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Evil Dead II
Action Horror / English / 1987
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Supposedly this movie bridges The Evil Dead with Army of Darkness tonally by being a more schlocky comedy horror movie. All I know is somebody gets an eyeball shot across a room into their mouth, complete with eyeball cam, and Ash somehow gets transported to the dark ages.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
This is a markedly better movie that The Evil Dead.
Rather than being a direct sequel to The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II feels more like a remix and deliberate setup for Army of Darkness.
Ash is back with another girlfriend named Linda, takes her to a similar cabin in the woods, finds the same tape recorder, and unleashes the same wooded evil that torments the cast by possessing each of them one by one.
We basically get a super quick rehash of the first movie in the first 20 minutes of this movie, and by the 20 minute mark, it drops all pretenses and suddenly Ash is having a slapstick chainsaw struggle with a headless puppet.
Ash has more alone time in this movie since his girlfriend is possessed and killed super early on, so there's a stronger emphasis on him going mad in the presence of the evil spirits that will happily cackle at him if they can't kill him.
The family of man who owns the cabin and discovered what is only now called the "Necronomicon" eventually show up and sequentially add themselves to the antagonists' ranks and we even get some very brief flashbacks to the origin of the book that spawns this evil, so there's a tiny bit more lore in this movie for those that want it.
The puppetry and fight scenes are pretty clownshoes early on, which is fine, and there's a fair bit less gore overall in this movie, which I appreciate (the walls spewing blood in Ash's face was pretty unnecessary and predictable though).
Ash also gets possessed twice in the movie, although both times he's inexplicably cured by sunlight and his memories of a necklace, and this principle isn't echoed any other time in the movie, so super deus ex machina bullshit. Also making any actor try to fight off their own hand is just asking them to embarrass themselves.
Obviously the main reason to see this movie is to see Ash suit up with the shotgun and chainsaw arm and start spitting catchphrases, that's definitely the highlight. Couldn't really pick out a highlight of the previous movies.
My biggest grievances regarding production quality is also assuaged here; I really didn't notice any glaring continuity errors or blatantly cheap props... although the basement still has weird light sources, it at least doesn't dwell on those shots long enough for you to notice. I wouldn't have mentioned them if I hadn't noticed it in the previous movie.
I will say, however, that the medieval armor the characters were wearing at the end did not look historically accurate. Source: I'm a geek.
Similar to the first, this movie also picks up right away and maintains a nice brisk pace throughout the whole runtime.
Overall, not scary in the slightest, but definitely a more enjoyable movie experience.
Final Verdict: [Okay]
Evil Dead II
Action Horror / English / 1987
WHY'D I WATCH IT?
Supposedly this movie bridges The Evil Dead with Army of Darkness tonally by being a more schlocky comedy horror movie. All I know is somebody gets an eyeball shot across a room into their mouth, complete with eyeball cam, and Ash somehow gets transported to the dark ages.
WHAT'D I THINK? *SPOILERS*
This is a markedly better movie that The Evil Dead.
Rather than being a direct sequel to The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II feels more like a remix and deliberate setup for Army of Darkness.
Ash is back with another girlfriend named Linda, takes her to a similar cabin in the woods, finds the same tape recorder, and unleashes the same wooded evil that torments the cast by possessing each of them one by one.
We basically get a super quick rehash of the first movie in the first 20 minutes of this movie, and by the 20 minute mark, it drops all pretenses and suddenly Ash is having a slapstick chainsaw struggle with a headless puppet.
Ash has more alone time in this movie since his girlfriend is possessed and killed super early on, so there's a stronger emphasis on him going mad in the presence of the evil spirits that will happily cackle at him if they can't kill him.
The family of man who owns the cabin and discovered what is only now called the "Necronomicon" eventually show up and sequentially add themselves to the antagonists' ranks and we even get some very brief flashbacks to the origin of the book that spawns this evil, so there's a tiny bit more lore in this movie for those that want it.
The puppetry and fight scenes are pretty clownshoes early on, which is fine, and there's a fair bit less gore overall in this movie, which I appreciate (the walls spewing blood in Ash's face was pretty unnecessary and predictable though).
Ash also gets possessed twice in the movie, although both times he's inexplicably cured by sunlight and his memories of a necklace, and this principle isn't echoed any other time in the movie, so super deus ex machina bullshit. Also making any actor try to fight off their own hand is just asking them to embarrass themselves.
Obviously the main reason to see this movie is to see Ash suit up with the shotgun and chainsaw arm and start spitting catchphrases, that's definitely the highlight. Couldn't really pick out a highlight of the previous movies.
My biggest grievances regarding production quality is also assuaged here; I really didn't notice any glaring continuity errors or blatantly cheap props... although the basement still has weird light sources, it at least doesn't dwell on those shots long enough for you to notice. I wouldn't have mentioned them if I hadn't noticed it in the previous movie.
I will say, however, that the medieval armor the characters were wearing at the end did not look historically accurate. Source: I'm a geek.
Similar to the first, this movie also picks up right away and maintains a nice brisk pace throughout the whole runtime.
Overall, not scary in the slightest, but definitely a more enjoyable movie experience.
Final Verdict: [Okay]