Evil Dead 2

Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2 is an absolute horror classic adored by many fans within the horror community. It was somewhat of a pilgrimage getting to finally see this film on the big screen in 35 millimeter at the Kentucky Theater. Bruce Campbell’s performance as “Ash Williams” is one of his favorite amongst cult film fans. It’s interesting because even though Evil Dead 2 shares a very similar plot to the original, this is one of those rare cases where a sequel has been even more well received. I think this has to do with two huge factors, which are a bigger budget, and the addition of comedy. The original Evil Dead is a very dark, experimental, gruesome, and just all around grimy film. It was also very low budget. Due to the success of the original, Sam Raimi was given more freedom with Evil Dead 2. Evil Dead 2 is also a rare horror film, just because it happens to be a classic that many non-horror film fans could thoroughly enjoy. The humor is mostly in the form of slapstick and excess in cartoon violence. Sam Raimi has mentioned that he got most of the inspiration for his gags from episodes of The Three Stooges, and that many jokes are direct rip-offs of The Three Stooges. Another interesting fact is that Bruce Campbell truly does all his own stunts. Whether he is flying backwards through the haunted forest, breaking plates over his head, or tumbling down a cellar staircase; Bruce Campbell does it all. It also has classic monster and gore effects, and they are indeed excessive. It is one of the few horror films that uses gore for laughs instead of scares. Evil Dead 2 will always be remembered as one of the true horror comedy classics, adored by horror film fans everywhere.