Evil Dead is campy, silly, horror fun. That's what made it great. And I guess the best way to say it is that this movie tries genuinely hard to be that way as well, with plenty of campy comments from our demon girl and plenty of silly horror. But I think the movie misunderstood itself - tongue in cheek self aware humor doesn't work in such a dark holding of itself. The first film took place in the context of a spring break at a cabin in the woods, and yes, Cabin in the Woods taking place in the same context also works incredibly well. But this movie fails by first opening up with an intervention. That doesn't really work in my mind - why have such a tongue in cheek story tragically tear away the hope of a healing drug addict?
From this point on, the characters of course find the book of incantations and spells and a demon takes over our drug addicted girl. At this point, the movie descends into the much wanted campiness. But it's not THAT campy. It's still trying too hard to be scary, I feel. And that's what was brilliant about the previous Evil Dead - it didn't need to try to scare you, or to make you laugh. I'm sure while the production team was sitting around they saw this as their greatest fear and obstacle, but at the end of the day, it ended up kindof getting in the way from too much effort.
I guess this all sums up to be a movie that works, but not as well as you really want it to. It's got its scary moments and twists, but doesn't manage to make me jump, scream, or laugh. Gross out scenes grossed me out fine, but in the back of my mind I was always wondering whether I was supposed to be grossed out or laughing. It doesn't share the fluidity of the tone of the first. Oh well. It's a fun escape.
Score: 2/5
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