Deja Vu...

''There's something out there. That... that witch in the cellar is only part of it. It lives... out in those woods, in the dark... something... something that's come back from the dead.''

The lone survivor of an onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits holds up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.

Bruce Campbell: Ash

Sam Raimi went too far for the good reasons. He created an unbelievable and unforgettable work that has served as inspiration for many movies in recent years. The movie is easily one of the most visually stunning Horror movies of all time, for sure. Die hard fans of gore get an eye candy for an hour and a half. Raimi created a cult movie in all the sense of the world. "Groovy!". Evil Dead 2 will never bore you because in every scene theres a dystinctive feeling of uncertainty and that makes it even more compelling. There are no rules here, only chaos.
The plot is as scary as you let it be, but it's held in such a way that it isn't taken too serious. I mean, apparently demonic possession caused by the Necronomicon is something that happens in the real world not in a seperate plane of existence. Not exactly with that particular book but it can happen supposedly via satanic books and certain rituals. Raimi takes it to a different level of humour mixed with drench loving gore.

Bruce Campbell deserves a special mention as usual. He delivers a wicked, solid, and totally believable performance, which overshadows his previous film. Something you haven't seen before mainly because of the strange situations he goes through. His performance could be described as a solo act. Easily hands down, one of the best performances of any actor in a Horror movie. Also, one of the characters that suffers the most in any movie! Ash is beaten up by demons, humans, objects, etc. Even possessed creatures taunt him.

''Got you, didn't I, you little sucker!''

The gore here is gloriously give in spades. You get decapitations, mutilated bodies, a hand cut off (Then Possessed), bleeding demons, etc. Blood spread all over the cabin is the common denominator. One of the goriest movies OUT THERE!.
Watch Evil Dead II to witness one of the most creative, brave, and goriest movies of all time. It delivers something for everyone. It has action, gore, spectacular camera angles, and some action! Check out Ash V.S. possessed Henrietta.
Phrases like "join us!", "swallow this!", and specially "groovy!" will become part of your daily vocabulary.

The film is more of a remake than a sequel, recapping the events of the first film, dropping three characters, and generally picking up somewhere in the middle. For example in the original Evil Dead Ash stumbles upon the Book of the Dead, and he does so again in this movie. Many events are totally re-filmed as if they never occurred. It's a rare beast of a sequel – somewhere oddly in between continuation and smug self-parody.
I personally prefer the third Army Of Darkness if only because I find the horror funnier, a more epic film, and a bigger budget with wiser dialogue. Evil Dead II goes a bit too far in areas.
For Example: The dancing furniture is awful.

[Ash's Hand gains a life of it's own]

''Gimme back my hand... GIMME BACK MY HAND!

With Raimi apparently planning the three films to work directly as one continuous story, it could be quite easy for the second part to be completely at a loss to some if they haven't seen the first. To deal with this, Raimi felt the need to have a brief ten minutes at the beginning in which he explains the events of the previous film. Whilst this beginning is by no means as enjoyable as the rest of the film, it remains necessary and is a clever way of introducing newcomers to the situation at hand and poor Ash's position.

Raimi is part of what seems like an elite group of directors. Whilst some newcomers to that big chair behind the camera began working on television adverts, some of the most famous directors of the early twenty-first century began their careers making low budget films with unbelievable special effects and vast quantities of blood. Whilst Peter Jackson's earliest work includes the extreme Braindead(1992), Raimi began with this trilogy. It's quite tempting perhaps to compare and contrast just how much the directorial works of these two directors evolved. Both began with these wonderful films and eventually they both worked on huge blockbuster motion pictures (Raimi with the Spiderman films and Jackson obviously with the Lord Of The Rings trilogy). In a way it's worth wondering how the children who so adore the characters of those recent films might feel about Lionel from Braindead or Ash from this. They probably wouldn't understand.

However, no one can say this series lacks originality. Instead of presenting us with a banal representation of the original film, director Sam Raimi reunites with Campbell and creates a whole new beast – packed with excessive physical humour, self-parody, tongue-in-cheek humour, and what Campbell himself described as splatstick comedy. On top of that, Campbell is much better here than he was in the original.
Ash is still somewhat of a coward, but Campbell lends his character a great sense of irony here that if anything, only establishes Ash as one of cinema's most iconic characters.

Overall, Evil Dead II is a really fun ride, with a superior performance from Campbell. It may not be on the same level as the original in terms of horror or just general enjoyment, but it's still a blast. As Ash would say, ''Groovy, baby!''

''Let's head on down into that cellar and carve ourselves a witch.''

8/10