A pretty average horror movie

Rating: 4/10 (6 April 2013)

First of all, I'll address this movie on its own merit without taking into account its cult classic predecessor.
The acting in this one was decent though nothing special. The pacing and effects were just okay. The plot was very straight forward, no twists or surprises. There were a few really large detractors for me. The relationships between the friends seemed forced. The dead dog puppet looked so fake I almost laughed. The contraption David rigs up to defibrillate his sister back to life is completely ludicrous. All those things can be overlooked though if your expectations are not too high to begin with. It's one of those movies I would watch on late night TV if nothing better was on.
To compare it to the original Evil Dead:
There is absolutely no humor in this one at all. There are only two very thin homages to the original at the end. None of these characters have anywhere near the on screen charisma that Bruce Campbell's Ash had. The basic reason for the friends to be at the cabin and their staying when things get weird is much better in the new movie. The tree rape is in the new movie though significantly changed and very brief.
This new version will never be the cult classic the original was because it doesn't stand out in any way from the tons of other horror movies with the same premise. All in all it's just average.