Infectiously Energetic, Outrageously Gory

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2011)

What points this loses in coherence and structure it immediately makes right back with energy, ingenuity and downright entertainment value. Little more than a one man show, Evil Dead 2 is where Bruce Campbell really made his name, and deservedly so. Whether he's shrieking like a little girl at the sight of a poorly-animated headless marionette, cackling deviously as he nails down his own evil right hand or playing it cool as the gritty, badass soldier-man with a chainsaw appendage, Campbell boldly plants his flag right in the center of every scene. I can't begin to imagine the kind of fun he and director Sam Raimi must have had cooking up one outlandish, unbelievable situation after the other, then playing it up on-screen to this degree. It's a film you'll never quite nail down - is it meant to be serious or slapstick - and that's precisely why it works so well. A load of fun that escalates faster than you can blink.