L'opéra de la terreur 2

...but has thoroughly enjoyed the second one since it came out in 1987. From reading other comments apparently history has been rewritten in relation to the first, but I can't speak to that. Let me just say that if you haven't seen the first one the second one fills in enough details that you know what is going on.

The film starts with Ash and girlfriend Linda taking a romantic weekend trip to a cabin. It's a cabin that Ash knows about, but says he does not know the owners, thus he really doesn't know their whereabouts. He says they'll just claim to have gotten lost in the woods if they show up. The cabin is actually where Professor Knowby brought the recently discovered Book of the Dead. We know this because Ash finds the tape recorder and plays Knowby's entries. On the tape Knowby speaks aloud the words that are supposed to resurrect the evil dead - those evil spirits that inhabit the forest and world around us. Once brought to life they can apparently manipulate objects and possess people at will, in search of a way back into this world via possession and a way to harvest souls for hell. Those spoken words do their work, and the evil dead are brought back to this world. Well it is nighttime, and since that is when the evil dead are active they immediately begin to make Ash's life a living hell.

Meanwhile, Knowby's daughter Annie is on her way to the cabin with more pages from the Book of the Dead where she thinks her parents are doing research. She has with her a research assistant, and two locals who show her a way around the destroyed bridge that leads over the canyon to the cabin - a bridge destroyed by the evil dead to trap Ash where he is.

There is confusion at first as Ash fires a shotgun through a closed door when he hears the four trying to enter the cabin - considering what he's been through up to that point that's no wonder. Likewise, at first Annie looks at the blood and destruction of the cabin and thinks Ash killed her parents. However, it is soon obvious what the real enemy is here, one you cannot see or hear, one that can possess anything, anyone, or even just part of a person. It can make the dead appear as they did in life, it can make the living appear as demons. One particularly creative thing done here is that you see things occasionally from the evil spirits' viewpoint as they rush through the woods, making an awful roaring noise, headed towards the cabin.

The action and the chaos just never lets up from the time the forces of evil first attack the cabin. It's hard to describe, and I know it sounds strange, but there is enough tongue in cheek humor merged with some really riveting horror, that you don't feel completely drained from the intensity of it all. For example, when you have both a possessed lamp and a possessed stuffed deer head laughing at you, things get both so horrible and funny that you feel you are watching a satire of a horror film. Only the very end confused me a bit, and maybe that is because I haven't seen the first film. I'd recommend it as horror well done in a different and creative style.

The movie is basically like the first one but with better effects and more laughs. Evil Dead II is a Horror/Comedy at its finest. This film did set up all the hype about the franchise and it did its job very good. You will laugh, get scared and see some stunning effects for this budget.

Evil Dead II, the movie that we have to thank for it all.

8/10

"The Exorcist" made you feel respect and fear to the Devil. Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead II" makes fun of the Devil and demon possession. Although there are some really scary scenes, there are some really twisted funny situations that would leave you wondering "what the f*** just happened?!". The movie is funny for the wrong reasons. I eventually don't laugh about when a man is breaking himself dishes on the head. I don't think it's funny when a man is repeatedly beaten up by grotesque characters. I would never imagine a man getting eaten by a demon locked under a cellar and throwing gallons of blood! "Evil Dead II" makes it look hilarious in a wicked kind of way. For example, when Linda's head tells Ash that "she is being tormented, and suffering in hell; you can feel a little scared but the next scene has a corpse without a head holding a chainsaw. There's no time for logic here, just sit and enjoy!

It also has the ability to make you feel tense and I must say, scared. The combination of demon possessed people, EVIL sounds (I love the weird noise in the movie), wicked laughs and chanting ("dead by dawn!"), and intrepid camera angles are the perfect ingredients to make a sui generis Horror-Comedy movie. Watch out for the "A Farewell to Arms" joke, the whole situation with the evil hand, and the eye that gets in a woman's mouth!.

Sam Raimi went too far for the good reasons. He created an unbelievable and unforgettable work that has served as inspiration for many movies in recent years. The movie is easily one of the most visually stunning Horror movies of all time, for sure. Die hard fans of gore get an eye candy for an hour and a half. Raimi created a cult movie in all the sense of the world. "Groovy!". "Dead by Dawn" will never bore you because in every scene there's a feeling of uncertainty and that makes it even more interesting. There are no rules here.

The plot is as scary as you can imagine but it's held in such a way that it isn't taken very seriously. I mean, demon possession caused by the Necronomicon is something that happens in the real world. Not exactly with that book but it can happen via satanic books and rituals. Raimi takes it to a different level of humor mixed with gore.

Bruce Campbell deserves a special mention. He delivers a wicked, solid, and totally believable performance. Something you haven't seen before mainly because of the strange situations he goes through. His performance could be described as a "solo". Easily, one of the best performances of any actor in a Horror movie. Also, one of the characters that suffers the most in any movie! Ash is beaten up by demons, humans, objects, etc. Even possessed creatures make fun of him.

The gore here is great, glorious. You get decaps, mutilated bodies, a hand cut off, bleeding demons, etc. Blood spread all over the cabin is the common denominator. One of the goriest movies of all time.

Watch "Evil Dead II" to witness one of the most creative, brave, and goriest movies of all time. It delivers something for everyone. It has action, gore, spectacular camera angles, and some action! Check out Ash V.S. possessed Henrietta. * After it, phrases like "join us!", "swallow this!", and specially "groovy!" will be part of your daily vocabulary.

Recommended for every Horror fan in the world. This movie is an obligation to watch.

This film, is without a shadow of a doubt, one of finest, most imaginative comedy horror films ever made. Raimi, has put all the aspects of the film together in masterful fashion. The camera work and sound effects are pulsating, and the timing is perfection. And in Bruce Campbell, the film as a lead actor who gives an exceptional performance. Campbell plays "Ash", an everyday, supermarket attendant who suddenly finds himself thrown into the unusual situation of having to defend himself against, zombies, evil spirits and even his own possessed hand, just in order to survive the night. I laughed, I gasped, and I gripped the arm of my chair throughout! If you like your comedies, black and hilarious, and your horror, gory and sensational, then look no further. Raimi has created the definitive comedy horror! Fantastic!

This is the type of film we really wish we made ourselves before some else thought of it. It's intelligent but not entirely complex ... entirely enjoyable yet a serious piece of film making ... everything adds up to cult status. It's the type of film your uninformed friends (or mine at least, I'm surely surrounded by fools) dismiss as trash without giving it a chance.

Raimi showed us the thrills, chills and blackly tinged laughs he could bring about in the first in the series on a virtually non-existent budget. Here with just that little bit more he retreads old ground but everything still works ... probably more effectively too! Seeing some of props used and slightly off production values (the 'muppet' headless girlfriend in the shed, the demon head stuck to camera attacking Ash towards the end, Ted Raimi's ripped old lady from hell suit and the quickest of glimpses of set floor boards during one stage of shooting) shows how Raimi was still constrained by budget issues.

Seriously though, who cares ... this film has 6 different colours of blood, some seriously funny slap-stick scenes (didn't think I'd say that anytime soon) and a chemistry between lead Campbell and director Raimi that let the jokes flow freely.

Campbell proves himself a master of face contortion, self-harm as well as flipping himself over! So many classic scenes in such a short space of time ... my favourite being when Jake is dragged into the cellar and a torment of pink blood comes pumping out. The camera work is as dynamic and as fast paced as in the first outing, the shot of ash standing by the remains of the bridge at the start of film standing out for its grandness among otherwise less cinematic shots.

The film leads on nicely to the 3rd installment in the series with one-handed Ash getting sucked into another dimension to face the undead in jolly olde England (or something like that). It really is no wonder that the in-store geeks/pop-culture snobs of High Fidelty described Evil Dead II as the greatest movie of all time.

'Groovey' indeed.