Evil Dead 2: Dead By
Dawn
1987
Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie
Wesley, Ted Raimi
Rated R
We just cut up our
girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that
sound “fine”?
~Ash’s mirror image
The second installment of the Evil Dead trilogy is the bridge between the first film and Army of
Darkness in terms of tone. Whereas the
first film was a straight horror film, the 2nd adds a level of humor
while still able to maintain jumps, scares and intensity. This film is definitely one of the earlier
and most notable films in the splatstic sub-genre of horror. The film also
serves as pretty much a big budget remake of the first film.
Sam Raimi originally didn't want to tackle a second Evil Dead or tackle it so soon. His second film fizzled financially
and critically, so he went straight back to the well. He wanted to make what became Army of Darkness for this second story, but he didn't get the cash to be able to pull it off. So instead, he went this route, setting it up
so that hopefully he could return back to the Evil Dead and actually make it the next time around. While there’s a spike in insanity, humor and
gore in this film, there’s also an amping up of the Raimi. There is all sorts of camera work and Three
Stooge homages going on in the film.
Evil Dead 2 also
throws a call back to another horror franchise of the time. Freddy Krueger’s glove appears in the
background of the tool shed in the film.
It’s the actual one too. Here’s
how this plays out. In the cellar of the
cabin in The Evil Dead, there is a ripped poster for The Hills Have Eyes (a Wes Craven film) as an homage to The Hills Have Eyes having a ripped Jaws poster in the background. A
Nightmare On Elm Street then responded by having Nancy watching The Evil Dead in that film. And here we have Evil Dead 2’s response. The
next step, I believe, was the Necronomicon appearing in the Voorhees house in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. So if you were EVER wondering, this is where
Ash fits into all the Freddy Vs. Jason
Vs. Ash hub bub.
Speaking of Ash, here he is.
This Ash is a bit more confident in himself before his girlfriend
turns. He’s also more of that “schmuck”
type that Raimi always refers to him as.
Once he’s greeted with our new cast he takes shape, rising above and
wanting to face evil. However, he’s just
doing it because he’s watching out for himself.
As we see at the end when he’s called on to fulfill a prophecy and
realizes its him, he’s quite upset and disappointed.
We get some new characters in this film. And aside from Annie, they’re all pretty much
fodder for the deadites. And because
Annie is tied to the events of the first film (her father was the one on the
recording) and is a force to help fight, its quite shocking that she is killed
at the film’s climax. The other
characters serve for goofiness, possession, death and to relive events of the first
film.
If you’re not familiar with Evil Dead 2, its pretty much the same approach Terminator 2 took to making the sequel. Figuring that the first film, while praised
and reasonable a hit, was likely not seen by the masses, you basically wanna
put more money into it. You try and hit
broader audience with a bigger, flashier version of the goods, retelling the
story with a little added depth and in the end progressing ever so slightly
further. Its effective in that it can
introduce a larger amount of people while also completely satisfying fans and
newbies at the same time.
Evil Dead 2 is a
very fun time, and I wish I would've had the opportunity to see this film at a
midnight screening in a theater packed with horror junkies. That would've been quite a treat. The film has a bigger budget, but still
maintains that feel of someone not having the money to do everything they want,
but going for it anyway. There’s a lot
of fun moments and definite crowd-pleasers in this film. Watch it by yourself, watch it with a big
group, you’re bound to have a good time.
“Join Us” next time for ARMY
OF DARKNESS
Hail to the King, baby!
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