Sequel to Evil Dead opts for laughs - "slapstick gore" as its has been labelled. Give me the original any time!

Rating: 4/10 (29 May 2013)

As a trilogy, Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series doesn't really weigh up. The first film is an ultra low-budget – but quite suspensefully made – gore film, containing many genuinely unnerving moments thanks to its clever camera work and editing. The second and third films in the series change the tone and style completely, aiming instead for a cartoonishly over-the-top comedy feel – 'slapstick gore' as it has been described in some circles, reminiscent of a Three Stooges movie except that it's full of dismemberment and other such bloody delights. If you're after a serious, genuinely scary style of film, then Part One is the one to watch. If you're after something spectacularly bloody yet simultaneously humorous, then numbers 2 and 3 fit the bill. For me, the original Evil Dead is a quintessential master-class in low budget horror-making skillful, tight, often very frightening. This sequel doesn't really work, showing too much affinity for its madcap gore and monsters. Evil Dead II has a much larger cult following than its predecessor but, at risk of upsetting this army of loyal fans, I'm going to stick my neck out and admit I really don't like it.
Survivor of the original film Ash (Bruce Campbell) is unable to escape from the woodland cabin where he so recently endured the mother of all bad nights. Trapped for yet another evening, he prepares himself to endure more freakish horrors as the light begins to fade. He is joined by four outsiders – Annie (Sarah Berry), whose parents originally unleashed the demons in the cabin whilst researching the Book of the Dead; Ed (Richard Domeier), a professor who is also Annie's research partner and boyfriend; Jake (Dan Hicks), a white-trash handyman; and Bobby Joe (Kassie DePaiva), Jake's air-headed trailer-trash girlfriend. The five inhabitants of the cabin are left to endure various spooky events, bloodthirsty demon attacks, bodily possessions/invasions, and so on and so forth, before they finally figure out a way to send the demons back from whence they came.
Raimi's bigger budget proves a curse rather than a blessing here. He doesn't need to build up to the shock moments slowly and carefully this time around. If he requires an elaborate monster to pop up suddenly, then that is just what happens if he needs gallons of blood and bile to gush forth rather than a mere trickle, then gallons is what he gets. The unfortunate thing is that the original worked so well because Raimi had figured out that often less can be more – his slow and skillful build-ups created real intensity. That philosophy is completely dismissed here, as Raimi opts to throw a non-stop barrage of gross and gooey carnage at the viewer right from the start. There's still a degree of inventiveness on show, especially in the scene where Ash has to sever his own hand after it becomes possessed. The sight of his uncontrollable 'demon hand' smashing plates over his head and trying to gouge at his own face, not to mention dragging his unconscious body across the floor, is rather funny. Sadly, in other parts of the film much of the humour over-shoots the mark, coming across as 'frantic' and 'hysterical' rather than genuinely funny. The acting is pretty terrible all-round. Campbell has a goofy self-confidence which enables him to nearly get away with it but the others simply look inept, their hopelessly amateurish efforts serving only to damage the film further. Evil Dead II will undoubtedly appeal to some, with its penchant for bad taste comedy and breakneck slapstick carnage. However, if its outlandish sense of humour is not to your taste, you may find this a very long 84 minutes indeed.