Evil Dead 2 (1987)

Written by Axemaster May 4 2011
Rating 9 out of 10

Director   -   Sam Raimi

Cast
Bruce campbell    -    Ash
Denise Bixler       -    Linda
Sarah Berry          -    Annie Knowby
Dan Hicks            -    Jake
Kassie Wesley     -     Bobbie Joe


      Hey there all you Gargantuan Ghouls of Gore !! Axemasters back in the dungeon (boy it's creepy in here !) tonight with another Blast from the Past ! (shot gun Blast maybe !!) Evil Dead 2 !! This is one over the top flick and is , in my humble opinion , one of the best horror comedies of all time !! Yes thats right , Horror comedy ! Oh I see ! You were expecting another fright flick as the sequel to the original ? Guess again . Masters Raimi and campbell serve this one up with the laughs (and the gore !!) in mind !  Here's the story line in a nut shell ................

"This hangnail is killing me !!"

"So Think you're pretty Handy eh !?"

     Okay . So . you've got Ash and Linda heading up to a creepy cabin in the woods and ..... hey ! Wait a minute , didn't Linda get demon-a-fied , then sliced and diced in the first one !!?? Yes thats right horror fans . Basically the story is very similar to Evil Dead 1 , only its just Ash and Linda that go up to the cabin . Its like the story of the first one is recapped in the first 15 minutes of the flick ! By that time Ash has already .......... Discovered the Necronomicon (eerie book bound in human flesh ! UUgh !! ) and the old Panasonic reel to reel tape deck ........... listened to the professor on the tape recite a bunch of ancient Sumerian mumbo jumbo that awakens the Candarian demons around the place ............. and lost Linda to the Demons (again !!) and decapitated her with a spade ! ( all in a days work right !! )...............Tried to escape in the "Ash Mobile" only to find that the bridge has been mysteriously torn asunder !.......... Been Possessed himself by demons (and spent the night in a mud puddle !) .......... and generally been bashed around pretty severely ! This is when Ash holes up in the cabin by himself and fights the demons one on one ! In scenes out of a lunatics day dream he takes on his own hand , which , after having been bitten by the decapitated head of his recently deceased girlfriend ( Yes I'm serious folks , you've got to see it to really appreciate it !) becomes possessed by demons ! There's only one way to beat the "bad hand " !
Yup , the chainsaw !! He lops off his own hand (in a strangely unnerving scene ) but the battle continues ! (you can't keep a good hand down !!)
   Now , there is another part of the story going on as Ash is battling away in the woods . Young Annie Knowby and her boyfriend are heading to the cabin , because she is the daughter of the professor who left the tape deck and , well all the fricken demons behind !

"I said Cheeto's dam it CHEETOS !!"

She has been helping her dad study the Necronomicon ! ( gee why not something like solar power or green energy or something nice like that ?!) and has found some lost pages of the book . She heads up and finds that destroyed bridge . There she meats up with Jake and Bobbie Joe . Two hicks who were putting up flares around the wrecked bridge . She asks them if they know another way to the cabin on the other side . Of course they do ! So off they go . ( higher body count perhaps ? I'll never tell !)
   The four arrive at the cabin , and Ash , in the midst of battle , almost kills them with a shotgun blast !! They disarm him and  Annie assumes he's a psycho that has killed her parents ! So they lock him in the fruit cellar ! As they try to make sense of the
crazy scene they have arrived to (the cabin drenched in blood and gore and pretty much wrecked ) Jake presses

"Dam !I Knew I should have packed my shower cap !!"

play on the tape deck . We hear Annies dad say that the demons have possessed her mom , and that he killed her and buried her in the , Yup , You guessed it .... Fruit Cellar ! It is at this point in the film , that Bruce Campbell lets out the greatest scream , ever screamed by a man in motion picture history !! (in this reviewers humble opinion anyway !) as "Sweat Henrietta" Knowby pops out of the floor of the fruit cellar !

"Twister anyone !??"

    At the time that this flick came out , my friend and I eagerly awaited its release on Betamax ( Yes thats Betamax folks ! ) and hurried home to watch what
we thought was going to be the kick ass scary sequel to the kick ass scary original ! Well , needless to say ...... we screamed , not with terror , but with laughter !
I laughed so hard at the gore and at the scene where Ash takes off his own hand , that it was right then and there , that I realized how desensitized I had become !
   Evil dead 2 is arguably Bruce Campbells greatest performance . He is over the top for most of this film . Pushed to the brink , no doubt , by his old pal Mr. Raimi , who rumor has it , loves to punish campbell and whip him like a dog any time he works with him !! Lets hope they do it again soon , as there seems to definitely be a whole lot of magic when the two get together near a movie camera !

   So , once again Horror Hounds , I dare you to be scared , or in this case , get some laughs , with some eeriness thrown in ! Evil Dead 2 is a must see . A true classic , so don't miss it !


       And remember ............ If you're gonna have a ......


              ......... Work Shed............


     Keep the Chainsaw well oiled !!!!