When the possessed show flickers of their human personality, is it the demon masquerading as its host, or is it the demon's control temporarily slipping? Or is it the demon intentionally permitting its host temporary awareness and speech, just to sadistically fuck with host and witnesses, alike?
Eric's unsealing and reading from the book is typically seen as a necessary but still bafflingly braindead behavior in clear violation of obvious warning signs. However, before he does it, there is a long moment where he sits perfectly still while demonic chanting and whispering can be heard. Now that Evil Dead Rise is out, which features a recording of the Naturom Demonto's incantation continuing to play despite a nearby character's attempts to stop it, it can be argued that the various copies of the Book of the Dead have the power to compel nearby people and objects...so is this what happened?
Anti-Climax Boss: The Abomination. Really, it is not much different from other Deadites and could be killed in similar ways via chainsaw. It's also significantly less dangerous, since it is so slow.
Broken Base: It being yet another 2000s-2010s remake of a horror film this was bound to happen:
The film's decision to remake the first horror film and stick with the horror tone rather than the franchise's more famous horror-comedy tone. For some it gave this film a clear identity especially as the remake of the similarly toned first movie and that's what made it stand out. Others, especially those not fond of the first movie, felt the horror comedy angle was much more in line with the Evil Dead Franchise and weren't happy with this direction.
The film's quality:
The film is praised for not being a retread over the previous movies by having a different cast of characters and a number of different plot points. The originals creators were onboard so it does feel like the film came from a place of love rather than a cash-grab and the practical effects were a bonus.
Others felt the plot ran on too many dumb ideas and the characters were either uninteresting or unlikable. In spite of the attempts to be different it still feels like an attempt to recapture lost glories with the franchise.
Some consider the remake to be superior to the original. Others consider it the worst entry in franchise.
Complete Monster: The Taker of Souls is a demonic entity whose evil is so great that he is regarded as the Devil itself by many who face him. Often accidentally summoned by hapless innocents using the Naturom Demonto, the Taker seeks to possess, torment, and kill five people so as to use their feasted-upon souls to summon the nightmarish Abomination to the mortal realm. In one instance of his summoning, the Taker turned a teenage girl into his host and killed her mother, laughing in her father's face about it. In the present, the Taker possesses Mia by raping her, then goes about torturing and maiming her and her friends in horrific ways while picking them all off. The Taker gleefully mocks her brother all the while that Mia and their mother are burning in Hell, and he'll soon join them for daring to defy the Taker.
Ending Fatigue: Some felt it should've ended after David revives Mia.
Jerkass Woobie: David abandoned his sister (and friends) years ago to take of their insane dying mother, which caused his sister to become a drug addict. He hasn't kept in touch since. However, he genuinely regrets this, loves his sister dearly (to the point he's willing to risk his life for her), and is taunted by the Deadites about being a terrible big brother and son. Which leads to his Redemption Equals Death.
Memetic Mutation: "Cut it!! Cut it!!" In the Italian version, it became "Don't cut it!!!"
The forced exposition can be hilarious. Then again, it’s an Evil Dead movie.
While the deadites are much less hammy than the original, they can still sometimes veer into over-the-top Narm, especially the one seen in the intro. But also like the original, it doesn’t once diminish their creep value.
In an homage to the original film's infamous "tree rape" scene, Mia is confronted in the woods by a vision of herself as a Deadite, which vomits up a black, vaguely root-like tentacle that slithers its way up Mia's leg and works its way inside her.
The blood and gore in this film is presented in sickening detail. Special mention goes to the possessed Olivia mutilating her own face with a piece of broken glass. When Eric finds her, her cheeks have been completely sawed off, exposing all of her teeth. Eric slips on one chunk of flesh left on the floor as he backs away in justified horror.
The possessed Mia slitting her own tongue using a box cutter, then forcibly making out with Natalie, choking the later with blood.
One-Scene Wonder: Bruce Campbell's cameo as Ash after the credits. Even many of the detractors who hated the rest of the movie loved seeing him reprise his role again onscreen after 20 years, however brief it was.
The Scrappy: Olivia comes as this for some. Even though she tries to help Mia, most fans of the movie hate her for trying to pretend to be a real doctor, only making Mia's heroin problem worse and for peeing herself as she gets possessed.
Tear Jerker: Natalie's death. After she loses one arm in a botched amputation and becomes possessed anyway, David blows her other arm off with a shotgun to save Eric. Suddenly the demon leaves her body, and she doesn't understand why David is hurting her. She bleeds out in his arms, sobbing, scared and confused, while Eric laughs mirthlessly.
Vindicated by History: A very light example. Like many of the horror remakes that came about in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Evil Dead 2013 was heavily criticized by fans of the original trilogy. Unlike its peers with Halloween (2007) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), this reception was impermanent enough that it is today generally remembered less as a cult classic and more as a fairly worthy entry in the franchise, with a genuinely chilling and visceral tone and excellent results achieved by the practical effects crew, setting the trend for Evil Dead Rise to bounce highly from and achieve similar praise.
The Woobie: Good lord, Mia. To start, before the events of the movie, her brother ditched her to move away, leaving her to take care of their dying mother with dementia. The mental turmoil eventually caused her to resort to heroin, which she almost OD's on before the events of the movie. During the events of the film, in which she is attempting to kick her habit, she is attacked by the trees, the evil possesses her (which sends her soul to hell to be raped, according to the demon possessing her body in the meantime), and after finally having the evil removed from her by her brother, her brother is killed and she is left to fight off the demonic creature that remains, which manages to burn her multiple times, slice through her arm and leg with a machete, and force her to tear her own hand off to escape its grasp before she finally kills it with a chainsaw. Keep in mind that this all occurs when she is suffering from heroin withdrawal. She walks away after losing her hand, her brother and all her close friends.
