BLOOD WORK: HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 9: EVIL DEAD II (1987)

One of the strangest sequels in horror cinema has got to be EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN. Director Sam Raimi released the original THE EVIL DEAD in 1981 to mixed reviews. Due to effects limitations because of low budgets and whatnot the movie wasn't the fright-fest he hoped. It had in fact elicited the very opposite emotion in audiences: laughter! He directed one other film called CRIMEWAVE (written by the Coen Brothers and featuring Bruce Campbell) released in 1985 and then decided to take another stab at the Evil Dead.

If audiences of 1981 found The Evil Dead to be rather bizarre then audiences of 1987 must've been questioning their sanity after seeing Evil Dead II. Is it a sequel? Is it a remake? Is it a comedy? Is it a horror film? Just what the hell is it? The short answer: Yes. It is all of these things and more. Evil Dead II has gone on to surpass its predecessor in notoriety and has carved out its own place in horror movie history. Technically Evil Dead one was the start but where things really took off and started running was Evil Dead II. Some horror fans would go so far as to say, "All you really need to see is Evil Dead II."

THE PLOT

Ash and his girlfriend Linda drive out to a secluded cabin in the woods to spend a romantic weekend together. Inside they find a macabre book bound in what looks like human flesh and inked in blood. And a tape recording. On the tape is the voice of the archaeologist who discovered the book, calling it Necronomicon Ex Mortis, the Book of the Dead. The voice on the tape begins translating the book, reciting the passages aloud. The recessitations awaken a dark spirit in the woods. It possesses Linda and Ash is forced to kill her. Then it tries to take him. The first rays of dawn drive the spirit away however.

Ash tries to escape only to discover that the bridge is out. Whatever he tries to do the evil spirit has already thought of. It won't let him leave. As night falls the spirit returns and stops at nothing to drive Ash mad. Then the daughter of the archaeologist arrives with a handful of people. She brings with her lost pages of the Book of the Dead and finds a passage to expel the evil back to its own time. But the evil tries everything to get at them, turning them against each other, possessing them, and more. Can they recite the incantations to get rid of the evil spirit? Will there be anything left of them if they do?

THE GOOD

It might not look like much at first. It might confuse you as to how you should feel, but by the end you'll come to see that there is no other movie like it. To answer all those questions from above, the first 10 minutes is a truncated and reworked recap of Evil Dead one. Evil Dead one was one night. At the end we see Ash stepping out of the cabin at daybreak thinking he's free. Then we see the evil running straight for him and cut to black. The End. We get that again in Evil Dead II only rehashed in 10 minutes. The bulk of the movie shows us what happens after that moment and that's where Evil Dead II truly begins. So yes, there is a tiny remake at the beginning, then the sequel that the title implies starts. To rehash the previous film at the beginning of a sequel is not uncommon. I'm sure Sam Raimi felt it easier to just quickly redo it from the ground up instead of relying on audiences to have seen the original. Because of this you can watch Evil Dead II and not have seen part one and be right at home.

Then there's the mixture of humor and horror unlike any other. It's not situational humor or clever jokes like RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. No, rather it's a slap-sticky Three Stooges-like presentation. The quick cuts, face paced action, and the acting give it a fun and exciting feel. The acting isn't great, some may even call it bad, but given the subject matter and crazy events, the acting is appropriate. But it does come across as humorous. Whether intentional or not the comedy is there and adds a layer of enjoyment you don't expect. Once you've seen the movie it's that same zany feeling that brings you back again and again. Then throw in geysers of blood, over the top gore, and some crazy monster designs and you've got something really special.

And finally there's BRUCE CAMPBELL. Seriously, who doesn't love Bruce Campbell? He's handsome, charming, charismatic, and he brings a style of acting and presence that no one else has. His character of ASH is a much a horror icon as JASON VOORHEES or FREDDY KRUEGER. Plus he has a chainsaw for a hand! Add in the one-liners and quick comebacks and you can't help but love the guy and root for him to kill every last evil dead bastard.

THE BAD

This movie is strange when it comes to criticisms. What one person may slam another person praises. There isn't really anything "bad" but rather it's all bad or it's all good. Someone may see the entire film as a piece of junk and it is precisely that piece of junk aesthetic that makes it wonderful and great. This is a rare quality but not unique. There are other movies that have managed to achieve this rare state of being but none of them have done it as well as Evil Dead II.

THE VERDICT

There is nothing like Evil Dead II. Director Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell along with everybody else who worked on this are responsible for its unique status as a cult classic. The movie is like the Wizard of Oz of horror films. It has become essential viewing of horror aficionados like myself and a uniquely visceral experience even among its brother and sister films. It's scary. It's funny. It's both a sequel and a remake and it is something more too. Mere words cannot express the experience of Evil Dead II. All I can say is, in this world there are two kinds of people: Those who have seen Evil Dead II and those who have not.