"I'll swallow your soul!" "Swallow this!"

Rating: 9/10 (21 October 2012)

Sam Raimi and company meld horror and humour in this one-of-a-kind, lively sequel to the "original experience in gruelling terror". They know very well that sometimes when things are simply insane, all you can do is laugh. They begin by recapping the first movie, although have to tell the story differently, not being able to obtain the rights to use archive footage. Then they launch into one of the most uproarious assaults on the senses that genre fans will ever see. Written by Raimi and fellow filmmaker Scott Spiegel, it has a delightfully over the top nature yet stops short of winking at the audience (the actors play everything very straight, as well they should). Basically, this is as fun as the genre can get. When poor, poor Ash (Bruce Campbell, now a co-producer as well) is nearly drowned in blood, or what looks to be ink, or whatever, it's impossible not to chortle. And Raimi continues to pay tribute to slapstick comedy with the films' most memorable sequence, in which Ash is victimized by his own possessed hand. One has to hand it to Campbell; this guy is one hell of a good sport, putting up with a lot as Raimi & co. set up to abuse him as much as possible. He's flying through trees, landing in puddles, being tortured physically and mentally, yet somehow he gets through it all. Here he's also starting to show signs of the character he would become in "Army of Darkness". The new cast members acquit themselves well, and some of them get roughed up pretty badly, too: Sarah Berry is Annie, daughter of the professor who started the whole mess in the first place, Dan Hicks is scruffy rube Jake, Kassie Wesley DePaiva his girl Bobby Joe, and Sam's younger brother Ted is a riot as the possessed version of Annie's dear old mom. Indicative of the nature of the film is when an eyeball pops out of a witches' head and flies right into Bobby Joe's mouth, not to mention the moment when objects in the cabin, including a lamp, laugh their asses off. Elements such as grasping trees and the "Force" p.o.v. cam return, and the special effects are pretty damn amusing, especially the "Rotten Apple Head" we see towards the end of the film. As in the first "Evil Dead", we do get some valleys in between the various peaks, but things do build nicely towards an energetic finale. The ending, paving the way for "Army of Darkness", is pretty ingenious and features a cameo by none other than Sam himself. That hilarious poster promises a great time for the audience, and delivers on that promise. A comedy-horror classic. Nine out of 10.