EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN
Can't sleep...witch'll eat me...
Before I saw Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn for the first time, I saw the trailer for Army Of Darkness, which featured that car and poor Ash falling from the sky. Purely by coincidence, I rented this movie about two weeks later, and was gleeful at having stumbled across a connection like that. How often does that happen?
Evil Dead 2 starts with a terrific intro where we're shown the stylized creation of the Necronomicon - the book of the dead (duh). We see ink appear on each page, with fascinating drawings and cryptic writings (I'd like to see what these pictures and "words" were based on), as a narrator tells us of its capabilities and origins.
Then, the entirety of The Evil Dead is re-created in miniature, with some of the basics messed around (there's now only two visitors instead of four) but the spirit of things essentially intact. Last we saw of Ash (Bruce Campbell), he just got pounced on by the unseen entity that is the...whatever the hell it is. The conveniently-timed rising of the sun saves him from demon possession, but it sets just as quickly, and Ash must battle out the night with the demons, as four travelers arrive at the backwoods cabin to join in the fun.
This movie feels a bit like a retread because, well, it is. Sure, it's got more grue, more effects, a LOT more slapstick, and a way funnier performance by Campbell, but it really is just The Evil Dead on a higher budget. Virtually all traces of terror from the first film - which were faded quickly enough by its second viewing - are gone; this is the movie I watched to calm my nerves after seeing The Blair Witch Project.
It is indeed goofy as hell - this was my fifth viewing of the film, and I swear, each time I forget to anticipate that eyeball flying through the air and landing in that chick's mouth. So I still laugh. What minimal horrific impact this movie might have is definitely overshadowed by the laughs, provided both by the gore and Campbell's awesomely inspired macho posturing.
The rest of the cast is nothing special, although Kassie DePaiva as Bobby-Jo and Sarah Berry as Ash's soon-to-be-headless girlfriend Annie are really, really hot. Ain't no two ways about it. Goddammit, I'm horny.
The creature effects are mostly done in stop-motion, and are enjoyably hokey; Sam Raimi knows that when it comes to some things, good enough is good enough, and perfect is always a pain in the ass and rarely worth the trouble. The gore is plentiful and all well-done, never presenting itself too seriously, so it's easy to take.
And yes, there's demon action galore. You get to see Ash chainsaw off his own hand, screaming out "WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!?!?" like a madman. Later, the chainsaw is attached to his ragged stump to become a limb of destruction! Heads spin, necks elongate, blood sprays like it was from a fire hose, headless naked corpses dance around (alas, this was just a stop-motion model, and not really Berry who looks like she has a really great bod and I'd love to see her naked). How can you not like a movie that presents us with the irony of a severed head crying out not to be hurt?
This movie seems to be the widespread favorite of the series, but I'm still going to have to give my preference to the original, which just seems fresher overall. Maybe it's just my prejudice against movies that resolve things with the recitation of magic words.
Inspired a song by Meliah Rage called "Swallow Your Soul", and one form of opponent in the video game Blood (crawling hands that say "I'll swallow your soul!" and can be killed with a single shotgun blast, but if they get a hold of you, you're as good as dead).