June 27th: Evil Dead II
Evil Dead II
Released: 1987
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie DePaiva
The Evil Dead was a sick, demented, twisted, incredible 1981 film made on a shoestring budget by a bunch of nobodies that became a cult hit. It gave Sam Raimi his first real cachet in Hollywood and put Bruce Campbell on the map as an actor. Six years later, they have a shot to do it again with Evil Dead II. With a bigger budget and the chance to reach a wider audience, Raimi makes some interesting choices that turns the film into a sequel, a reboot, and a parody all rolled into one.
In an unusual move, Evil Dead II starts with a retelling of the original film. But it isn’t the same. It’s told at a much faster pace. Ash Williams travels to an isolated log cabin with his girlfriend, where he finds a tape recording of a professor talking about the Book of the Dead. As the recorded professor recites the ritual, the demon comes and takes Ash’s girlfriend. By the time the recap is over, Ash has dismembered the love of his life, chopped off his own possessed hand, and survived being possessed himself. In the meantime, the professor’s daughter and several friends arrive and believe Ash murdered her parents. They imprison him but soon discover that the evil isn’t Ash, but rather a demon summoned by her father. What follows is a film that is less grotesque than the original but made with a higher budget, putting its heroes in an interesting position by the end.
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Evil Dead II chooses its tone early on. The first film was clearly a horror movie with some comedy, especially as it escalated. Evil Dead II not only leans into comedy but into slapstick, and it does so almost immediately. Ash Williams is already the over-the-top hero he became by the end of the first film within the opening five minutes. Bruce Campbell further develops Ash’s personality with every manic move he makes. The special effects, which resemble Ray Harryhausen-style stop-motion animation, give Campbell plenty to play off. His co-stars are fine, particularly Sarah Berry as the professor’s daughter. This time, the acting doesn’t evolve from amateurish to theatrical and borderline satirical. Instead, it begins at that heightened level from the outset. The result is a remarkably cohesive horror-comedy.
Small Observations:
- Apparently, the reason Evil Dead II begins by retelling the first film is that Raimi didn’t own the rights to The Evil Dead. Because of that, he couldn’t simply use footage from the original as a flashback, so he retold the story instead. Since the details aren’t exactly the same, Bruce Campbell has described Evil Dead II as a “requel” — part remake, part sequel.
- Speaking of the changed details, losing Ash’s friends isn’t a major loss. It changes how quickly Ash is willing to act because he has no real relationship with the other characters, having already diced up his girlfriend before they arrive. That said, having his sister in the first film gave him a different kind of emotional connection than simply a romantic one. On the other hand, the new cast gives Ash the chance to become more heroic by risking his life to save people he doesn’t even know.
- The ending, as someone who has seen and loved Army of Darkness, is a lot of fun. I also love that they foreshadow the exact events of the next film with the story from the missing pages. Even the illustration looks like Ash.
- MCU actors: 1 with 2 others from the Raimi Spider-Man films
Overall Rank: S
The Evil Dead is great. Evil Dead II is great in a completely different way. It makes you laugh as Ash gets slapped around while still making you feel disgust and fear toward the horrific monsters. Strongly recommended.
