The film were given has call backs to the older series, the iconography and the famous scenes. But it's really not much more than an average horror film. Five people go to a cabin, creepy stuff starts happening and people get possessed.
There's still the original's penchant for raining down blood (at one point literally). But it's a more serious and moody film. This is at times to the film's detriment. Much of the excess needs to be played for laugh otherwise it feels unnecessary or glib.
There's also few actors in the film that have the charm and humor of Bruce Campbell. Jane Levy (being much darker than her work as Tessa Altman on Suburgatory might suggest) comes the closest but gets sidelined for an inordinate amount of time.
I appreciate the film's attempts to set itself apart from its source material, even if it doesn't entirely work. The film tells the story of a drug addict (Levy) heading to a cabin with friends and family to go cold turkey. The film, in a way, becomes an odd metaphor for overcoming addiction.
The drug angle allows the film to make excuses for the characters to initially keep avoiding the truth of the situation they're in. But it's also never really given enough room to breathe. The characters could have been there for any number of reasons and the film never entirely justifies this idea.
While the film has its problems, it's pacing and tonal shifts are pretty bad, it has an extraneous introduction, and it tries too hard to provide explanations to its horror, there's still a pretty good sense of atmosphere, a few decent horror setpieces (though never really all that scary - but with a couple good twists), and a final sequence (the film's best and scariest - and also most absurd) that almost redeems the film. It's duller than it ought to be and less scary than it could potentially be, but it's not entirely a disservice to the far more inspired original.
Grade: C+
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