Evil Dead II (1987) Review

Evil Dead II (1987) Review

Evil Dead II is a textbook example of not only how to do a horror sequel right, but how to do any kind of sequel right. It brings back everything that was scary and funny about the first one, ups the ante, improves the effects, camera tricks, acting, and story, and invents even more innovative gags, topping the already impressive imagination on display in the first film. 

It’s a peculiar sequel, in a way, because the first few minutes are essentially a remake of the first movie. Before, it was a group of friends going out to the cabin. One of the shoddier aspects of the first Evil Dead is, admittedly, some of the acting. I’m not making fun, I’m just being honest, the acting is a bit amateurish, but that’s part of the charm. This time, it’s just Bruce Campbell’s character Ash, and his girlfriend Linda, played by Denise Bixler, who go to the cabin. It’s simplified, and allows for Ash to take the spotlight this time all the way through, instead of ending up as the last survivor in the third act like the original. 

The same main events transpire in the beginning as in the original, and there is no time wasted in getting to the good stuff: Linda becomes possessed by evil, Ash must kill her, the evil POV comes for him, then we go from there. And where do we go from there? All kinds of crazy places. 

The level of evil is upped big time. Everything is evil; stuff in the cabin is possessed, the woods are possessed, even Ash’s hand has an evil mind of its own. He has to cut it off with a chainsaw, and it still gives him trouble. Ash even becomes a deadite himself early on, but the sunrise makes his evil side regress. After tons of amazing effects-driven scenes in the cabin, it cuts away to the daughter of Professor Knowby, the archaeologist who discovered the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (book of the dead) and brought it to the cabin in the first place. She’s headed for the cabin, along with her partner and a couple locals, not knowing Ash is there fighting the evil unleashed from the Necronomicon’s pages. 

When the group gets to the cabin, they find out Knowby’s wife has become a deadite and is locked in the cellar. Mayhem ensues, and scene-after-scene continues to top the previous ones. Then Ash becomes possessed again, making the protagonist into an antagonist, briefly, but because we have Knowby’s daughter to root for as well, now, it keeps things interesting. Ash returns to normal again, then in an amazing, quickly-cut scene, he officially becomes the deadite-slaying badass fans have come to love. He equips the chainsaw as his new hand, saws off the barrel of the shotgun, and says the amazing one-liner… “Groovy.” It is groovy, indeed. 

I don’t think there’s a question of whether or not Evil Dead II is better than the first Evil Dead. It comes down to a matter of preference; which one do you like more? I can’t argue against Evil Dead II being an improvement in almost every way, especially in terms of horror-comedy. This movie is a prime example—perhaps the most-prime example—of how to blend horror and comedy successfully. I don’t think it’s quite as scary as the first movie, but still strikes that balance of being unsettling and terrifying while also goofy and laugh-out-loud funny. I still slightly prefer the first Evil Dead, just for accomplishing so much using so little, and being more about the horror, but Evil Dead II is a perfect follow-up. 

I didn’t catch it the first time, but there are a couple moments throughout hinting at the impending cliff hanger ending. Ash is sucked through a portal, along with his car, and sent back in time to the middle ages. This wasn’t just a final joke for the movie to leave off with, though. It would take another five years, but Ash would return to fight the deadites once again.