THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Audiences were shook to the core with Sam Raimi’s relentless debut The Evil Dead. Due to its box office success, many wondered how could he top such a feat. Well the answer is quite obvious, a sequel.
PLOT
Evil Dead 2 continues where the first film leaves off, recapping Ashley Williams accidentally summoning evil forces by reading a book known as the ‘Necronomicon’ and playing a tape recorder that belonged to the prior inhabitant, archaeologist Raymond Knowby (John Peakes). The unseen forces possess his girlfriend Linda (Denise Baker), forcing him to kill her as she turns into a demon known as a ‘Deadite’. The main story continues as he is unable to leave on his own. When he is thrown through the woods, he is able to fight for his life and prevent getting possessed due to sunrise. When the head of Linda bites his right hand, he chops it off with a chainsaw to further prevent turning. He is unable to completely destroy it when it gains a conscience and escapes. Meanwhile, Annie Knowby, daughter of Professor Raymond, and her research partner Ed Getley (Richard Domeier) come to Tennessee to find the missing pages of the Necronomicon. When they make their way to her father’s cabin, they noticed the destroyed bridge and seek help of locals Jake (Dan Hicks) & Bobby Joe (Kassie DePaiva) to help them find another route to the cabin. When she reaches the cabin, she mistakes Ash to have killed her parents, resulting in her to trap him in the cellar. She then gets a hold of the tape recorder that confirms his innocence, hearing Raymond confirm to have killed his wife Henrietta when she got possessed, placing her body in the cellar as well. When Deadite Henrietta (Ted Raimi) reawakens, she possesses Ed once Ash is freed. Once the group realizes what happened to him, Ash dismembers him with an axe. When Bobby Joe tries to leave, after being scared of Ash’s severed sentient hand, she is taken by the trees. Jake would then demand the remaining survivors to help him find her. Their search abruptly ends when he gets incapacitated by a possessed Ash. When Annie tries to defend herself, she stabs Jake with a dagger, mistaking him to be Ash. He does regain control when noticing the necklace he gave to Linda. Jake is then pulled into the cellar by Henrietta which results in his demise. With the remaining survivors on the same page, the plan is to recite the remaining incantation to send the evil back. As Ash kills Henrietta, his sentient hand stabs Annie with the dagger, just when she finishes the incantation. Once completed, it opens a temporal vortex that draws the demons, Ash and his car to the Middle Ages. The film ends in a shocking cliffhanger with Ash realizing his predicament once he kills another Deadite and is hailed a hero by knights.
THOUGHTS
Once I saw the first film, I took a deep breath after going through 80 minutes of anxiety. I was worried I couldn't handle another one, until I did. Raimi exceeds his directorial debut by upping the ante of gore and while levitating the insanity with unexpectedly useful dark humor, carefully expressing it as things progress. I'm sorry, but I was laughing pretty hard when the eye of Henrietta flew into Bobby Joe's mouth. Despite creating a new atmosphere, you still feel original feelings of inescapable fear. With that feeling intact, you're reminded once again how standing up for yourself is always worth it whatever the scenario. When you look at the perspective of Ash, in which Bruce Campbell gives his best outing of the character, you definitely feel the tiredness he's going through, which is definitely testing his limits since the terror doesn't stop for him until more people get involved in his situation. When you see him act edgy towards his obstacles the longer he fights, he knows that he can't hold back when defending himself. So when he says 'Groovy' after gearing up with the best of weaponry he could get, you know he is prepared for the worst, or so he thought when he gets stuck in the Middle Ages. The only other character that interested me in this movie was Annie. She caught my eye in a good way because Sarah Berry portrays her as the most knowledgeable of the bunch, especially when comparing her to Ash. She is second generation historian when it comes to the Necronomicon and if anyone is gonna help Ash be rid of the undead, it's her. It did suck seeing her die because she would've been a great ally as the franchise progressed. I couldn't click with Ed because all he did was exposit the last thing that happened to Raymond. I couldn't feel anything with neither Jake nor Bobby Joe because they were idiots for being unable to keep their composure like Annie. While I love this more for expressing its roots, even this one has as much issues as the predecessor. Like why exactly didn't Linda permanently decompose? I know we need Ash to be vulnerable, but it doesn't add up because she's the only one from his group to be a recurring obstacle. And how exactly was the alternative route possible for Annie? Because if it was possible for her to get in unharmed, it's hard to figure out how did Scott to not find a way. I'm not trying to root for the villains when I say this, but why do they take breaks? It's not like they need energy to torment and kill their targets. That was honestly more confusing than when Deadite Ash didn't reach through the door hole to get to Annie. And lastly, the dumbest thing that happens in this movie is when Annie removes the dagger from Jake's body. I understand the guy was aggressive, but he was nowhere near of a threat compared to the Deadites. Ignore this, then you'll still have a ball. In conclusion, Evil Dead 2 is the be all end all of horror sequels for knowing just how to elevate everything that made the original special. If you were get through the first film, you're gonna have a good time with this as well.
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