I loved Evil Dead II when I first saw it as a teenager! For me, this is the first Evil Dead movie! I know that sounds weird, but I did watch these movies out of order as a kid. Anyway, what we have here is a comedy horror instead of a straight-up horror like the first Evil Dead movie was.
How to Download Evil Dead II
You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. Check out also the original film – The Evil Dead.
The Movie Review
The whole background of Evil Dead II is very interesting. Sam Raimi wanted to do something different and have time travel be part of the story, but the studio apparently wanted something more similar to the first Evil Dead. Some of the ideas that he had for this movie would be used in the third movie, Army of Darkness.
What we have here with Evil Dead II is very interesting as it is a kind of redoing of the first movie. Ash Williams and his girlfriend, Linda are taking a nice romantic trip to a cabin in the woods. Right from the start of the movie, this is the Ash Williams that we know and love. Bruce Campbell really gets to cut loose here and you can tell he is having a ton of fun.
The plot is very similar to the first movie. In this cabin, they find a tape recorder along with the Book of the Dead and once again the demonic forces are unleashed once the tape recording is played. Linda ends up possessed and Ash is in a crazy, bloody, and hilarious fight for survival.
Things are complicated when some other people show up at the cabin and think that Ash is some kind of maniac killer! What we end up with is around 80 minutes of absolute mayhem! Evil Dead II would give us many of the things that we associate with the series and Ash Williams.
It was Evil Dead II that gave us the wise cracking, sarcastic and hilarious Ash. It was Evil Dead II that gave Ash his trademark chainsaw arm and boomstick! Ash is one of my favorite characters and while this is not his “first” movie, this really is the birth of the Ash that we all know and love. Again, I like that first movie, but Evil Dead II just kind of makes it irrelevant and a movie that does not tie in with the rest of the series.
I can watch Evil Dead II any time and have a fun time with it. It is that perfect blend of horror and comedy with some amazing practical effects and a ton of blood and gore that will have you cheering more than being scared. It is such a different tone to the first movie and I really like that this is the direction Sam Raimi took it.
I love Evil Dead II, I did see this after I had seen Army of Darkness, but I loved this movie from the very first time I saw it. It holds up very well to this day and it well and truly cemented Bruce Campbell’s Ash as a horror icon. I still say “groovy” (much to my wife’s annoyance) multiple times a week and that is something I got from Evil Dead II.
