Evil Dead II – Review

Is it a sequel? Is it a remake? What is it really? Who cares, but it’s mostly sequel just with some weird rights issues over the first film and some oddness at the opening. Evil Dead II is a rollicking good time and for me an improvement on the original in most ways. Featuring almost the same plot, and 10 times the budget, Evil Dead II is potentially what Sam Raimi was going for in The Evil Dead, but bigger and better.

Ash Williams (Campbell) is back, sorta, and with girlfriend Linda (Bixler) head to a nice little dilapidated cabin in the woods for a romantic getaway. So, either the explanation here is Ash blocked out his first cabin adventure, or the Evil Dead demons have scrambled his brains into being drawn back, possibly?

Again, and immediately, shit goes awry. A handy recording from the cabin’s usual inhabitant, Professor Raymond Knowby, doles out some phonetic readings from The Book of the Dead, also present, chilling on a desk. Ash and Linda barely have any chance to reconcile with this choice before Linda is horrifically possessed and trying to murder Ash.

As Ash fights for his life against an ancient demonic evil, he finds he cannot leave as the lone bridge in is completely destroyed. Things turn violent as darkness and forest demons set in, leading to all sorts of blood and body parts flying. Wow we are just brief moments into this film too. Uh oh.

So, what happens when Annie Knowby (Berry), the daughter, and her research compatriot Ed Getley (Domeier) want to get to their cabin? Well with the bridge crumpled up, they have to pay some quick cash to local man Jake (Hicks), who does not shower, and his sloppy girlfriend Bobby Joe (Wesley DePavia). As this new group of unsuspecting adventurers approach the cabin, what will they find with Ash and Linda?

Evil Dead II is an absolute blast, and enhancement of the first’s story as it had a much larger budget, and a few years newer technology. Like the original, It remains goofy and focuses even more on physical comedy and letting Bruce Campbell get wild. Overall, I find it funnier and more composed, especially with some of the elements that they introduce, which eventually continue into the third chapter in this series: Army of Darkness.

If you can stomach the demons and blood spurts, take a trip to the forest and pick up the Book of the Dead, again. Oh, there is a touch less tree rape in this movie compared to the first also, but the branches still get grabby.