This week at the movies, we’ve got an army of darkness (Evil Dead, starring Jane Levy and Shiloh Fernandez) and an island of dinosaurs (Jurassic Park, starring Sam Neill and Laura Dern). What do the critics have to say?
With Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn, Sam Raimi pulled off a heady mix of over-the-top gore and subversive humor. Critics say this new Evil Dead doesn’t come close to matching its classic predecessors, but it’s a visceral, smarter-than-average frightfest that will impress gorehounds (and churn the stomachs of more sensitive types). When a group of teenagers in a remote cabin inadvertently summon demonic forces, they’re left to fend off all sorts of unimaginable evils — including each other. The pundits say Evil Dead lacks the sick wit that made the originals so compelling, but it’s an efficient, merciless piece of work that manages to carve out a style all its own. (Check out our interviews with the Evil Dead cast, as well as our gallery of particularly intense horror movies.)
Upon its release in 1993, Jurassic Park smashed box office records and set a new standard for special effects. Now it’s getting a deluxe 3D theatrical rerelease, giving audiences another chance to witness Steven Spielberg’s deft mix of monster movie scares and beautifully lifelike dinosaurs on the big screen. Critics found Jurassic Park to be more spectacle than substance, but also were quick to note that it’s spectacle of a very high order, and the special effects hold up remarkably well 20 years later. (Check out this week’s Total Recall, in which we run down some of cinema’s most memorable dinosaurs.)
Shane Carruth‘s Upstream Color, a drama about a man and a woman who are drawn to one another without knowing they’re each part of a mind-altering experiment, is at 86 percent.
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners, a documentary about the activist Angela Davis, is at 86 percent.
André Gregory: Before and After Dinner, a doc about the acclaimed theater actor and director, is at 78 percent.
Simon Killer, a thriller about a sociopath who ensnares a Parisian escort into his web of intrigue, is at 75 percent.
Eddie the Sleepwalking Cannibal, a horror comedy about an artist who finds inspiration in a man with a bizarre (and deadly) sleep condition, is at 71 percent.
Danny Boyle‘s Trance, starring James McAvoy and Vincent Cassell in a thriller about a man who gets mixed up in an art heist and forgets where he stashed a priceless painting, is at 71 percent.
No Place on Earth, a documentary about a pair of families who escaped the Nazi occupation of Ukraine by hiding in a cave, is at 67 percent.
The Company You Keep, starring Robert Redford and Shia Labeouf in a thriller about a former radical who goes on the run after his identity is exposed, is at 56 percent.
Down the Shore, starring James Gandolfini and Famke Janssen in a drama about a group of friends since childhood who discover a shocking secret, is at 50 percent.
Bert Stern: Original Madman, a doc about the legendary fashion photographer, is at 40 percent.
The Brass Teapot, starring Juno Temple in a comedy about a financially strapped couple that finds a solution to their woes in the form of a magic teapot, is at 25 percent.
Lotus Eaters, a drama about the lives and loves of a group of well-off London youngsters, is at zero percent.
6 Souls, starring Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in a horror film about a psychiatrist whose patient has a potentially murderous case of multiple personality disorder, is at zero percent.
Finally, props to Justin D. for coming the closest to guessing Temptation‘s 15 percent Tomatometer.
