One Of The Best Horror Films And Sequels Of All Time. A Classic Horror/Comedy.

Rating: 10/10 (15 February 2013)

Evil Dead II:Dead By Dawn is one of the best Horror films and Sequels ever made that brilliantly mixes Horror,Comedy,great direction,an excellent performance from Bruce Campbell and great special effects. Those are the reasons Evil Dead II is one of my favorite Horror films,one of my favorite sequels and one of my favorite movies of all time and why Evil Dead II is a true Horror classic.
Taking place right after the events in the first Evil Dead,our hero Ash(Bruce Campbell) is still at the cabin in the woods still trying to fight off the flesh possessing ghouls. Now with a group of strangers also in the cabin,Ash and the group must stay in the cabin and trying to fight and survive The Evil Dead or the demons will swallow their souls.
Evil Dead II:Dead By Dawn is such an amazing and brilliant Horror film because while it still has the scary feel of the first film,ED II takes on a different direction by adding Comedy into the mix and gives viewers one of the most insane,crazy and over the top Horror films of all time. Mixing Horror and Comedy together is never easy,but director Sam Raimi manages to pull it off so flawlessly. Raimi fills up the film with funny and imaginative slapstick and mixing it with over the top gore,making us laugh and squirm at the same time. Raimi is obviously a huge fan of The Three Stooges(even calling the stunt men fake Shemps)and Raimi applies that same slapstick Comedy and hilarious suffering with this film,especially with the character Ash. The character Ash goes through such maniacal and hilarious torture from either the demons or himself that you'll wonder if he'll make it out alive or lose his mind and that's one of the great things about the film. Horror and Comedy are two sides of the same coin and Raimi knows this because Raimi balances out both Horror and Comedy by taking the most horrifying situations and making them funny and also taking the funny situations and making them horrible and it's done in a smart way. EDII is one of the few films that can wonderfully and greatly mixes hilarious Comedy and over the top gore and the only films that can match it are other Horror Comedy classics such as The Return Of The Living Dead,An American Werewolf In London,Re-Animator and Dead Alive just to name a few. EDII and those other great Horror films are apart of the great Horror sub genre called Splatstick(a mixture and combination of Comedy and gore). Even though there is a lot hilarious Comedy,Raimi still knows that EDII is at heart a Horror film and Raimi gives viewers a lot scary,intense and suspenseful moments,using the demon POV shots with great effect and crazy insane energy using loud sound effects and dark atmosphere and Raimi lets his imagination run wild. This movie is like the first Evil Dead on a bad acid trip and you're coming along for a crazy ride. The movie's violence and gory scenes,while toned down from the first film(most of the blood and gore is red,green and blue)is still great and intense and matches the violence of the first film. The main character Ash is a lot different from the first film,where in the first one he was scared and heroic but in this film he's tough and heroic and willing to face the demons head-on and spitting out great one-liners,even though he still shows fear and terror. Ash is one of my all-time favorite movie characters cause of this film. The ending is great cliffhanger ending and is a good set-up for the follow-up Army Of Darkness and will have viewers laughing. There's been debate over the years about whether or not EDII is a sequel or a remake of the first film. While a few scenes are a remake of the first film,the whole film is a sequel and has it's own creativity and originality like the first film and is a classic like the first one.
The cast does a good job. Bruce Campbel gives a brilliant,hilarious performance as Ash,saying great one-liners,being tough,funny,taking out the demons with an iron fist. This performance made Ash a classic character of the Horror genre and made Bruce Campbell a B-movie icon,a Horror icon and a Genre movie icon. An excellent performance. Sarah Berry does a good job as Annie. Dan Hicks and Kassie Wesley give funny performances as rednecks Jake and Bobby Joe. Theodore Raimi(Sam's Brother)is funny and freaky as Possessed Henrietta. Richard Domeier does a good job as Ed,Annie's boyfriend. Denise Bixler(Linda),John Peakes(Professor Raymond Knowby)and Lou Hancock(Henrietta Knowby)give good performances as well.
The direction by Sam Raimi is excellent,with Raimi bringing manic,crazy energy to the film with great angles,close-ups and the POV shots of the demons and Raimi also does well in the scary and funny scenes. Great direction,Raimi.
The music score by Joseph Doluca is impressive and memorable and fits in with the insane,crazy energy of the film. Great score.
The special effects by K.N.B FX group are excellent,well-done,gory and at times very realistic and work for the film.
In final word,if you love Horror films,Cult films,Sam Raimi or Bruce Campbell,I suggest you see Evil Dead II:Dead By Dawn,a Horror classic that will stand the test of time and stay with you forever. Highly Recommended. 10/10.