Evil Dead II.

Review #1483: Evil Dead II.

Cast:
Bruce Campbell (Ash Williams), Sarah Berry (Annie Knowby), Dan Hicks (Jake), Kassie Wesley (Bobby Joe), Denise Bixler (Linda), Snowy Winters (Dancing demon Linda), Richard Domeier (Professor Ed Getley), John Peaks (Professor Knowby), Lou Hancock (Henrietta Knowby), Ted Raimi (Possessed Henrietta), and William Preston Robertson (Voice of the Evil Dead) Directed by Sam Raimi (#611 - Spider-Man and #1296 - The Evil Dead)

Review:
"It seemed that my lot in life was to either have big parts in small films or small parts in big films."

This film came about because of the failure of Crimewave (1985), Sam Raimi's follow-up film to The Evil Dead that he wrote with Ethan and Joel Coen (the latter of whom had helped with the editing of that film). Plagued by budget trouble and producer interference, Crimewave nearly wrecked Raimi's career into oblivion. The idea for a sequel had actually been thought of during the first film's production by publicist Irvin Shapiro, and Raimi made a concept involving a Middle Ages setting for more deadite action. When it came for funding, Dino De Laurentiis would serve as producer (after having Stephen King give them a recommendation to help fund the film), and he suggested for a film similiar to the first film (the medieval concept was used for the next film five years later in Army of Darkness), with a budget that would be over three million more than before (while keeping the same effects man in Tom Sullivan). Raimi would write it with Scott Spiegel, which would move its focus from straight horror to horror-comedy, influenced by slapstick work like The Three Stooges. Technically speaking this is a sequel to the first film, although its events depicted in the opening are different from the climax of the original. One thing that isn't different from before is the gore levels: the original film had an X rating, while fears over an X for the second led to no submission to the MPAA and a separate company distributing the film for release.

What a marvelous sequel this is. Energetic, violent, and quick to the punch in delivering a punishing tale of horror and comedy with a charismatic lead once again, it proves no surprise to see this regarded as one of the best horror sequels, particularly when compared to a film that already had done pretty well for itself in creeping terror. This excels just as well in gruesome charm, doing so with confidence expected of filmmakers who seem more in control of what is necessary to make a quality tale brimmed with reasonable foundation that makes enough sense in the right places to drive one up the wall for 84 minutes. There are plenty of moments one could probably highlight, some of which being ones with easily quotable moments from Campbell ("groovy" indeed), but the biggest one for me proves to be a fit of laughter with Campbell that proves creepier if one finds themselves with a fit of the giggles as well. He has a distinct quality to him in enjoyability that fits the edge of someone destined for B-movies but without the wooden feet to stay completely on that level. He leads the way as a cult classic actor among disposable others (let's face it, no one is exactly thinking really hard about the others that happen to come across the madness) that make a worthy time. It retains focus on the cabin (with filming being done in North Carolina, with a junior high school being an interior set) without finding itself going through the exact same beats as before, with plenty of good costumes and effects to showcase. It goes for the throat without knocking you completely senseless with anything unnecessary in gore or in humor that detract from the energetic fun deserving of a sequel that raises the level for cult classic enjoyment.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.