They refurbished the cabin

Rating: Null/10 (15 July 2013)

The original was great. It was for me one of those sublime rituals of adolescence that involve an empty house, latenight horror and drinking with friends. The film was great because it played so so well to all that: the shared Scooby-do adventure in the dark, the creaky house, the ritual of summoning fears, the gooey splatter.
The amateurishness mattered, it was the same communication I'd find in Black Flag records, something for 'us' to get.
So I cherish that film enough to think that teenagers now deserve the same fun. In fact that sums up Raimi's own involvement with the project, looking that it's done right for another generation of young viewers.
What irks me here is that they diluted the appeal.
First off, the main context behind the trip to the woods is not simple teenage fun, but coping with drug addiction. Right away, this radically changes the air of the viewing experience to serious and glum, we are not there to explore but endure an ordeal. Sticking with the cinematic environment, gone is the unvarnished immediacy of the original. Here, a sense of slick grayness pervades, the same color processed mist that seems to settle on most horror films these days.
So gone is the goofiness and livingness of the original. As itself? The film is nastier and probably as energetic once it picks up, I'm sure it will find many champions over the years especially as this generation grows up and recalls the experience. Anyway, the original will always be there so there's no harm done. As reinterpretation it's fine, more generic for my taste but decent.