No-holds-barred...

Rating: 8/10 (3 February 2002)

This time around, Sam Raimi throws in everything but the proverbial kitchen sink. It's an odd mix, bloody horror and slapstick humor (see Charlie Chaplin's THE GREAT DICTATOR, in particular the scene where a man is lynched from a lightpost, and you'll understand what I'm getting at here). Not that it can't be done, of course; we've seen it done, and done well, in movies like THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, etc.; but it was more than a little strange to walk into a theater to see the sequel to one of the spookiest shoestring-budget shockers of all time, THE EVIL DEAD, and find oneself laughing one's head off. Money changes everything. Raimi indulges himself (to the point of overindulgence), and yuck follows yick in this no-holds-barred assault on the senses. Although I prefer my horror straight, I'm also able to laugh when the opportunity presents itself, and Raimi kept me laughing throughout this one. EVIL DEAD II: DEAD BY DAWN qualifies as an immensely ENTERTAINING film, but I'm not sure if I'd classify it in any way as a "horror" film (in title only, perhaps)...