Review

Ash and girlfriend Annie are heading to an isolated cabin in the woods – we still in Tennessee? – for a weekend of hide the sausage shenanigans. We quickly learn that Ash is just planning on squatting and has no idea of who owns the place. Unfortunately for our home raid couple, on the way to the cabin are also Linda and her boyfriend who have in their possession the remaining pages of the “Book of the Dead”. Is this sounding familiar?

Ash and tottie get to the cabin just as night falls and settle in. Deciding a bottle of champers would be just the right mood-setter, Ash heads into the lounge room (don’t they chill champagne Stateside?) and notices a reel to reel tape player and some notes. Annie, meanwhile, is getting changed into her nightie of desire in the bedroom. Ash decides to play the tape and we get the background on where the Necronomicon, i.e. Book of the Dead, was discovered and what it’s all about. Naturally, this being a horror film and having “Evil Dead” in the title, the tape goes on to phonetically sound out a chant to raise Candarian demons. Guess what, it works just like a brought thing. Annie gets nabbed by the forest track cam and Ash is left wondering what the hell is going down. He doesn’t have long to wait for his answer.

Linda, boyfriend, and a couple of rural rustics arrive at the cabin about mid way through the movie to find Ash splattered with gore, and it must be said with a few roos loose in the top paddock. Everyone gets to meet more demons and the fun don’t stop from there. A surprisingly chaotic movie ensues.

Ready to see if you can survive till dawn? Hint: don’t go down in the cellar!

Raimi is less raw with this movie but is an early contender in the unwanted remake book of counted sorrows

First up, Evil Dead 2 is either a remake or a re-envisioning of the original movie The Evil Dead, depending on your view point. This time round, director Sam Raimi has shed-loads more cash to shoot his flick and basically does the first movie all over again but with a lot more gore splattered onto the table and a better script. Raimi at the time was raising cash for the third movie in the series, Army of Darkness. Seems the majority of deadites hail this movie as the best in the series but I kind of think it misses the sheer impact and menace of the first movie. Raimi seems slightly too professional here and we don’t get the raw power of his debut feature. Still, Dead by Dawn does have its moments, and the character of Ash is finally rounded out … groovy!

If you thought the first movie was awash with claret then you are in for a shock with the second round. Raimi simply up-ends the bucket on this bad boy and lets it rip to good effect. We’re talking severed limbs, eye balls popping, gallons of blood gushing everywhere, and beheadings going down. Surprisingly this is well handled without descending into shock for shock’s sake. Raimi must have really liked hosing Campbell down with the red stuff!

The other main ingredient Raimi has stirred into his horror stew is large doses of humour; I’m going out on a limb here and saying this doesn’t really work in terms of the chill factor. Just when Raimi is hitting the atmospherics and dialling up the tension he throws in a punch line, a sight gag, or out and out slapstick. Sorry, but for mine the Director/Writer isn’t terribly good at this stuff and miscues his attempts at turning those screams into laughter. Comedy is pretty hard to get right in a horror flick and Raimi should have left well enough alone. One of the more impressive gags is when Ash traps his severed hand under a bucket and places some books on top of the bucket to trap the limb. Top book: “A Farewell to Arms” … snigger.

Overall, Raimi shoots an interesting movie and certainly isn’t afraid to try the weird angle, throw on an almost surreal show as Ash loses a few roos in the top paddock, and let’s face facts, Sam is second to none when it comes to use of track cam. The Director has barely had time to introduce his hero for the evening before we are in the thick of the carnage; Raimi doesn’t let that aspect of Evil Dead 2 drop at any stage. No matter what’s currently being shown, there will be some gore in the next frame. Well paced and moving to a surprise resolution that you probably won’t see coming on first viewing.

Special effects are of the stop motion variety which kind of adds an interesting aspect to the movie, not entirely sure Raimi wasn’t paying homage to Ray Harryhausen as stop motion seems a weird choice. Great use of makeup for the close ups, these folks look possessed, kids.

Bruce Campbell (Ash) has to pretty much carry the movie through the first half before we get the extra victims towards the final act. Campbell is simply on fire and has all aspects of his character down pat. One wonders if Campbell stole Sam’s gal in college or something, as the director seems to go out of his way to have the actor on the receiving end of quite a bit of harsh looking slapstick.

Pretty much everyone else does their part with no notable standouts as reflected in the whole of the cast, besides Bruce “the chin” Campbell, not exactly being household names. No doubt we’ll run a cross a few of these people in minor “B” graders in due course.

Sam simply didn’t bother with T&A; we get some knicker action early in the movie and then a naked stop motion dancing corpse. The ladies have to imagine Bruce without his trousers as the big guy keeps them on throughout.

Joseph LoDuca did the soundtrack which Raimi uses sparingly, though I was grinning when it did pop up from time to time. Particularly effective was the various demon signature pieces that caught their nature perfectly. Worthwhile checking out if the CD is available from your local music store.

So I had a good time with Evil Dead 2 but didn’t think it matched the sheer raw power of the original film. Raimi attempts to shovel in slightly too much humour for mine and loses any chills he’s trying to ramp up. There are some tension-filled scenes but overall the Director can’t build on them and deliver an impactful resolution for us to chow down on. Without Bruce Campbell in the lead role I would have probably switched the movie off to be honest.

Sam Raimi released Evil Dead 2 in order to raise the cash needed to make the third movie in the trilogy, Army of Darkness. To date there have been three films in the Evil Dead universe, though as usual the net is rife with rumours about Raimi delivering a fourth movie. Currently the leading rumour is that Raimi is going to once again redo the original movie, oh boy do we need another version! Anyways, Raimi is currently working on a horror movie but not one involving the continued victimisation of Bruce Campbell. Update, a remake of The Evil Dead is being shot in New Zealand, given Raimi's recent track record I'm not expecting much.

Worth checking out if you have caught the first film to see what Raimi can do with additional funding. You can either take the second movie as a remake, which I do, or a continuation of the original – it’s up to you. As a horror director Big Bad Sam is pretty decent, really wish he would stop making flicks about some nancy boy who thinks he’s a spider.