Evil Dead II

Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley DePaiva, Ted Raimi, Denise Bixler
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Comedy
1987

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Ash (Bruce Campbell) battles against demonic forces bent on his destruction.

Review:

Tim: Right before watching Evil Dead II, I watched the original for the second time. My first viewing of that movie was a mix of feeling impressed and feeling disgusted with it all. I appreciated it more the second time. I wonder if these movies just need to be viewed multiple times, because I felt very similar to this movie. Despite the bigger budget, Evil Dead II has some flaws that pull it down below the original. I know many people might disagree, but I found this to be an inferior sequel.

One of the things I hated about this movie is how it begins. It made no sense and I spent the entire movie so confused about what was happening. My understanding is that the movie was a sequel (because of the 2 in the title, for example), but it certainly feels like a remake. We start the movie with Ash and his girlfriend going to the cabin, as if none of the events of the original occurred. It's a jarring, bizarre beginning that makes no logical sense. It undermines the entire film. Now, I did some research and I understand. Sam Raimi lost the rights to the original, so he couldn't use footage from that film. The beginning of this movie is supposed to be a recap of the first film, so very quickly, it gets us caught up to the events of the original, and this movie picks up immediately after the first one ends. The bulk of this movie is a sequel. That makes a ton of sense, actually. However, it still doesn't change the fact that Raimi completely botches the start of this film, confusing most people. If the beginning was meant as a recap, why wouldn't you add narration explaining that? Or, even more importantly, why would you change the scene from five friends going to the cabin to just Ash and his girlfriend? That makes zero sense. Some of the other important scenes from the original are shifted here- Ash spends a lot less time reviewing the audio tapes to learn about the Necronomicon. To "recap" the first film, Raimi takes everything that happened in that movie, vastly shortens it, makes it less effective, and plugs it into this one. That's an unconscionable mistake and it's one that will always plague this film. The explanation makes a lot of sense, but it's ridiculous that this movie even needed that.

So, let's try and overlook the fumbled start. How does the rest of this movie hold up? Unfortunately, not that well. There's really two ways to look at this- the characters and the plot, and then the scary visual effects. Let's tackle the characters first. As a sequel, this movie is completely derivative of the original movie. Ash is once again trapped in the cabin with a bunch of young people who get possessed and killed one-by-one. There's an evil spirit locked in the basement. There's living trees that attack people. There's the attempted trip out to the destroyed bridge. So much of this movie is just more of the same. I'm all for picking up this movie immediately after the events of the first film, but it makes no sense to basically redo the same story. Sure, there are some developments- Ash gets a chainsaw hand, he fights back against the possession. We learn more about the Book of the Dead and what it means. The conclusion to the film is the strongest part of the movie because it feels like it moves the story and the characters forward. It also features a stunning twist at the end that must have left viewers reeling. I really liked that shocking conclusion. However, too much of the 1 hour, 24 minute runtime feels like either a rehash of the first film or just more of the same. That's really what sinks this movie- that's what makes it less effective than the original.

Now, while I think Evil Dead II is flawed, I don't want you to think it's a bad movie. It's decent. And, a big reason why is that Raimi puts together some of the greatest frights and visual horror that I've ever seen. The bigger budget for this movie made a huge different. Raimi's clever use of different angles and shots, the amount of blood, the stop-motion, it all adds up to a nightmarish journey the likes of which we haven't really seen before. While this movie doesn't quite hit the squeamish factor of the original, it's obvious that Raimi raised the stakes. It felt like he traded off some of the gruesomeness for comedy, which might not be a bad exchange. The visual effects in this movie are outstanding. I loved some of the camera angles Raimi used- I would just shake my head in awe of his unique filmmaking perspective. It's incredible and the movie benefits greatly from this.

I know Evil Dead fans love Bruce Campbell as Ash, but his bad performance undermines the coolness of the character. I wasn't a fan of his "Groovy" catchphrase. I think that the idea of Ash Williams is better than the actual character through two films. Campbell deserves a ton of credit for the immense physical limits he pushes himself to in this film. Simply the amount of blood and gore he deals with, ensures he deserves accolades for this. I appreciated what he physically went through for this role. His performance isn't very good, though. The shouting at the bridge was cringeworthy. His tendency to stare off into nothing like he forgot a line doesn't help, either. It's a weird performance. That being said, he's the best of the cast. The supporting players felt like your typical, utterly forgettable horror movie cast.

One other note- I know Raimi was still a young director here and the budget wasn't massive, but there are so many mistakes. At one point, the wire suspending someone is clearly visible in multiple shots. There's a scene where Sarah Berry gets covered in blood, and then the next scene, her shorts are dry and red-free. I usually don't observe mistakes like that, but they were egregious in this film.

Evil Dead II is a decent movie. The amount of scares and visual frights that Raimi puts together is stunning. It was fun to learn about what happened after the events of the first film. However, this movie is too redundant, too confusing, and features too much bad acting. It's a step down from the original, regardless of the bigger budget.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness