One groovy gore-fest

Even the scariest skeleton has a funnybone, and that’s as true of great horror comedies as it is of the human anatomy. And they don’t come much funnier or more frightful than Evil Dead II, the 1987 film directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams – a hapless hero who battles demonic forces after unwittingly unleashing them by playing a recording of passages from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the Book of the Dead. The plot here is threadbare, taking a backseat to the astounding visuals: Ash and his girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler) spend a night in a remote cabin where supernatural horrors are unleashed. After Linda becomes possessed, Ash must fight for his life and sanity as other characters – Annie Knowby (Sarah Berry), Jake (Dan Hicks), Bobby Joe (Kassie Wesley DePaiva), and Ed Getley (Richard Domeier) – arrive and are also drawn into the chaos. Blending over-the-top gore, zany levity, and inventive camera work – especially the fast-tracking shots from the demon’s POV that chase after the characters – Evil Dead II cemented Raimi’s signature style and Campbell’s status as a cult icon.

To listen to a recording of our CineVerse group discussion of Evil Dead II, conducted last week, click here (if you get an error, simply try refreshing the page).

This is both a sequel and a loose remake of the original Evil Dead (1982). Raimi didn’t have the rights to use previous footage from the first film to provide a recap to audiences, so he created a prologue that cribbed the setup from the first movie. But this this film doesn’t pick up exactly where it left off, and the lack of continuity is obvious – as demonstrated by the fact that Ash’s friends from the preceding picture are not shown or mentioned, and the Necronomicon and the cabin in the woods remain intact despite being destroyed in the predecessor. However, you don’t even need to see the first film to understand and enjoy this sequel: It works as a standalone experience. (Interestingly, the filmmakers originally wanted to place Ash fighting the Deadites in the Middle Ages, but producer Dino De Laurentiis insisted that the movie echo the setting of the original.)

Perhaps more than any other fright film, Evil Dead II effectively combines physical humor with scares and gore, becoming the “first-ever slapstick horror movie,” according to film critic Brian Eggert. Sight and Sound even placed it #34 on its list of the 50 Funniest Films of All Time. Comedy influences are apparent, including The Three Stooges, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Tex Avery cartoons, and vintage physical comedians like Buster Keaton. Raimi’s over-the-top approach to blood, gore, viscera, and violence pays off with deliriously exaggerated effects and gags that blunt what would otherwise be shocking and disturbing imagery. Even the dated special effects and stop motion animation give the film a handmade charm and retro aesthetic that still works in the 21st century.

It’s astonishing what actor Bruce Campbell is subjected to in terms of stunt work. The sequence where he battles his own possessed hand is debatably the high point of the film. Consider that a key chunk of the run time is spent with him alone in the cabin and the demonic forces, long before other secondary characters enter the domain.

Arguably, this film is the best in the series, boasting the highest score of any Evil Dead iteration from Rotten Tomatoes (88%). In fact, the Evil Dead saga remains one of the highest acclaimed and audience-beloved horror franchises, with every movie and even the television show Ash vs. Evil Dead garnering plaudits and relatively high scores from critics.

Those who pay close attention are richly rewarded, as Raimi and company tuck several playful Easter eggs into the movie, including Freddy Krueger’s signature clawed glove, seen dangling in the cabin’s basement and tool shed. This was part of an ongoing nod-and-wink exchange between Sam Raimi and Wes Craven. In A Nightmare on Elm Street, Nancy Thompson (played by Heather Langenkamp) drifts off while watching The Evil Dead on TV, itself a callback to The Evil Dead’s own background detail: a ripped The Hills Have Eyes poster. Raimi had included that poster as a sly response to the tattered Jaws poster featured in Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes – a tongue-in-cheek chain of horror filmmakers paying tribute to one another.

Similar works

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones)
• Re-Animator (1985, Stuart Gordon)
• Return of the Living Dead (1985, Dan O’Bannon)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986, Tobe Hooper)
• Army of Darkness (1992, Sam Raimi)
• Dead Alive (Braindead) (1992, Peter Jackson)
• Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)
• Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010, Eli Craig)

Other films by Sam Raimi

• The Evil Dead (1981)
• Army of Darkness (1992)
• The Quick and the Dead (1995)
• A Simple Plan (1998)
• Spider-Man (2002)
• Spider-Man 2 (2004)
• Drag Me to Hell (2009)
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)