I wanted horror, I got action comedy. The agenda is turned up in this one, with the opening scene being a gay bashing. Other than that, it started out great. The actors they chose fit well and they had decent chemistry. But the tone never shifted from the lighthearted intro. It stayed that way throughout. Everytime you should have been scared, they would crack a joke. There would be a wink and nudge to the audience. Some gimmicky reference like the Stephen King cameo. Disregard Stephen King being listed as a writer. That's just IMDb listing the original book author. There were two co-authors missing from the first one who probably kept it grounded & compelling. When the smart-ass would crack a joke it was always in the proper lulls of the script. As an adult, it was too slapstick and not in the charming Evil Dead way. In an obnoxious and distracting way that saps you of any tension. Other than those missing writers, I blame Warner Bros' direct involvement in this. All the committees and marketing research that won't be credited. It's like blaming the president when there's lobbyists, senators, military, etc. that all play a part. But the final product was very tacky. They had the budget for big action scenes in broad daylight, so might as well use it, right? Have a Paul Bunyon statue chase after someone at noon. That's scary, I think... How about we make the clown a super huge alien Godzilla crab too! That'd be rad! The Chinese audiences will love that! ( I know the size was directly related to the end message and facing your fears and bla bla bla. But regardless, audiences wanted scary. Find another way to do convey the message. )