A Look At Evil Dead 2, or “Boomstick It to the Dead”

At the time of writing this, the new Evil Dead game has been out for almost a week. Taking out Deadites with my boomstick and chainsaw got me in the mood for some classic Sam Rami action. I spent some time trying to figure out which of the films I want to cover, the more horror filled Evil Dead, or the comedy focused Army of Darkness? In the end I decided to take my little lead chainsaw and focus on the (possibly requel?) dark humor fest that is Evil Dead 2. Grab a bowl and swallow some souls as we take a (unprofessional) look into the wicked world of the Knowby Cabin.

The film opens with a stylized intro featuring a stop-motion Necronomicon and a backdrop of an ocean of blood, possibly the leftovers from Nightmare on Elm Street but the investigation is still pending, we’re given some backstory to the creation of the book and what kind of power it holds. You’ll immediately notice how good the stop-motion work is in this film, and it only gets better. We then cut to a young couple consisting of Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) and his girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler). The couple are staying at an abandoned cabin for a romantic getaway, unbeknownst to the sleeping demons (but that’s AirBnB for you). From here on, the film becomes more or less a retelling of the first movie, but narrowed down. Is this a good thing?

This works because the audience can get a streamlined version of the first film without having to go back and watch it, if it was even possible back then. While I do miss Ash and Linda’s…