Evil Dead II Thrusts Tons Of Crazy Well-Crafted Scares On The Audience

If you thought Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) had already been through hell watching all of his friends and his girlfriend get killed by demonic spirits in the first Evil Dead movie, just wait until you see how Evil Dead II puts this character through the wringer. Continuing right where the first one left off, Ash is trapped in the forest where that fateful cabin he and his friends got trapped in resides with there being no way to escape. He's stuck here with these Candarian Demons, who are bent on messing with his mind and eventually devouring him. Just because Ash is up against formidable supernatural forces though doesn't mean this guy is about to go down without a fight.

His situation gets complicated by the arrival of four individuals, most notably Annie Knowby (Sarah Berr), the daughter of the scientist who first unleashed these Candarian Demons, all of whom are woefully unprepared for the kind of horrors Ash has been facing. With escape being an impossibility, Ash and company must figure out a way to possibly send these Candarian Demons back from whence they came. In the meantime, Ash has his trusty chainsaw by his side to chop up as many possessed dead people as possible. Like I said, even after all that Ash went through in the first Evil Dead film, Ash's adventures with these Candarian Demons has only begun, 

The original Evil Dead was thought of as one of the most grotesque motion pictures of its day and age and that public perception only served to heighten the level of mystique surrounding the project and helped turn it into a cult classic. It's doubtful anyone involved in the shoestring-budget first movie treated the idea of doing a sequel as anything more than a joke, but six years after its predecessor was released, 1987 brought out Evil Dead II. This one isn't quite as strong as the original motion picture in my book (I believe that's considered blasphemy to say in horror movie geek circles) but it's still a mighty entertaining horror feature that shows a brazen anything-goes sensibility that's quite tantalizing. 

More than anything else, Evil Dead II is like a haunted house attraction put into film form and it's a sublime haunted house attraction at that. Monsters brought to life by impressive practical effects and stop-motion animation run rampant here, blood emerges in geyser form and there's no telling just what madness these Candarian Demons may have waiting in the wings for Ash and the people he's trapped with. These demons are looking to break his mind as well as his body (just like Bane!) and that means we get a lot of just flat-out insanity to witness, most notably a scene where all of the objects in the cabin begin to mockingly laugh at Ash.

Sam Raimi, like fellow future blockbuster director Peter Jackson, is all about excess in his horror films and Raimi is able to make that overabundance of all things creepy and crawly more entertaining than tiring. Keeping the movie running at a tight 80 minutes before the credits kick in is a smart way to achieve that as it means the story doesn't have a chance to run out of gas like it likely would if it ran for two hours or so. Also helping keep the movie light on its feet is the choice of Bruce Campbell to headline the project. Campbell reprises his role of Ash from the first Evil Dead but this time Campbell plays the character as a straight-up action hero and it's a persona Campbell is able to sell exquisitely. 

Not only does have Campbell have real charm in his performance here but I also like the way he portrays Ash being able to fully go toe-to-toe with these Candarian Demons. Sure, he's rightfully scared of 'em but he's not going down without a fight and his determination results in Ash engaging in moments of craftiness and skillfulness that Bruce Campbell is adept at depicting. He also seems to engage fully with Evil Dead II's unique anything-goes approach to ballistic horror and that means we've got a script, a lead actor and a whole bunch of scares that are working in wonderful tandem together. You've gotta put real care into making your blood-and-guts drenched horror fare work just right and Evil Dead II certainly has both the craftsmanship and the fun scares to clearly demonstrate it's done just that.