While having a couple bits of laughter here and there, Evil Dead was short on laughs and made for scares.There's nothing wrong with that, as that's exactly how the franchise was founded first time around. However, what made Evil Dead such an enduring part of horror history was the fact that it could turn on the screams one moment, the laughs the next, and even intermingle the two at a moments notice. It's one of the rare horror franchises that manages to beat the curse that befalls most of its kind: it manages to still be an effective horror film, and doesn't succumb completely to sight gags and predictable kills. (Freddy, you know you're guilty. Chucky, doubly so.) That said, there needs to be a certain element of humor in the new Evil Dead installments for one important reason: it needs to address the franchise's relevance in a post Cabin in the Woods world. While it took on all classic horror film templates, it particularly made hay with Evil Dead's "party in a remote cabin" format. Hell, they even made "don't read the Latin" into a quotable line. But, and this is a big but, it wasn't a scary movie. Cabin in the Woods was funny, but it wasn't scary. Evil Dead needs to revel in what it's good at, and that's being scary while being funny, and not sacrificing either for the others sake.