A weekend alone in a cosy cabin with a loved one turns into a terrifying experience for Ash (Bruce Campbell) in Raimi’s sort-of sequel to his original tongue-in-cheek shocker The Evil Dead. The film, which has become as much of a cult-favourite as the first in the series, is re-released on Blu-ray from next week.
The Evil Dead was a send-up of nasty horror movies (though some people at the time were tricked into thinking it was deadly serious – god knows what they’d think of the blood-soaked remake about to hit UK cinemas). This film is crazy. Completely and utterly bonkers, and runs with it. That’s why it works so well.
Although the narrative struggles at times to sustained the sheer madness of the plot, as it twists and turns into a multi-genre, multi-layered story, the enjoyment levels never significantly fall. Campbell’s performance is eye-wateringly weird and terrifically compelling.
This new special edition Blu-ray from StudioCanal (made available, I would imagine, to coincide with their release of the remake) sports a rich and textured high definition transfer. Some shots at the start look horribly fuzzy, but they soon open up into superb detail and clarity. This is probably the best the film has looked since its cinema release in 1987. Even if you own the DVD, I’d say there is more than enough justification to splash out on this version.
Evil Dead II (1987), directed by Sam Raimi, is released on Blu-ray disc in the UK on 15 April by StudioCanal, Certificate 15.
2 Comments
Not Evil Dead III though, that was seriously shite.
too right! Where’s the fun in seeing Ash chainsaw through an army of skeletons? Keep it in the Cabin I say. I would love it if the sequel to the remake took the same mental turn that ED 2 did in the original trilogy