Firm favourite

Rating: 10/10 (9 July 2016)

A long and firm favourite film of mine ever since a life-changing viewing at a tender age, EVIL DEAD II remains for me the pinnacle of the comedy/horror hybrid genre. Packed with inventiveness, wit, and energy in every single frame of every single scene, this is movie-making par excellence. The story begins by recapping the original movie (reshot, eliminating all characters aside from Ash and his girlfriend) and then moves into even more thrilling territory as a new story unfolds. Full advantage is taken of the increased budget, so that we get better sets, better costumes, better make-up, and most of all better special effects. The latter really make a difference (on what is still a relatively low budget movie), packing in tons of weird and wonderful demons and monsters including plenty of imaginative stop motion effects which are worked well into the blend.
If THE EVIL DEAD was the film that first introduced the skills of director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell, then EVIL DEAD II is the film to show that the original 1982 hit wasn't just a one-off wonder and that instead both star and director had staying power which would outlive the series. Raimi does some fantastic things with cameras and builds on his efforts in the first film, sometimes paying homage to his original shots and often taking the film in directions he was unable to explore the first time around. Fans may wish to note that the emphasis is on comedy over horror this time around and a perfect balance is struck between the two genres – plenty of laugh out loud moments interspersed with genuine terror and creepiness makes for good times a plenty.
The film belongs to the athletic Campbell as Ash and he really carries it along on his shoulders alone. Almost half an hour of the movie consists of Bruce acting on his own and when the other characters do eventually arrive, it is a testament to his acting skills that you wish that he'd instead been left on his own for the entire movie. The film is packed with action and incident and tons of imagination. One great, never-before seen moment follows another, highlights including the chainsaw fight in the work shed, the hand possession (still the best ever put on screen thanks to Bruce's dynamic performance) and the entire finale sequence which is simply blissful.
The script is witty and concise without putting unnecessary dialogue into the mouths of the characters and things are rounded off by another fantastic Joe De Luca score which really emphasises a number of key moments. The supporting cast is uniformly excellent with especially notable turns from Sarah Berry as the tough heroine, Danny Hicks as a truly loathsome slob, and an unrecognisable Ted Raimi buried inside a rubber suit as possessed hag Henrietta. Blood flows, limbs and heads are lopped off at regular intervals, yet the film remains light-hearted and fun all through this thanks to the party atmosphere prevalent through. Truly a classic landmark piece of film-making, which sadly has not been bettered since. I think it's fair to say that there's no film quite like this to be seen anywhere else, and it remains even now one of my all time favourites that I can watch and enjoy over and over and over again.