Kiss Your Nerves Good-Bye!

In the eighties, Evil Dead was a moderate success for director Sam Raimi & somehow managed to gross $2,400,000 upon it's initial release in the U.S  even though the budget was only $375,000. Despite mixed reviews from critics, the film has since managed to acquire a dedicated following as well as two successful sequels. (Horror writer Stephen King gave the film massive props in a November 1982 issue of Twilight Zone.) Not only did the sequels do exceptionally well, the films have all received multiple re-issues on DVD & several re-pressings through various distributors. Probability suggests that Evil Dead's popularity will remain a constant & this film's devoted followers will always cite this first entry as being their absolute favorite.

Within the past few years, Evil Dead has also been made into an off-Broadway musical production with the approval of Bruce Campbell & Sam Raimi. 

Although Evil Dead 2 works well as a sequel, I've always considered the film to be a re-visioning of the first low-budget classic only this time Raimi had more moo-lah-ah to play with. Even though there are sure-fire elements of horror present, I'm not REALLY sure I'd call it a straight-forward horror flick as it's way too goofy to be taken seriously. Having said that, there's plenty to love here & more reason to re-visit Evil Dead a second time. Need I say that the laughs come as fast as the gore??

How gory is Evil Dead 2? The film is unrated which means it wasn’t submitted to the MPAA 
because it surely would have gotten something more than an R), and in fact inspired the distributor (De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, founded by Dino De Laurentiis) to create Rosebud Releasing for this one film. There are plenty of decapitations, zombies, supernatural demons, and plenty of gore to satisfy the blood-thirsty nuts like myself who simply can't get enough of it. Oh, yes there will be blood. Buckets.

For some odd reason, Ash (played by Bruce Campbell) seems to love taking weekend trips with his girlfriend to this evil little place in the woods. You would think he might've learned his lesson after dealing with those demons from hell in the first entry & decided to take up golf as a hobby or maybe find another vacation spot. Instead, he would rather do battle with these evil minions in a haunted cabin once again. Some guys never learn I guess.

Evil Dead 2 picks up immediately where it's predecessor ended. Ashley takes his girlfriend on a seemingly romantic vacation back to the cabin in the woods. All is well until Ash begins to play a recording of Professor Knowby's incantations from the Necronomicon (roughly translated "Book Of The Dead") & the trouble immediately starts up again. As once can probably guess, the recorded passages unleash an evil force which takes possession of Linda's body & Ash is forced to either kill her or be killed. 

I could go into further details here for you but why kill the ultimate experience? As anyone who has seen this entry or any other Evil Dead film an tell you, the proof is definitely in the pudding. What becomes of a terrified Ash & is it really possible to kill Linda? If Ash can bring himself to murder the girlfriend, will she stay dead? Will Ash ever escape this nightmare in the woods or will he find himself the catalyst in a series of grotesque encounters with the demonic world?

Evil Dead is often touted as being a zombie flick by it's fans or cult following. While there are elements of the film which do remind us of zombie flicks, I've always seen the film to be about demonic possession. I will even go so far as to say I've seen countless threads or postings online where people have debated this for many years. At any rate, it's an entertaining flick & that's all that should matter. See it if you haven't already. If you've seen it before, welcome back. You already know how terrific it is.