Review for Evil Dead II

Director: Sam Raimi

Released: 1987

Genre: Horror-Comedy

Evil Dead II is an anomaly in the world of cinema. I have never seen a movie that is anything like it stylistically... it seamlessly blends campy effects, slapstick comedy, Lovecraftian demonism and imaginative camera work into a single, 80 minute long bloodbath that never slows down and never lets up. It defies the typical goals and expectations of filmmakers and moviegoers alike; bad acting and a lack of character depth almost enhance the viewing experience, allowing the kaleidoscopic, action packed material to take center stage. If the actors and actresses actually tried to provide an Oscar worthy performance, Evil Dead II wouldn't be nearly as engaging as it is; we know nothing about any of the characters, they're only there to sacrifice themselves for the audience's enjoyment. The work revels shamelessly in it's own unabashed excess, forcing you to shed your inhibitions and give yourself completely to the material or be left out of the loop.

Director Sam Raimi's work on the Spider Man series may have been what propelled him into the upper echelons of Hollywood's directing circle, but he got his start with the Evil Dead trilogy. The first film, titled The Evil Dead, was released in 1981 and shot on a small budget of $300,000. Raimi made good use of the money, producing a gritty work of horror that has since been extremely well received by critics. I felt it was only modestly impressive, but Raimi's directing talent and potential is evident considering the monetary constraints. The Evil Dead went on to gross over $3 million in theaters, allowing the aspiring filmmaker more wiggle room to work on additional projects. After directing 1985's Crimewave, a mediocre horror film written by the Coen brothers, Raimi returned to his pet project, producing Evil Dead II in 1987.

Evil Dead II is more of an over the top elaboration on the original The Evil Dead than a true sequel. It's also much more lighthearted, albeit in an extremely gory and somewhat terrifying manner. This time around Raimi had $3.5 million at his disposal, an amount that, although modest by 1987 Hollywood standards, allowed for a much more creative mash up of absurd, sidesplitting scenes to be produced.

The movie centers around a man named Ash, played by the instantly recognizable Bruce Campbell, who takes his girlfriend to a secluded cabin in the woods. He soon finds that the owner of the cabin is an esteemed archeologist who has discovered an artifact known as the Necrominicon, or Book of the Dead. By turning on a tape recorder next to the book, Ash unwittingly plays a summoning of the work's demonic powers by the archeologist. What ensues is both pure mayhem and unadulterated hilarity, as Ash is forced to decapitate his possessed girlfriend (only to be chased around by her chain saw wielding corpse), nearly killed by a possessed hand (his own), locked in a basement with the demonized remains of the archeologist's late wife, almost crushed by a rogue group of animated oak trees trying to smash in the roof and walls of the cabin, and sucked into an alternate dimension. This and much more is played out in the span of little more than an hour, with moments of both graphic horror and over the top physical comedy competing for the viewer's rapt attention. The fact that I'm not concerned about whether or not I've given too much away shows how jam packed Evil Dead II is with such ludicrous, off the wall moments.

Evil Dead II was a financial success at the box office, raking in almost double what it cost to produce. This enabled Raimi to direct a sequel called Army of Darkness (originally titled Medieval Dead) in 1992. Army of Darkness isn't a bad film, but I honestly don't think it stacks up to it's predecessor... it's more of a comedy than anything, and the endearing and intentionally cheesy dialogue isn't balanced out by macabre and disturbing elements of horror. That's what makes Evil Dead II work so well; not only is it a good horror film, it's one of the funniest I've ever seen- an achievement that movies such Scream and Shaun of the Dead feebly attempt to emulate. Even within Raimi's truly unique, oddball horror-comedy trilogy, Evil Dead II stands alone as a seminal masterpiece.

3.75/4.00