Possibly the Best in the Genre

Rating: 9/10 (26 July 2006)

After making the mistake of going to a cabin in the woods in "Evil Dead", Ash Williams returns to the same cabin in the woods for "Evil Dead II" (although there is dispute whether this should be considered a sequel or a remake). When the evil dead are awakened by the incantations from the Necronomicon, only Ash has the sheer audacity to try and stop them from taking over the world.
This film does not have the best special effects ever, relying heavily on stop-motion animation and odd camera angles. The acting is more than a little campy. The plot is thin, particularly since it is a rehash of the first film. The action is a little bit silly. And for a horror film, it has virtually no swearing or nudity and much of the blood is not even red.
But still, a great many people consider this the greatest horror film of all time (with all due respect to "Jaws") and I consider it easily in the top ten of horror films (Internet Movie Database ranks it 45th). Even Roger Ebert, notorious anti-horror, gives it three out of four stars. And here is why.
This film shows what can be achieved with little money and a big imagination. Backwards filming, stop-motion animation, puppetry. Modern directors would rather use computers than rely on trick shots, but this film shows that costumes and Jell-O can go a long way. I am so sick of "scary movies" that try to scare me with some futuristic cartoon. Why not give me blood, gore and have fun while doing it? Could any film have been more fun than this?
The plot: a man and his girlfriend stay in a cabin and unleash the spirits of evil which can only be stopped with a careful reading of an ancient book. The same exact plot as "Evil Dead", this is basically a remake with a bigger budget with an injection of slapstick comedy and the removal of a crucial rape scene. (I understand why the rape scene was removed, but this was the most memorable part of the first film and it is strange they would neuter their bigger film.)
Sometimes the camera shots go too far. Sam Raimi likes some strange angles (see "Intruder") and he likes to use the zoom button on some weird objects a few too many times (though this gag is taken even further in "Army of Darkness"). The first twenty minutes has by far the most strange camera shots you will see in almost any film, and more than in the rest of the movie combined. People new to the film might find this overbearing. Heck, even I do not completely get it.
What works here is that we have all the Raimi regulars, who offer that perfect chemistry. Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, who are rarely far apart, offer some of the finest films in the past few decades. But do not forget co-writer Scott Spiegel, who also wrote "Intruder" and is a long-time Raimi associate (and played a great wandering minstrel for "2001 Maniacs"). Ted Raimi, Sam's brother, is a must for any good Raimi film (although his solo work, like "Skinner", is sometimes lacking).
And do not ever count out Danny Hicks, the redneck trouble-maker in this film ("Jake"). He has been with them for "Intruder", "Maniac Cop", "2001 Maniacs", "Darkman" and the upcoming "My Name is Bruce". Hicks is probably the most unsung of the troupe, and hardly deserves that backseat reputation. Hicks met Raimi on this film and has been with him ever since, and I can speak from personal experience when I say he goes out of his way to promote love for the horror genre.
When it comes down to brass tacks, this group works because the point here is to have fun... and because that is what horror is to me, fun. Fun with chainsaws. And if horror is fun, this film is one of the best horror films the world has to offer. How that ends up getting a guy the "Spider-Man" franchise is beyond me. But as the tagline says: "Kiss Your Nerves Goodbye", and also your worries, too, if you need a good laugh.