There are some films, particularly in the horror genre, that demand to
be seen with a full audience. It’s a special experience to groan and
cringe at the exact same time as everyone sitting around you during a
particularly gruesome scene, and there’s something powerful about a
collective cheer ringing out when the on-screen hero deals a final blow
to the vicious villain. That was the experience I had tonight sitting in
the Paramount Theater during the opening night of the SXSW Film
Festival watching Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead.