Jon Monsarrat review: sub-intellectual and repetitively boring. Awful!

Rating: 1/10 (12 May 2002)

Let me admit from the start that I'm not a horror film guy. OK, I saw the original "Friday the 13th", I liked "The Shining" and "Halloween III", "Carrie", etc. and have a certain aesthetic appreciation. I just don't like to be scared half to death. I have enough stress and nightmares from my normal life, thank you very much.
But a friend told me to try out "Evil Dead II" as sort of a spoof, and sure enough, it wasn't very scary. But it sure was baaaaaaaad.
"Evil Dead II" is a parody of horror films, but comes out juvenile and lacking in every area, even worse than "Spaceballs". A parody needs to have a real plot and interesting characters, rather than just imitate in random sequences the films it's trying to parody.
"Evil Dead II" is a sequence of incredibly over-the-top gore and blood, and I found it to be as mindless and uninteresting as "Dumb and Dumber", but worse. There wasn't a clever pun or a clever twist that subtly pokes fun at the horror film industry in the entire movie.
To add to it all, the low budget effects, acting, everything. I like plenty of "cult" films: "Buckaroo Banzai", "Last Action Hero", "Monthy Python and the Holy Grail", "The Blue Brothers", because I realize that bad can become good, if it's campy and kind of fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. But this movie misses the mark in every way possible.
Who should see this film:
-- nobody, see "Scary Movie" instead
I'll give "Evil Dead II" a stunningly braindead 1 out of 10, an honor I reserve for very few films.