Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)

×

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)

Close

This thrill-packed heaven for gore-hounds starts with an embellished recap of the original film before spinning off into another possession tale, with hopeless hero Ash (Bruce Campbell) again trying to repel a nasty demonic onslaught. Flashy special effects, hysterical scare tactics and Three Stooges-style farce combine with director Sam Raimi's trademark dizzying camera angles and manic wit for a breathless rollercoaster ride through twisted genre conventions. Campbell mugs shamelessly and clearly has a ball as scene outdoes scene in comic thrust and haphazard horror. The results are hilarious - Ash's scuttling severed hand held down by a copy of A Farewell to Arms, for example.

Radiotimes

This is the type of film we really wish we made ourselves before some else thought of it. It's intelligent but not entirely complex … entirely enjoyable yet a serious piece of film making … everything adds up to cult status. It's the type of film your uninformed friends (or mine at least, I'm surely surrounded by fools) dismiss as trash without giving it a chance.

Raimi showed us the thrills, chills and blackly tinged laughs he could bring about in the first in the series on a virtually non-existent budget. Here with just that little bit more he retreads old ground but everything still works … probably more effectively too! Seeing some of props used and slightly off production values (the 'muppet' headless girlfriend in the shed, the demon head stuck to camera attacking Ash towards the end, Ted Raimi's ripped old lady from hell suit and the quickest of glimpses of set floor boards during one stage of shooting) shows how Raimi was still constrained by budget issues.

Seriously though, who cares … this film has 6 different colours of blood, some seriously funny slap-stick scenes (didn't think I'd say that anytime soon) and a chemistry between lead Campbell and director Raimi that let the jokes flow freely.

Campbell proves himself a master of face contortion, self-harm as well as flipping himself over! So many classic scenes in such a short space of time … my favourite being when Jake is dragged into the cellar and a torment of pink blood comes pumping out. The camera work is as dynamic and as fast paced as in the first outing, the shot of ash standing by the remains of the bridge at the start of film standing out for its grandness among otherwise less cinematic shots.

The film leads on nicely to the 3rd installment in the series with one-handed Ash getting sucked into another dimension to face the undead in jolly olde England (or something like that). It really is no wonder that the in-store geeks/pop-culture snobs of High Fidelty described Evil Dead II as the greatest movie of all time.

'Groovey' indeed.

IMDB Reviewer

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with director/writer Sam Raimi, actor Bruce Campbell, co-writer Scott Spiegel, and special make-up effects artist Greg Nicotero
- "The Gore The Merrier" documentary
- "Evil Dead: Hail To The King" video game preview
- Theatrical Trailer
- Still Galleries
- Talent Bios
- THX Certified
- Also includes an open-matted 1.33:1 full screen version of the film