Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn Review

MPAA Rating: NR
Released: 1987

The original Evil Dead was a low-budget flick that caught the world by surprise with its use of heavy gore as well as its simplistic yet intense brand of horror. It should come as no surprise that it became an underground favorite and developed a legion of horror fans. In 1987 Sam Raimi set out with a larger budget to create a sequel for his terrifying masterpiece: Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn.

Old fans that expected another terrifying bloodbath found themselves very surprised by this brilliant sequel, for it is anything but more of the same…

Evil Dead II picks up right where the original left off, providing the viewer a speedy recap of the original film's events. In the first Evil Dead, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) stumbled across the Book of the Dead, a book written in blood that possesses the power to unleash evil demons into the world. Ash accidentally summons the evil demons, which end up possessing all of his friends as well as his girlfriend. At the end of the original film, Ash had taken care of all his possessed friends and had buried his girlfriend. So begins Evil Dead II…

Ash attempts to escape the haunted cabin, but only one road provides a way back to civilization – a road that includes a bridge across an extremely deep valley. The demonic forces destroy the bridge to cut off Ash's escape, so our unlikely hero is forced to return to the cabin where everything began. If he can hole himself up in the cabin for the duration of the evening, the morning's sunlight will dissipate the evil that he unleashed.

The above makes for a fairly generic plot in normal horror flicks, yet the mastermind behind Evil Dead II (Sam Raimi) turned this basic plot into a stroke of absolute genius. Take everything you expect in the typical zombie movie and toss it out the window, for this movie turns everything on its ear and provides a rollicking good time.

Upon his return to the cabin, Ash witnesses his decapitated girlfriend arise from her grave. Normal enough for a zombie movie, I know, but this gal doesn't just leave her grave and start looking for victims. No, instead she dances in the moonlight, using her head as a prop for her zany performance. The horrified Ash spies this sight that defies reason from the safety of the cabin, but the safety is not to last.

Somehow the zombie's head slips into the cabin and bites Ash's hand with more determination than a rabid pitbull. Ash hilariously attempts to remove the head by shaking his arm furiously and bashing it against cabin walls, trees and anything else nearby, but it's not about to let go. Finally he runs into a tool shed and forces the head to let go of his hand by trapping it within a vise grip.

In bursts the zombie's body, armed with a chainsaw. But the would-be rescuer fails to take care of Ash or rescue its decapitated head, for it it's blind as a bat and accidentally saws itself!

I won't go into much more detail about the plot or events – suffice it to say the above is just a small portion of the film's start. Nor do I expect my words to do the above written illustration justice, for although it sounds like a juvenile eye-rolling affair, when you see it you won't be able to resist laughing hysterically. And there, friends, is where the strength of this film lies.

Evil Dead II is certainly a gory horror film with plenty of suspense and scares, but it's also a hysterical slice of manic comedy. The film is so twisted you never know what to expect next, which is awesome since at any point in the film you won't know whether to draw in a nervous breath or release a belly laugh. I refuse to call this film a horror spoof, because it's so much more brilliant than the heavy majority of lame comedic horrors. This is a filmmaking gem.

Sam Raimi's twisted story and direction certainly is partially responsible for the film's magic, but ultimately the credit for the film's (and series') success lies with Bruce Campbell, who is hands-down one of acting's best. Not only does he possess more charisma and screen presence in his pinky than most other actors possess in their entire body, he has a true gift for physical comedy. His expressions alone can paint a picture far better than any wordy plot expositions, and he delivers his lines with perfect delivery.

The highlight of the movie is when the demonic force possesses Ash's hand. Watching Bruce Campbell battle his attached appendage was guilty fun, and it only gets better when he succeeds in removing the pesky hand. Rather than give up the ghost, Ash's separated hand mocks its former owner, leading to a thoroughly amusing game of cat and mouse.

Quite simply, Bruce Campbell rules. Although other actors eventually enter the picture, ultimately it's Campbell's Ash that owns this film.

Which leads to the point where I have to decide what rating to give this film. My initial inclination was to give Evil Dead II a ten, yet somehow reserving a perfect score for a zany and gory horror-comedy just seems wrong when you consider what works of art exist within the movie world. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if you asked me to improve even one element of Evil Dead II, I couldn't; Saimi and Campbell hit the bullseye with this film. So snobby movie critics be damned… I'm giving this film my perfect rating.

Evil Dead II is a film that will appeal to almost any horror fan, but it's comedic genius will probably have anyone that can handle a bit of gore in their comedy left in stitches. Don't let the genre or ominous name fool you; Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn is cheesy and entertaining B-movie brilliance.

Movie rating: 10 stars

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