Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn
Rarely does a bonafide sequel turn out to be so brilliant in its own right that it surpasses the classic status of the original by extending the realms of the horror genre itself and creating new boundaries, but Sam Raimi managed to do just that with this 1987 followup to The Evil Dead, which had been billed as āthe ultimate grueling experience in pure terrorā (which it lived up to), and while that film WAS a true blue horror film, this film managed to outdo it by maintaining an even more frenetic pace, using itās bigger budget to create better and gorier special effects, and being the first modern horror film to successfully combine elements of horror with slapstick comedy. Bruce Campbell returns in his iconic role of Ash, as we first see a 7 minute or so recap of the first film (reshot just with his character and that of his girlfriend), before we pick it up starting with the wild final shot of the original as we go into the new story, which involves a new group of characters (led by the very sexy daughter of the ill-fated Professor who had been living in the cabin) getting together and heading towards that infamous cabin, but while weāre waiting for them to arrive, Ash is left by himself to battle the demons that torment him, even as we realize that Campbell himself is brilliantly putting on a one man show for the entire first forty minutes of the film, effortlessly carrying the whole enterprise as Ash has now evolved from the stoic, straight arrow guy from the first film to a wiseass, badass, all around supercool action hero, the Indiana Jones of horror so to speak, complete with corny yet funny one liners (āYouāre going down!ā āSwallow this.ā). As we watch Ash battle his undead girlfriend, fight off the possession they put on him (the only person ever to do so), get chased through the cabin by the demons, find his hand becoming possessed before lopping it off at the wrist, then battling the severed hand in a duel to the death, we instantly wake up to Campbellās charm and charisma that we may have overlooked previously, and wonder still why he never made the A-list. Once the other characters arrive, the film starts to resemble its predecessor a bit, with Sarah Berry a stunning, overlooked beauty as The Professorās daughter with her bland, non-descript boyfriend (she quickly clings to Ash after heās disposed of), and a hillbilly couple played by Dan Hicks (making his character so nasty and unlikable that his death scene canāt come soon enough), and Kassie Wesley (in a role as written that was based upon Holly Hunter), but the craziness and the gore continue regardless, unable to kick into high gear because it was already that way from the first minute on. It all leads to a showdown with the dead professorās demon wife (Ted Raimi with a LOT of makeup on), and the summoning in the flesh of the demon itself from which the entire origin of The Evil Dead is said to have come, leading up to the legendary ending, the precursor to arguably the greatest cult film of all time and the third film in the series, Army Of Darkness. In the end, a triumph that continues to show Raimiās genius on display, and the legend of Ashley J. Williams marches onā¦
10/10