I was very excited to watch this film, it was basically the reason I watched "The Evil Dead". And I did mostly love this film. There was a bit of a lull, I felt, towards the late middle of the film that kind of brought me out of it, but ultimately this film is just a joy. I also need to do another re-watch I feel.
The beginning of this film is pretty confusing, I had to have it clarified afterwards. It's basically a retelling of the first film, minus all the supporting characters. It moves really quick and doesn't make a lot of sense if you're coming straight from the first movie like me. I don't really understand why Raimi did it that way, if he wanted this movie to be a standalone why call it "Evil Dead 2". But who cares, it moves pretty quick and after a couple minutes we're right where "ED" left off. Ash is possessed, but is cured as the sun is out. He tries to leave but, as we remember from the first film, the bridge is out. He flees back to the cabin, where he's assaulted by Linda's head, who bites his hand, leading to it being possessed. Ash cuts the hand off and starts losing his mind, in one of the greatest scenes in the film. Soon, the daughter of the professor who owns the cabin shows up with her boyf and two rednecks. They think he murdered the professor, but soon learn the truth as the professors wife comes back to life in the basement. Much like the first movie everyone dies off slowly until it's Ash and what's her name. Ash is saved by the power of love and together he and what's her name defeat the darkness. Ash is sent back in time and the movie ends.
This movie is really really good. Immediately this film shows the style that made me love the last bit of "ED". There are really interesting long takes, wacky zooms, etc. This film has a very kinetic camera that I really, really love. Also, Bruce Campbell really leans into a wackier style of acting which makes him way more interesting and fun to watch than the first. Also we get an actual backstory that ties into the film and I know leads into the next. The cinematography it seriously so so good and fits so well with the slapstick style that the film takes on.
The film is... ambitious when it comes to it's effects. The stop motion is sometimes decent, sometimes bad. Now the thing is, this is a low budget 80's film, you kinda know it's not gonna look great. And some of it does look fine. I think that this all kinda adds to the charm of the film, so it's fine.
I dunno. It's a good movie and now I'm looking forward to "Army of Darkness", and probably going through more of Raimi's movies.
Part two of this post is posting the notes I took during the film. There are a lot.
Huh. I ended that really suddenly. Oh well!
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