Evil Dead II
Evil Dead II | |
---|---|
Directed by | Sam Raimi |
Written by |
|
Produced by | Robert Tapert |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Peter Deming |
Edited by | Kaye Davis |
Music by | Joseph LoDuca |
Production company | Renaissance Pictures[1] |
Distributed by | Rosebud Releasing Corporation[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 84 minutes[2] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3.5 million[3] |
Box office | $5.9 million[4][5] |
Evil Dead II (also known in publicity materials as Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn)
After the critical and commercial failure of
Evil Dead II was shot in
As with the first film, Evil Dead II has accumulated a large, international cult following. In 1992, it was followed by the direct sequel Army of Darkness, which utilized Raimi's original premise; in 2013, it was followed by the soft reboot and continuation Evil Dead; and in 2015, it was followed by the television series Ash vs Evil Dead. A fifth film in the series, Evil Dead Rise, was released on April 21, 2023.
Plot
He attempts to flee the area but finds that the bridge to the cabin has been destroyed. The spirit chases him back to the cabin, where Linda's revived head attacks him and bites his hand. He runs to the shed, where her headless body attacks him with a chainsaw, but he overpowers and slashes the deadite Linda to death. His right hand becomes possessed and tries to kill him, and he severs it with the chainsaw before attempting to shoot it with a shotgun, but the hand mocks him and ultimately escapes. Meanwhile, Knowby's daughter Annie, and her research partner, Ed Getley, return from the dig with the missing pages of the Necronomicon, only to find the destroyed bridge. They enlist repairman Jake and his girlfriend Bobby Joe to show them another route to the cabin, where they find an embattled Ash covered in blood. Thinking that he murdered Annie's parents, Annie and the others lock him in the cellar.
The four new arrivals listen to the rest of Knowby's recording, detailing how his wife Henrietta was possessed by the Kandarian Demon, and that he killed her and buried her in the cellar. Henrietta, now a deadite, possesses Ed; Ash dismembers him with an axe. Bobby Joe tries to escape, but demonically possessed trees attack and drag her to her death. Annie translates two of the Necronomicon's pages before Jake turns on them and throws the pages into the cellar, forcing them at gunpoint to find Bobby Joe. Ash becomes possessed once again and attacks Jake. Annie retreats to the cabin and accidentally stabs Jake (mistaking him for the possessed Ash) before Henrietta kills him. Deadite Ash tries to kill Annie, but returns to his normal self upon seeing Linda's necklace.
With Annie's help, Ash modifies the chainsaw, attaches it to the stump of his right arm, and
Ash and his Oldsmobile land in the Middle Ages. A group of knights confront him and initially mistake him for a deadite, but are quickly distracted when a real harpy-like deadite appears. Ash blasts it with his shotgun and they hail him as a hero who has come to save them, causing him to break down and scream in anguish.
Cast
- Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams
- Sarah Berry as Annie Knowby
- Dan Hicks as Jake
- Kassie Wesley as Bobby Joe
- Denise Bixler as Linda
- Snowy Winters as Dancing demon Linda[11]
- Richard Domeier as Professor Ed Getley
- John Peaks as Professor Knowby
- Lou Hancock as Henrietta Knowby
- Ted Raimi as Possessed Henrietta
- William Preston Robertson as the voice of the Evil Dead
Production
Development
The concept of a
After Crimewave was released to critical and audience disinterest, Raimi and his partners at Renaissance Pictures, producer
The Thinner adaptation was part of a deal between De Laurentiis and King to produce several adaptations of King's successful horror novels and short stories. At the time, King was directing the first such adaptation, Maximum Overdrive (1986), based on his short story "Trucks". He had dinner with a crew member who had been among those interviewed by Raimi and his colleagues about Evil Dead II, and told King that the film was having trouble attracting funding. Upon hearing this, King, who had written a glowing review of the first film that helped it become an audience favorite at Cannes, called De Laurentiis and asked him to fund the film.[13]: 104 While he was initially skeptical, De Laurentiis met with Renaissance, who highlighted the first film's extremely high revenue in the Italian market. Within twenty minutes, De Laurentiis agreed to finance Evil Dead II for $3.6 million. Raimi and Tapert had desired $4 million for the production, but De Laurentiis requested a film that was similar to its predecessor instead of their original medieval-themed proposal, which was instead used for the second sequel, Army of Darkness (1992).[13]: 106
Writing
Despite Raimi's crew having only recently received the funding necessary to produce the film, the script had been written for some time, having been composed largely during the production of Crimewave. Raimi contacted his old friend
Spiegel and Raimi wrote most of the film in their house in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, where they were living with the aforementioned Coen brothers, as well as actors Frances McDormand, Kathy Bates, and Holly Hunter (the primary inspiration for the Bobby Joe character). Due both to the distractions of their house guests and the films they were involved with, Crimewave and Josh Becker's Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except, the script took a long time to finish.[13]: 109
Among the film's many inspirations include the
While Raimi and Campbell have stated that Evil Dead II was intended as a direct sequel, there are differences between the first installment and the recap at the beginning of the second: for example, the Necronomicon is destroyed in a fire by Ash during the conclusion of The Evil Dead, but remains intact in Evil Dead II. The corpses of Ash's friends from the first are absent, and are never mentioned. The cabin itself remains perfectly intact until the events of this film, despite much of it having been destroyed in the original film.
Filming
With the script completed and a production company secured, principal photography began on Evil Dead II. The production commenced in Wadesboro, North Carolina, not far from De Laurentiis' offices in Wilmington. De Laurentiis had wanted them to film in his elaborate Wilmington studio, but the production team felt uneasy being so close to the producer, so they moved to Wadesboro, approximately three hours away. Steven Spielberg had previously filmed The Color Purple in Wadesboro, and the large white farmhouse used as an exterior location in that film became the production office for Evil Dead II. Most of the film was shot in the woods near that farmhouse, or J.R. Faison Junior High School, where the interior cabin set was located.[13]: 113
For Ash's chainsaw hand, effects artist Verne Hyde modified a real chainsaw, replacing its gasoline engine with a small, 12-volt electric motor, leaving space for Campbell to insert his hand into the body of the saw.[15] The teeth of the saw were filed down for safety purposes, and tobacco smoke was pumped through a plastic tube that ran up Campbell's leg to simulate chainsaw smoke.[15]
The crew sneaked various
At the film's
Music
The score was composed by Joseph LoDuca, who also composed the other two scores in the Evil Dead trilogy. In 2017, Waxwork Records released the soundtrack on vinyl for the film's 30th anniversary.[18]
Release
Pre-release
Like the original film, Evil Dead II had censorship difficulties due to its high level of violence. Because DEG was a member of the
Ultimately, DEG decided not to submit Evil Dead II to the MPAA for review or be credited onscreen for their involvement in it. Instead, Rosebud Releasing Corporation, a
Home media
The film was released on
The film was released on DVD in the United Kingdom in 2003 as part of a region 2 Evil Dead trilogy box set.[21] In 2013, the trilogy saw another UK release on Blu-ray, released by StudioCanal.[21][27] A 25th Anniversary Wood Edition was released in Germany by StudioCanal in 2007.[21][28] The film was released on Blu-ray in Australia in 2014, alongside The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, and the 2013 reboot, as part of an Evil Dead Anthology box set.[21] The film has been released together with the first Evil Dead film by Green Nara Media in South Korea in region A.[21]
Reception
Box office
Evil Dead II opened on March 13, 1987, to an unimpressive weekend gross of $807,260, due to its
Critical response
On the
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, describing it as "a fairly sophisticated satire, that makes you want to get up and shuffle." He praised the film's sense of surrealism, comedic timing, and "grubby, low-budget intensity." Ebert states that "if you know it's all special effects, and if you've seen a lot of other movies and have a sense of humor, you might have a great time at Evil Dead 2."[36] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post wrapped up his review stating that "the acting is straight out of '50s B-movies. The exposition is clumsy, the sound track corny, the denouement silly. Then again, who said bad taste was easy?"[37] Conversely, Pat Graham of Chicago Reader disliked the mix of horror and comedy, writing in his review that "the pop-up humor and smirkiness suggest Raimi's aspiring to the fashionable company of the brothers Coen, though on the basis of this strained effort I'd say he's overshot the mark."[38]
Entertainment Weekly ranked the film #19 on their list of the "Top 50 Cult Films".[39]
Sight and Sound ranked it #34 on their 50 Funniest Films of All Time list. In 2008, Empire magazine included Evil Dead II on their list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, ranked #49.[40]
J.C. Maçek III of PopMatters wrote, "Equal parts remake and sequel, the second film brought back Bruce Campbell as Ash and was every bit as gory and horrific as the first film with more tree rape and dismemberment and blood splatters than ever. On the other hand, Evil Dead II is also an absolutely hilarious and uproarious intentional comedy."[41]
In 2016, James Charisma of Playboy ranked the film #12 on a list of 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals.[42]
Accolades
Award | Subject | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Saturn Awards | Best Horror Film
|
Sam Raimi | Nominated |
Best Special Effects | Vern Hyde, Doug Beswick, and Tom Sullivan | Nominated | |
Best Make-up | Mark Shostrom | Nominated | |
Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival
|
Best Film | Sam Raimi | Nominated |
Fantasporto Awards | Nominated |
In popular culture
The Elvis Dead, an English comic stage show, retells Evil Dead II in the style of Elvis Presley.
The 1993 hit first-person shooter video game Doom was inspired by Evil Dead II. The game's programmer John Carmack came up with the game's concept about using technology to fight demons, inspired by the Dungeons & Dragons campaigns the team played, combining the styles of Evil Dead II and Aliens.[43][44]
The 1991 hit song, "People Are Still Having Sex" by LaTour contains a dialogue sample of the, "... hello lover!" line from the film.
The 2023 music video for "Bogus Operandi" by The Hives is heavily inspired by Evil Dead 2, featuring a demonic tape, forest point-of-view shots and white eyed zombies.
References
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- ^ "EVIL DEAD II' (18) (!)". British Board of Film Classification. May 22, 1987. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
- ^ "The Numbers Evil Dead 2". The Numbers. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
- ^ "Evil Dead II (1987)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
- ^ "Evil Dead II (1987) - Financial Information". Archived from the original on January 6, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
- ^ Warren, Bill (2000). The Evil Dead Companion. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 206.
- ^ Neave, Grace (September 17, 2022). "Why Did Sam Raimi Make 'Evil Dead' Twice?". Collider. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
- ^ "Evil Dead II - DVD Synopsis". Lionsgate. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013. Retrieved October 26, 2012.
- ^ "Evil Dead II Credits". Book of the Dead. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
- ^ Warren, Bill (2000). The Evil Dead Companion. New York City, New York: St. Martin's Griffin.
- ISBN 978-0313316418.
- ^ a b c d "Evil Dead II - Production". Book of the Dead. Archived from the original on March 26, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
- ^ ISBN 9780312275013.
- ^ Uram 1992, p. 39.
- ^ a b c d e Uram 1992, p. 40.
- ^ Jon Wamsley (February 20, 2017). "A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors – Stalking Dreams 30 Years Later". Cryptic Rock. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
- ^ Mentioned in Evil Dead II audio commentary
- ^ Blais-Billie, Braudie (May 31, 2017). "Evil Dead 2 Soundtrack Gets Vinyl Reissue". Pitchfork. Pitchfork. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
- ^ a b Jack Mathews (March 13, 1987). "How 'Evil Dead 2' doged the Kiss of Death--an X". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 26, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
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- ^ a b c d e f g "Evil Dead 2 Dead by Dawn Video Releases". Deadites Online. Archived from the original on April 25, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
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- ^ "Lionsgate: 4k Restoration of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 Coming to 4K Blu-ray". October 15, 2018. Archived from the original on October 17, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
- Amazon.com. Archivedfrom the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
- Amazon.de. Archivedfrom the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
- Internet Movie Database. Archivedfrom the original on April 15, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
- ^ "Evil Dead II". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media.
- Fandom, Inc.Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- ^ "Evil Dead II". Empire. Archived from the original on February 11, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
- ^ "Evil Dead 2 Movie Review". The New York Times. March 13, 1987. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
- ^ Maltin, 2001, p. 426.
- ^ Maltin, 2009, 424.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (April 10, 1987). "Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn". Chicago Sun-Times. rogerebert.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2012. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
- ^ Harrington, Richard (April 30, 1987). "Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn". The Washington Post. washingtonpost.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2012.
- ^ "Evil Dead II". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
- ^ Miska, Brad (October 10, 2011). "'Evil Dead II: 25th Anniversary Edition' Dated for Blu-ray". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
- ^ "The 500 greatest movies of all time". Empire. Archived from the original on November 19, 2008. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
- ^ Maçek III, J.C. (April 26, 2013). "Books of the Dead: The Followers and Clones of 'The Evil Dead'". PopMatters. Archived from the original on August 30, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
- ^ Charisma, James (March 15, 2016). "Revenge of the Movie: 15 Sequels That Are Way Better Than The Originals". Playboy. Archived from the original on July 26, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
- ISBN 978-0-8129-7215-3.
- ^ Romero, John; Hall, Tom (2011). Classic Game Postmortem – Doom (Video). Game Developers Conference. Archived from the original on August 6, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0312291457.
- Raimi, Sam. Spiegel, Scott. Nicotero, Greg. Campbell, Bruce. Evil Dead II DVD, audio commentary.
- Uram, Sue (August 1992). "Evil Dead II: Making the First Sequel". ISSN 0145-6032.