| Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn A Review Sam Raimi's sequel to his gory schlock horror bonanza, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn stands as a semi-comic, semi-horror movie, again starring Bruce Campbell in the hero role of Ash. As the video cover states "Kiss your nerves goodbye," this is a true horror fest. However, the included comedy raises more laughs than the horror raises screams. Despite this, however, this film still serves up a platter of shocks, mocks and occasionally nauseating spills. Watch out for the infamous removal of a hand with a chainsaw, you don't see it, but the scene is actually better for not dunking our eyes in it. Melody Maker stated that this film has the "capacity to grab us by the scruff of the neck and drag us screaming to our knees," while Sky Magazine says the movie has "better gags, better ghouls and better gross-out effects than the original Evil Dead." To some extent this is true. This movie has much better special effects, although they sometimes serve for a comedic purpose rather than visceral horror and splatter. However, of all sources, The Financial Times (FT) states that this is "a horror film of glorious inventiveness." This is definitely true. The scene where Ash battles with his possessed hand is hilarious and has obviously left a lasting effect on the horror genre as such films as Idle Hands have based their entire plot on this one scene. From the first film, the chainsaw makes a re-appearance, while Freddy Krueger's knife-fingered glove makes an interesting cameo in the cellar at the side of the screen for a brief moment! Wes Craven had used The Evil Dead in A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984, so this was Raimi's way of settling the score in 1987. You may notice that the cabin seems somewhat disjointed from the last film and doesn't quite seem right. Well that's because the original cabin actually burnt down a short time after The Evil Dead was filmed, in this movie, the cabin was on the set of The Colour Purple and was made to look like the original. Evil Dead 2 is a partial remake of the first film and also serves as a 'middle fingers up' to the censors who were more than a little shocked and appalled with the first film. Although, the shocks are marred by this film's horror comic capacity. But still, horror and comedy do go together, especially in this movie where the humour is subtle. In this film, Ash goes to the woods with his girlfriend, (this time Linda is played by another actress) and it is not long before she is possessed by the dead and comes calling for Ash, resulting in another spade beheading followed by her headless corpse dancing in the moonlight! The splatter of the movie really gets going when Ash is forced to pull the chainsaw out again and hack his girlfriend's head in two, but not before hacking up the body. Until the other characters make an appearance into the story, this film is terrific. The inclusion of the other characters at times ruins the story somewhat with some dodgy acting, but the eye-in-mouth shot is priceless. For the first half an hour, the film is strong and a terrific foray into horror, but soon after the 'room laughing' scene when the other characters come into the story, the film sags a little and becomes a little slow, but as the others begin to succumb to the undead, the film picks back up again. Some people favour the first movie; some favour this one best. But the jury is still out on which one is best. By the end of the movie, the whole formula seems to fall together into an orgy of frantic demon bashing and gory shocks followed by the destruction of the cabin by undead trees! At this point, it might seem a little past ridiculous, but it still proves to be attention grabbing resulting in a final fate for Ash as he is transported back in time to 1300 AD to fight the 'deadites' in their world. Watch out for the shot where Ash is being sucked through the woods and travels left across the camera view, at the top of the screen you can clearly see the pulley system tugging him along! The special effects are better and less scrappy than in the first movie, but not as horrific, yet still jaw dropping in their coolness factor. Certain scenes are fantastic and there are some deleted shots such as a scene where a demon gets his head sliced in half and hacked to pieces on the floor! The lighting is much the same as the first movie, dark and scary and always offers a darkened corner here and a dark cellar there while the buzz of the chainsaw is riveting while the single handed demon bashing of Ash proves to be more action orientated than horror. If this wasn't a horror film, this could easily be mistaken for a slow Schwarzenegger flick at times! Overall, this is a great movie that is definitely worth a watch. Whether it is better than part one is still to be seen, but this is definitely more horrifying that part three, which was pure comedy and also saw skeletons walking for the most part instead of blood-dripping zombies. Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn is a classic of the horror genre and one for the collection. A great piece of filmmaking that serves plate after plate of gore-drenched horror with a pinch of comedic salt. A light-hearted horror romp through the terror of the dark and spooky woods, a definite classic. |