Versus: The Competitive Movie Review Podcast · J & J

VERSUS: Ep. 16: Evil Dead (1981) vs. Evil Dead (2013)

September 13, 2025·1 hr 6 min·5 clips

Jamie and Jessica open with a proper return to the show. They are back for a full-length matchup after a run of minis. The apology comes quickly. Work, moving, heat, and car-recording logistics have all made scheduling a mess, and the setup feels like two people trying to squeeze one more good conversation out of a bad afternoon. The new theme music gets a warm shout-out. It is by Waiting for the Storm, and the hosts treat it like a clean reset. Then the fight card lands. The episode is built around the original Evil Dead versus the remake, exactly the kind of comparison this show likes. Spoilers are not hidden, and nobody pretends otherwise. They start with the remake and spend a lot of time on what people expected from it. The car in the background is close to Sam Raimi's but not exact. That turns into the sort of detail horror fans will argue about for fun. The movie being shot digitally comes up too. So does the fact that the remake still leans hard on practical effects because the director wanted homage rather than a sterile CG-heavy redo. The discussion keeps circling the line between digital tools and old-school gross-out craft. The original film is not ignored. Easter eggs from the first movie are part of the remake's story logic. Voiceover from the original tape shows up again, including the end-credits material. There is even a final Bruce Campbell shot tucked all the way at the end, the kind of button that only lands if someone lets the credits roll. Rotten Tomatoes gets a mention too. The remake sits at 63 percent, which the hosts note is the lowest rating among the Evil Dead films. They do not treat that number like scripture. It is just another bit of trivia in the pile. The setting gets some love. The cottage looks good. The basement looks good. The scenic work does a lot of heavy lifting. The location helps sell the mood and keeps the remake from feeling empty even when the conversation starts picking at its edges. The tone stays loose the whole way through. There are corrections, side comments, and quick pivots, and that is part of the charm. The hosts do not sand anything down. They talk like people in a car who actually want to finish the thought before the next joke arrives. By the end, the episode feels like a horror-fan argument with enough structure to stay on track and enough mess to stay fun.

As heard by us

A loose, lively twin-host matchup built on effects talk, Easter eggs, and a memorable end-credits tease.

This Versus episode keeps to the familiar Jamie and Jessica rivalry, with the twins comparing two similar movies and letting the banter move between trivia, reactions, and a few behind-the-scenes details.

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Why you'd press play

Want a hot-car horror showdown between Evil Dead old-school grime and remake polish?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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