The original Evil Dead was an awesome movie that was even kinda disturbing in some parts.
I recently saw the remake at a friend's place. The main thing the remake has going for it was beautiful cinematography. For the most part it's very visually pleasing to the eyes. Plus the gore effects were actually neat. What hurt that movie was the acting. Good Lord, the acting was stiff as a board! Makes you wonder if they were taking lessons from Keanu Reeves before auditioning. That's the problem I have with modern remakes, there's a huge emphasis on special effects and cinematography and so little effort put into performing. It's despicable.
So, yeah, the original Evil Dead wins for me.
Out of curiosity, how long has it been since you saw the original? All the actors are pretty much amateurs in the original (Bruce Campbell says he cringes at his own performance today), and I think it really shows, as much as I love Evil Dead. I would say the acting is better in the remake, even though I think the original is the superior film.