As much a reboot as it is a sequel

Rating: 9/10 (28 February 2015)

After enjoying a cult success with the original straight horror film The Evil Dead Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell return with a bigger budget and a lot of laughs for this much loved sequel.
The film starts by altering the story from the original. Rather than travelling to the cabin with friends, Ash takes his girlfriend to the cabin alone and then has to shoot her and bury her after they read the Book of the Dead. Bruce Campbell is then left to run riot in the cabin with a possessed hand, laughing inanimate objects and more physical comedy. He is eventually joined by Annie, whose father discovered the Book of the Dead, and some yokels who helped her get there.
Ash cuts his hand off and replaces it with a chainsaw, people get possessed, including Ash, who is able to shake it off, and then Annie's dead father tells her she can use the Book of the Dead to defeat the zombies. As she dies she is able to suck all the evil into a whirling vortex, and Ash as well. He arrives in medieval England to set up the sequel.
This is a pretty good comedy horror, made at a time when most horror films were comedic in tone. Bruce Campbell is terrific, if quite over the top, and everyone does what the director asks them to do. The effects are hokey in parts, but overall are good and a big step up from the original.
Evil Dead II is an effective continuation of the original film which notches up both the gore and the fun. An exceptionally entertaining and infinitely watchable sequel that deserves its reputation.