Fan of the original- not happy with this version.

Rating: 6/10 (7 April 2013)

First I must post a disclaimer- this is not a poorly made film. It was shot very well, edited well, the effects are awesome, the sound and music is appropriate. Technically, this is a well made film.
And I'll admit, it has a good ending.
And yet...
The original had none of that- and somehow is much better.
I will put it this way- the original had heart, and this movie does not. This movie has an "agenda." It coldly moves down the checklist of "cool things from Evil Dead" and connects the dots without any fresh ideas or uniqueness.
My biggest complaint is about the characters. This movie could have been good if the characters were better. There is only one character I liked in this movie (the sister), and even then she wasn't directed very well in every scene. Every other character in this movie I disliked. The girlfriend is pointless and we don't get to know her, the men are fairly stereotypical and don't have any endearing qualities, and the other woman has personality, but she's bossy and aggravating. Even with the awkward acting of the original, each character there was like a real person, and nobody was defined by their role in the movie (Ash wasn't even the "hero," he was just a guy!).
The other problem is the writing. In addition to some painful exposition scenes, the writing is uninspired. It just takes the "Evil Dead top 10" tropes and inserts them in wherever it can. Sometimes this even results in scenes that repeat themselves. Other times it results in drastic shifts in tone- a movie that is mostly serious that suddenly has over-the-top dialogue and violence (for no other reason than "the original did this").
Finally, the tone is a mess. It was marketed as a serious scary movie, and having seen it, I honestly can't say if it's supposed to be "so bad it's good" camp, or a "serious scary movie" that just fails to be scary. Now, the original had the same problem, but the original failed so badly at being scary it's quite entertaining. This movie doesn't fail bad enough. It either tried to be scary earnestly and ended up having a few scenes that just feel out of place or forced, or fails to be "so bad it's good" because it's so damned heavy-handed in the beginning.
So the result is a polished, stylized version of a story that was too silly to be taken seriously 30 years ago, that continues to take itself too seriously now. But lacking the charm, the camp, the endearing characters that made the story tolerable (if not enjoyable).
So to end on a higher note, I do have to give the film credit for a strong visual style, "fan service" (I suppose), and a good ending. The ending was great- it almost made up for the entire movie. It was the only part of the movie that felt fun, and *inspired* by the original rather than *stolen* from the original.
Bottom line, if you're a fan of the original, you're likely to be disappointed, but many fans of the original also like this one, so maybe I'm the exception.
And if you've never seen the original films, then this will probably strike you as a well-made gore-fest of a horror-flick by today's standards.