“Groovy.”
After the commercial failure of Crimewave, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell decided to return to the cult classic that put them on the map. When they had trouble getting financing, news of their struggles made its way to the ear of the same man who’d arguably launched their careers with his rave review of the original: Stephen King. Working on his own directorial debut (Maximum Overdrive) at the time, King called up producer Dino De Laurentiis and convinced him to meet with Raimi, resulting in a budget an order of magnitude larger than what they’d worked with previously. Bigger, badder, bloodier, gooier, campier, funnier, and altogether more extravagant than its predecessor, Evil Dead II epitomizes Raimi’s “entertain-above-all-else” philosophy.
If there are any fans of the original who haven’t already seen the sequel, they might be confused by its initial scenes, which more or less echo the narrative beats of The Evil Dead. Ash (Campbell) travels to the same cabin in the woods that provided the backdrop for the first film—this time accompanied only by his girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler)—finds the professor’s recordings that recount his discovery of the Book of the Dead, plays it long enough for the recitation of the demon-summoning incantations, and then finds himself fending off a horde of evil spirits that take on various forms.
Doesn’t Ash remember the horrors that were unleashed the last time the tape was played? Who is this swaggering action hero who has replaced the nerdy protagonist of the first film? We don’t have much time to ponder such dilemmas before Linda becomes possessed and has her head lopped off with a shovel. After Ash has discovered the canyon-spanning bridge has been twisted into pieces, and been momentarily possessed and then returned to a normal state, Linda’s body and head rise from their shallow grave in a ghastly sashay of stop motion animation, forcing Ash to lock her noggin down in a vise and take a chainsaw to it.
Where the original film’s shoestring budget limited the crew to a single location (and begat some creative camerawork that is repurposed and expanded upon here), the sequel is a bit more expansive, working in a subplot about the professor’s daughter (Sarah Berry), who locates several missing pages from the Book of the Dead and plans to have them translated. Along with a small team (Richard Domeier, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley) that will prove little more than demon fodder, she travels to her father’s cabin via a backcountry trail. When they arrive they find Ash covered in blood and sans his right hand, which he chopped off when a bite brought it to demon-possessed life. He later arms himself with a chainsaw that connects right onto his stub.
Ultimately, it doesn’t much matter if Evil Dead II is a remake or a sequel, or if its status as either one invalidates narrative elements of the original. That’s because the story and mythology here are little more than scaffolding—an aesthetic framework upon which to hang exuberant effects, hyperkinetic camerawork, breakneck pacing, physical comedy, and zany one-liners. Do we really care that Ash’s entire personality changed between films once taxidermied deer heads are cackling from their wall mounts, gouged eyes are flying through the air, severed hands are flipping off their previous owners, Bruce Campbell is windmilling through the sky, reversed smoke is swirling in the air, and blood is gushing from the walls? We do not. Or at least, I do not. By the time Campbell is laughing maniacally and dancing along with the animated cabin, you’ll know if the narratively flimsy freakout is up your alley; if Raimi’s mad scientist splatstick is your idea of a good time.