Every Halloween for the past 4 years i’ve promised myself i’ll watch ‘Evil Dead 2’ again, mainly because i’ve neglected rewatching it for so long (As if I need a reason to rewatch ‘Evil Dead 2’). But every halloween its just about managed to be squeezed off the schedule by one thing or another…Well! NO MORE I SAY! so tonight I cracked open my lovely new 4k remaster of this bad boy, and it proceeded to rock my world in strange and mysterious ways that non of my previous rewatches compared to.

The film kind of an indirect/direct sequel to the original. they remove all the characters in this take apart from Ash and his girlfriend Annie, with the film creating a new version of events of how Ash and Annie wound up at the cabin, before basically smash cutting straight into the end of the first film…Everything after that point could best be described as a collective fall into total madness. A work that would set up the blueprint of the franchise for WELL over the next 30+ years.

Its basically everything I want in an ‘Evil Dead’ movie and more. I honestly have very little to say, the scripts absolutely razor sharp, the action? breakneck. the characters? developed enough to make me care, but not enough to bog the story down. The plots thin enough that it can be easily digested at 84 minutes, but there are threads throughout that imply a much bigger, richer, deeper story to come (and they dont dissapoint on that!)

Ash’s fall into chaotic madness, which makes up a good half of this movies runtime is frankly ‘unique’ a hybrid of acid trip and demented disney cartoon gone wrong, and I love it for that. The tones erratic. swinging wildly from drama, to melodrama, to out and out gory horror, to slapstick comedy, to tragedy. its everywhere, but in a perfectly coordinated way. Its the textbook definition of ‘Organized Chaos’ a miracle of complex arrangements and tonal shifts that give the illusion of a hot mess, but the reality of a curated experience.

In fact, the only thing I didnt much care for (and this really IS splitting hairs) is, for me? they sometimes leant a little TOO hard into the comedy. to the point that it became OVERLY dumb…and not in a fun way, in a creaking and headslappingly dumb way. those moments were few, far between and slight, but they cant be omitted.

As for everything else? Astonishing. Thats the only word I have.

The direction? Astonishing.

Direction of the cast? Astonishing.

Cine? Genuinely genius.

Performances. There isnt enough metal on earth for the amount of awards Bruce Campbell deserves for this movie.

The score? Erratic, Frantic, loud, Perfect.

Honestly, I have no notes, outside of possibly ‘Brain Dead’ this is single handedly one of the goriest, silliest, fun and intense horror movies i’ve ever seen. Its a cinematic swan, gliding effortlessly above the lake, with a powerhouse beneath the surface. and I love it very dearly. I absolutely shalnt wait as long for the next rewatch.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/evil-dead-ii/