An opinion-splitting horror that’s basically ‘Evil Dead’ for the terminally online logs onto the streaming Top 10

There aren’t many horror franchises in history more enduring, iconic, and altogether excellent than Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell’s The Evil Dead, so taking a page out of the Deadite playbook is no bad thing. Whether by accident or design, though, director Elle Callahan’s Head Count comes across as an updated ripoff of an all-time classic.

That’s not to say it’s an abhorrent affront to cinema, even if that sentiment will vary depending entirely on who you ask. Rotten Tomatoes has seen fit to award the online terror a strong 70 percent score, whereas the audience approval rating is significantly lower at a decidedly underwhelming 44 percent.

However, the fact that Head Count is currently one of the 10 most-watched movies among Starz customers in both the United States and the United Kingdom according to FlixPatrol at the very least ensures on-demand viewers are willing to log on and embrace the supernatural nightmares for themselves in big numbers.

A group of teenagers head to a remote getaway – not a cabin in the woods – where they spent the evening exchanging ghost stories by the campfire. However, one of them takes things too far when he reads an ominous chant from a shady internet page – not the Necronomicon – and awakens an entity that can hide among them in plain sight in order to complete a deadly ritual of its own design.

Not a bad setup at all, but having split opinion right down the middle first time around, the jury is out as to whether or not Head Count will see its reputation improve at all over time.