Evil Dead II

Raimi unleashed. Bullshit, but quite fun at that. As horror it’s weak, and as a comedy/parody it left me unimpressed. 60% (01/05/2008)

Bruce is clearly worth a five, but the rest of it doesn't exactly work very well. Unlike the first one, it lacks atmosphere and, unlike the third, the aura of a totally bonkers cult-classic. Evil Dead II is a funny thing, but that’s it. (07/24/2007)

At Stephen King’s urging, producer Dino De Laurentiis took Raimi under his wing, and though he tossed Raimi’s original plan for a farce set in the Middle Ages (which had to wait until the third film in the franchise) and demanded a variation on the original Evil Dead, he in turn gave Raimi a professional production environment, a generous budget for effects and creative freedom. Raimi grabbed onto all of this with tremendous verve and made his first spectacular comic-book movie without a comic book to use as source material. In Raimi’s case, the essence of a comic-book movie is not limited to today’s synonym for superhero escapades, but rather relates to the overall exalted nature of such films, not only in the way of conveying the trash premise with fantasy elements, but primarily in terms of the means of expression, which are distinctive, maximally expressive and thus the most easily readable and attractive to viewers. In addition to the camerawork, editing and practical special effects and stop motion animation, Raimi makes extensive use of his own discovery and visual element by the name of Bruce Campbell. Even in their previous film together, it was impossible to overlook the fact that Campbell, with his prominent chin and surrealistically perfect features, looks like a character from Kája Saudek’s comics. This time, after Campbell had completed an acting course, Raimi constructed whole passages specifically for him and the result is a phenomenal display of acting with wide eyes, raised eyebrows and, mainly, incredible slapstick talent. The etudes with a severed head in hand, particularly with a demonic hand, are a grand symbiosis of all of the above-mentioned production elements, Campbell’s acting skill and willingness to commit himself to any frenetic idea for the needs of the scene, and Raimi’s talent and style. Evil Dead II secured Raimi’s fame and, mainly, established the cult of Campbell. (11/01/2022)

More funny lines and fun and less of the depressing horror atmosphere, which I’m glad about (this time I had the lamp on right from the start ;-). And the ending was one of the best endings I’ve ever seen. No! Nooo! Nooooo! (08/27/2008)

"Is it a remake? This isn't a remake?", I thought at the beginning of Evil Dead II. After a few minutes, it didn't matter. Sam Raimi (since he had more money to do it) let loose even more insanely than in the first film and created a one-man Bruce Campbell show, who is indiscriminate, whether he is human or possessed by the powers of hell. The arm wrestling is a sensational spectacle, and scenes like the giggling equipment of the cabin are also great... And then there's the chainsaw prosthesis. Badass. I am not even going to mention the head in a vice, the dancing zombie, the flying eye and other cool ideas. (07/27/2012)

Much improved compared to the first one. Everything is much more oriented towards the humorous side, which is ultimately very noticeable, and most of the situations that in the first episode only caused disgust, now make you laugh out loud. Raimi shows for the first time what he’s all about, and even though the story is completely stupid and makes no sense, he manages to squeeze the most out of it thanks to his imagination. He's helped a lot by Campbell, who was born for the role, his Ash is the most likeable ghostbuster we've been introduced to yet. Once again, it's not great, but just for the fight with the hand I have to add a star. (12/24/2012)

Higher budget, more blood, more twisted and ultra-black humor. It's not a pure 5 stars, but just because Raimi actually created and set the rules of this genre with the second Evil Dead and proved to be a pretty big freak :)), I'll give it 5 stars. The "all laughing scene" is not to be missed. 90% (02/10/2010)