemed to enjoy watching victims being shot at with nail guns, whacked on the head with crowbars or cutting off a piece of their face with a jagged piece of glass. 
 
 Besides gallons of blood, there’s no small amount of urine, as well as a scene where a woman is raped by a plant. 
 
 Acting is sort of besides the point in a movie like this, which has the performers spouting deliberately ridiculous dialogue and constantly risking their lives in ways that no sane person would. 
 
 The setting is a remote cabin the woods — conveniently cut off by a flash flood — where a heroin-addicted young woman (Jane Levy) has been brought to try to go cold turkey. 
 
 When she starts having delusions and warning everyone they won’t live through the night, they have to wonder if it’s a symptom of withdrawal or because the most dweebish guy (Lou Taylor Pucci) has started reading incantations from a mysterious old book he found. 
 
 Also along for the gory, gory night are the junkie’s long-estranged brother (Shiloh Fernandez) and a student nurse (Jessica Lucas) whose skill at suturing wounds with duct tape comes in handy. 
 
 Though it tries — with a much too heavy hand — the new “Evil Dead’’ is far less humorous than its predecessor, which catapulted director Raimi and star Bruce Campbell (who produced this one) into long mainstream careers. 
 
 Which is not to say this “Evil Dead’’ reboot won’t also beget sequels. ||||| The rare remake that likely will be enjoyed most by diehard fans of its predecessor, “Evil Dead” often comes off as the cinematic equivalent of a cover-band concert tribute to a supergroup’s greatest hits — albeit with a lot more gore. First-time feature helmer Fede Alvarez’s blood-soaked reprise of Sam Raimi’s franchise-spawning low-budget shocker, “The Evil Dead,” boasts far better production values than the penny-pinching 1981 original and conceivably could delight genre fans who have never seen the first version or its previous remakes/sequels. But it’s bound to play best with those who catch Alvarez’s many wink-wink allusions to Raimi’s pic. 
 
 Working from a script he co-wrote with Rodo Sayagues, Alvarez briskly sets up his recycling of Raimi’s horror premise — five friends visit a secluded cabin in the woods where all hell breaks loose — with an aptly portentous prologue and backstory-heavy opening scenes. But Alvarez goes Raimi one better, by actually offering a logical reason why the characters don’t immediately vamoose once supernatural manifestations begin. 
 
 Mia (Jane Levy), a drug-addicted young woman trying to go cold turkey, is undergoing physically and psychologically agonizing withdrawal, and her companions — including prodigal brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) and medically trained buddy Olivia (Jessica Lucas) — are loath to interrupt the recovery process. Besides, all those terrible things Mia claims to see are just hallucinations triggered by withdrawal, right? 
 
 Wrong. 
 
 Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), the academically inclined member of the group, finds in the cabin a mysterious Book of the Dead filled with horrific illustrations, mysterious symbols and ample warnings not to read aloud anything that appears in its ancient pages. Unfortunately, Eric does not heed those admonitions, awakening a familiar demon for a new generation of young victims. Mia is the first to be infected by the monstrously malignant and singularly foul-mouthed bogeyman, but it doesn’t stop there, inspiring her cabin mates to damage themselves and each other in creatively gory ways. 
 
 Alvarez repeatedly references plot elements and specific shots from Raimi’s original pic. Taking his cue from the original, he makes especially effective use of lenser Aaron Morton’s swooping, swirling camera movements, which suggest the POV of a rampaging poltergeist. But Alvarez’s tone is completely different, as the helmer rarely attempts to emulate the self-mocking, over-the-top campiness that distinguished the original “Evil Dead” from so many other cheapie creepies of the 1980s. 
 
 Actor Bruce Campbell (who’s onboard here as a producer) more or less established himself as a cult figure back in the day with his inspired overplaying of Ash, the astonishingly resilient protagonist of Raimi’s original. In Alvarez’s version, Fernandez’s David serves the equivalent role, but he’s deadly serious. 
 
 Indeed, the only character who even gets to crack a joke is Pucci’s Eric. Asked if he’s certain that actions described in the Book of the Dead will rid them of the troublesome spirit, the frantic fellow replies, “Am I sure? Of course not! It’s not a science book!” 
 
 Levy is believably beastly as the possessed Mia, and manages the heavy lifting when her character must handle some last-act heroics. Other members of the cast do what they can with thinly written parts. For instance, it’s not really Elizabeth Blackmore’s fault that her role as David’s g.f. is so ill-defined and unimportant that some may forget she’s in the pic until she starts to make lethal use of a nail gun. 
 
 The bloody mayhem is so graphic and frequent throughout “Evil Dead,” one cannot help suspecting that alternate takes had to be shot to ensure an R rating. The emphasis on dismemberment and disfigurement should make this must-see entertainment for gorehounds, but could literally scare off auds accustomed to less explicit, PG-13 fare. 
 
 Ultimately, the new “Evil Dead” will rely heavily on existing fans of this unlikely franchise to make a killing in theatrical and homevid release. Those who get the inside jokes should be easy to spot: They’ll be the ones laughing when the onscreen carnage erupts most furiously. 
 
 Evil Dead 
 
 Reviewed at SXSW Film Festival (Headliners), March 8, 2013. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 91 MIN. 
 
 A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of a TriStar Pictures presentation in association with FilmDistrict of a Ghost House Pictures production. Produced by Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell. Executive producers, Nathan Kahane, Joe Drake, J.R. Young, Peter Schlessel. Co-producers, Nicole Brown, Matthew Leonetti Jr. 
 
 Directed by Fede Alvarez. Screenplay, Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues, based on the motion picture “The Evil Dead” written by Sam Raimi. Camera (color), Aaron Morton; editor, Bryan Shaw; music, Roque Banos; production designer, Robert Gillies; set decorator, Roger Guise; costume designer, Sarah Voon; sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/Datasat), Myk Farmer; makeup and prosthetic design, Roger Murray; visual effects supervisor, George Ritchie; stunt coordinator, Shane Dawson; assistant director, Luke Robinson; casting, Mandy Sherman, Sari Knight. 
 
 With: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore. ||||| Among the household items put to unintended use in the new film "Evil Dead," a playfully reverent if not-overly-so remake of Sam Raimi's 1981 cult favorite horror movie, are a nail gun, an electric knife, a jerry-rigged defibrillator, and, in an obvious nod to the original, a chain saw. 
 
 The feature debut of Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez, discovered via a short on YouTube, "Evil Dead" has a gleeful exuberance of its own analogous to the mad invention of the original, which, in the years since its release, has become wildly influential and, in its own little-movie-that-could way, downright inspirational. 
 
 Written by Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues (with an uncredited but acknowledged polish by Diablo Cody), the story, like its predecessor, begins with five young people arriving at a secluded cabin in the woods. Mia (Jane Levy) is trying to kick a drug habit cold turkey, with the others (Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas, Lou Taylor Pucci, and Elizabeth Blackmore) along for support. 
 
 PHOTOS: Scenes from 'Evil Dead' 
 
 After discovering a mysterious book, bound in human skin, they unleash a demonic force that wants them all dead and pits them against one another. 
 
 The new film is produced by Raimi, Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell (writer-director, producer and star of the 1981 movie, respectively) and nimbly walks the fine line of tribute, update and doing its own thing. 
 
 What this "Evil Dead" gets most right is its tone, paying homage yet staking its own territory; it's scary without being downbeat, fun without being too jokey. Levy in particular is perfectly in sync with Alvarez's mix of sincerity, snark and scares. 
 
 Alvarez certainly seems to have relished the chance to splatter and spray his cast with all manner of goo. His aesthetic is a few shades lighter than the gloomy grunge of other recent horror reinventions, and he never loses sight of the black comedy lurking in the story's corners. 
 
 But back to the goo. There is plenty of over-the-top gore, great gushing geysers of it. Yet one of the most squirm-inducing moments — apart from the notorious, still difficult-to-justify "tree rape" scene — isn't from a Grand Guignol spurt of blood, but rather a relatively minor cut as a machete blade slices across the top of a bent knee. 
 
 It's a sensation one can actually relate to, as opposed to something like the gruesome slapstick of slipping on a shorn-off piece of someone else's face. 
 
 Respectfully aware of its origins — including a wait-for-it tag after the end credits — "Evil Dead" is something of a forward-looking throwback. It's unlikely the movie will gain the same ardent following as Raimi's debut, but it offers enough good-time gore, goofiness, scares and screams to leave an audience feeling a certain elated exhaustion. 
 
 mark.olsen@latimes.com 
 
 'Evil Dead' 
 
 MPAA rating: R for strong bloody violence and gore, some sexual content and language 
 
 Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes 
 
 Playing: In general release ||||| The remake of “The Evil Dead,” Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror film about a cabin of cult curiosities, doesn’t have the original’s wooden performances, puffy clothes and hairdos or its amusingly crude special effects, but it does share its blood lust. Torrential and somewhat rust colored, the blood in the remake splish-splashes across the screen, spurts out of bodies, soaks into floors and falls from the sky like a biblical portent. If the rivers of red in Mr. Raimi’s movie flowed more like molasses than water, it’s because they were created with food dye and Karo syrup. 
 
 The new “Evil Dead” has none of the first movie’s handmade charm or hilarity, intentional or otherwise. (It also lost its “The.”) The director, Fede Alvarez, approaches the creaky material with a surprisingly straight face and a fair amount of throat clearing. Unlike Mr. Raimi, who scarcely bothered with preliminaries, Mr. Alvarez sets the creepy mood with a sacrificial immolation and a basement strung with desiccated cats. When his five souls roll up to their cabin, he continues to keep his foot on the brake with some back story involving Mia (Jane Levy), her drug addiction and issues with her brother, David (Shiloh Fernandez.) 
 
 Finally something wicked does come, racing and smashing through the surrounding forest, and Mr. Alvarez, making his feature directing debut, gets his gore on. Taking his cues as much from the Abstract Expressionists as from Mr. Raimi, Mr. Alvarez opens up the book of the dead (bound in human flesh and tied with barbed wire) and makes handy sport with an electric meat knife and a nail gun, among other convenient and preposterous household items. As the plot thickens and the viscera and limbs fly, his mood appreciably lightens, and at least one scene approaches the macabre comedy of the black knight scene in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” 
 
 “The Evil Dead” enjoys the reputation of a cult classic, but its more lasting significance is as a cheapie do-it-yourself production that achieved indie success. (New Line Cinema picked it up and squeezed it dry.) The movie made Mr. Raimi’s reputation and set him down a path that led to two “Dead” sequels and eventual blockbuster fame. His star, Bruce Campbell, a puckish presence with a chin as big as an Easter ham, can be seen on the USA Network show “Burn Notice” as well as in an eye-blink fast cameo here. It’s too early to tell if Mr. Alvarez will be able similarly to translate this movie into a lasting career, but one of his stars, Lou Taylor Pucci, deserves a boost.
– Perhaps unsurprisingly, the remake of 1981's gore-fest Evil Dead is a love-it-or-hate-it affair. The new version has fewer laughs and even more blood and guts than its predecessor, critics say: The new Evil Dead has "none of the first movie’s handmade charm or hilarity, intentional or otherwise," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times, noting that the film, directed by Fede Alvarez, "approaches the creaky material with a surprisingly straight face." What does it have in common with the first film? "Blood lust." Indeed, the "tone is completely different, as the helmer rarely attempts to emulate the self-mocking, over-the-top campiness that distinguished the original," writes Joe Leydon at Variety. Still, with its references to the original, it's "the rare remake that likely will be enjoyed most by diehard fans of its predecessor." In the Los Angeles Times, Mark Olsen applauds the film's "gleeful exuberance of its own analogous to the mad invention of the original." Its best feature "is its tone, paying homage yet staking its own territory; it's scary without being downbeat, fun without being too jokey." "Gorehounds will have a field day with the plentiful mutilations, decapitations, and other blood-drenched moments in the redo," writes Lou Lumenick in the New York Post. Guess he's not a gorehound: He gave it one star.