‘We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw…does that sound fine?’
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Bruce Campbell, Dan Hicks, Ted Raimi, Kassie Wesley
Plot: After passages are read aloud from the Necronomicon (The Book of the Dead to you and me) a hoard of Candarian demons is unleashed upon the hapless Ash (Campbell) whom is terrorised and tormented by the Deadites until the incantations can be reversed sending the evil back to it’s own dimension.
Horror Highlights: Never before nor since has there been a more dynamic film. Seriously! Raimi is relentless is his frenetic style and use of in-camera trickery, loading both barrels of his shotgun with originality bullets and blasting his audience point-blank in the face. KA-BOOM! Best bits include a decapitated ballerina, a demonically possessed hand, Ash’s confrontation with a mirror, walls gushing with blood, flying eyeballs, exquisitely kitsch creature features, astounding sound work and a cackling deer’s head.
Best Scare: Whilst the film is more nifty than scary it does have some truly creepy moments; the demon Henrietta is hideously frightening, the cabin is horror’s quintessential locale and has never looked or sounded better. With roaring demons bursting into shot left, right and centre the audience is constantly seated on eggshells laid by suspense chickens
The first was pure horror, the third a goofy parody of itself but THE EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN is truly the franchise’s pinnacle and a seamless forerunner of the horror/comedy hybrid. Raimi’s opus is oft mislabelled a remake of it’s predecessor – an excusable error due to an opening sequence that paraphrases the original movie (using reshot footage due to the production changing studios) and a plot which is essentially just another night in the same location with parallel events. However Raimi’s sequel puts his concept into overdrive; sending his camera spinning through a fog covered forest, crashing through walls and widows and hurtling through the air in absurd tracking shots that’ll put a crick in your neck. With a meagre budget of $3.6millon (estimated) ED2 goes to show that filmmakers are far more ingenious when they have to make more with less. The films technical creativity is matched by some brilliant physical FX whose tangibility puts a lot of contemporary CG to shame. Whilst it is true that some elements are laughably quaint it only adds to the film’s cult appeal and, for the most part, it looks fantastic.
Central to the film’s success is Bruce Campbell’s riveting character Ash. His hammy performance is intentional spoof and the definition of tongue-in-cheek. His delivery is decidedly clunky but then the script is knowingly peppered with clichéd maxims that satire the like of ‘proper Hollywood films’. Truly this is an epic performance with tumbling slapstick that puts Dick Van Dyke to shame and facial gurns that make Jim Carey look like a/The Rock. The fact that Campbell has rarely worked in film untethered from Raimi only further cements his status as the king of cult. Ash is one of horror’s most iconic characters and truly loveable. He takes one heck of a beating in the movie and rises from the rank of douche-bag Jock to a badass of epic proportions with a F*CKING CHAINSAW FOR A HAND! OMG we love it!!!!
These days the horror genre is ever more divisive and gore-porn provides the mainstay of ‘scares’ in increasingly predictable movies, ED2 is a refreshing and charming reminder of how exciting the genre can be. Like so many classics THE EVIL DEAD is due a Raimi approved/produced remake (boo-hiss-groan!) making it all the more pertinent for the uninitiated to take a look at the original films before their memory and integrity is pissed all over for a quick buck.
THE EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN is more than a horror film – it is a rite of passage and essential viewing for any horror fan. This is a truly original piece whose pace and innovation has never been sufficiently replicated.
