ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - March 13th
"EVIL DEAD II" released in 1987
Ash (Bruce Campbell) finds himself back in the dreaded cabin in the woods, continually fighting off the never-ending assault of Deadites. Just when all hope is about to be lost, a new group of strangers arrive at the cabin, including the daughter of the famed archeologist who discovered the evil Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, to help him destroy the Evil Dead once and for all, in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II!
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Ash Williams (Campbell) and his girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler) take a romantic vacation to a seemingly abandoned cabin in the woods. While in the cabin, Ash plays a tape of an archaeologist known as Professor Raymond Knowby (John Peaks), the cabin's previous inhabitant, reciting passages from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (or Book of the Dead), which he has discovered during an archaeological dig. The recorded incantation unleashes an evil force that kills and later possesses Linda, forcing Ash to decapitate his girlfriend with a shovel and bury her near the cabin. A spirit then violently breaks through the cabin and flings Ash deep into woods, briefly possessing him; but when the sun rises, Ash is returned to normal and limply makes his way back to the cabin.
Meanwhile, the professor's daughter, Annie (Sarah Berry), and her research partner, Ed Getley (Richard Domeier), return from the dig with more pages of the Necronomicon in tow, only to find the destroyed bridge. They enlist the help of locals Jake and Bobby Joe (Dan Hicks and Kassie Wesley) to guide them along an alternate trail to the cabin, where they find an embattled Ash, who is, seemingly, slowly being driven insane due to his encounter with the demon, such as hallucinating that the room comes to life with objects in the room laughing hysterically at him. Piecing together what has happened from Ash's account and Knowby's recordings, Ed is quickly possessed (and subsequently dismembered by Ash), while Bobby Joe flees into the woods, only to be killed by the trees. With their only hope of survival depending on chanting an incantation inscribed in the missing pages from the Book of the Dead, Annie helps Ash modify his shotgun and chainsaw (made to attach to his stump, after having been forced to cut off the possessed hand earlier) for a final confrontation with the Evil Dead!
Meanwhile, the professor's daughter, Annie (Sarah Berry), and her research partner, Ed Getley (Richard Domeier), return from the dig with more pages of the Necronomicon in tow, only to find the destroyed bridge. They enlist the help of locals Jake and Bobby Joe (Dan Hicks and Kassie Wesley) to guide them along an alternate trail to the cabin, where they find an embattled Ash, who is, seemingly, slowly being driven insane due to his encounter with the demon, such as hallucinating that the room comes to life with objects in the room laughing hysterically at him. Piecing together what has happened from Ash's account and Knowby's recordings, Ed is quickly possessed (and subsequently dismembered by Ash), while Bobby Joe flees into the woods, only to be killed by the trees. With their only hope of survival depending on chanting an incantation inscribed in the missing pages from the Book of the Dead, Annie helps Ash modify his shotgun and chainsaw (made to attach to his stump, after having been forced to cut off the possessed hand earlier) for a final confrontation with the Evil Dead!
Ash: [assuring himself in the mirror] I'm fine... I'm fine...
[Mirror Ash jumps out of the mirror and grabs Ash]
Mirror Ash: I don't think so. We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound "fine"?
Top and Above: Annie (Sarah Berry), Bobby Joe (Kassie Wesley) and Jake (Dan Hicks) find Ash (Bruce Campbell) battling the evil dead, having already been forced to dismember his girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler) in the shed.
While a sequel to The Evil Dead was discussed while filming the original movie, it was Irvin Shapiro, the publicist who was primarily responsible for the mainstream release of The Evil Dead, that suggested that they next work on an Evil Dead sequel. Sam Raimi instead elected to work on the crime/comedy film Crimewave; but when Crimewave was released to little audience or critical reaction, Raimi and producer partner Robert Tapert, knowing that another flop would further stall their already lagging careers, took Shapiro up on his offer. Around this time, famed horror author Stephen King was directing Maximum Overdrive, the adaptation to his own short story Trucks, when he had dinner with a crew member who had been interviewed about the Evil Dead sequel, and told King that the film was having trouble attracting funding. King, who had championed The Evil Dead at the Cannes Film Festival, convinced his Maximum Overdrive producer Dino De Laurentiis to meet with Raimi and Tapert. Though initially skeptical, De Laurentiis agreed after being presented with the extremely high Italian revenue from the first film, and allocated the filmmakers a $3.6 million budget through his production/distribution company DEG.
Though they had 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 Scott Spiegel, who had collaborated with Campbell and others on the Super 8 mm films they had produced during their childhood in Michigan, to help shape the screenplay. Spiegel felt that Evil Dead II should be less straight horror than the first, and to include more comedic elements. Initially, the opening sequence included all five of the original film's characters; however, in an effort to save time and money, all but Ash and Linda were cut from the final draft. Ignoring the many, many continuity issues between the two films (including; no traces of the bodies of Ash’s friends from the first movie, Ash attempting to escape via driving over a bridge which had previously been destroyed - which he appears not to remember - and the cabin itself appearing intact, despite having been ruined during the events of The Evil Dead), Evil Dead II was written as a direct sequel, only condensing the events of the first movie into Evil Dead II's first 15-minutes to act as a "recap" before the events of sequel take place.
Though they had 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 Scott Spiegel, who had collaborated with Campbell and others on the Super 8 mm films they had produced during their childhood in Michigan, to help shape the screenplay. Spiegel felt that Evil Dead II should be less straight horror than the first, and to include more comedic elements. Initially, the opening sequence included all five of the original film's characters; however, in an effort to save time and money, all but Ash and Linda were cut from the final draft. Ignoring the many, many continuity issues between the two films (including; no traces of the bodies of Ash’s friends from the first movie, Ash attempting to escape via driving over a bridge which had previously been destroyed - which he appears not to remember - and the cabin itself appearing intact, despite having been ruined during the events of The Evil Dead), Evil Dead II was written as a direct sequel, only condensing the events of the first movie into Evil Dead II's first 15-minutes to act as a "recap" before the events of sequel take place.
Henrietta: I'll swallow your soul! I'll swallow your soul! I'll swallow your soul!
Ash: [aims shotgun at Henrietta's face] Swallow this.
Top: Writer/director Sam Raimi;
Above: Raimi on location with Bruce Campbell
Principal photography commenced in Wadesboro, North Carolina, not far from De Laurentiis' offices in Wilmington. Ineterstingly, 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, with most of the location work being in the woods near the farmhouse originally used for Steven Speilberg's The Color Purple. Interiors were also shot on sets constructed at J.R. Faison Junior High School. The film's production was not nearly as chaotic or strange as the original film's production, largely because of Raimi, Tapert and Campbell's additional film making experience. Even so, there were hardships, mostly involving Ted Raimi's costume as the possessed Henrietta. Raimi was forced to wear a full-body, latex costume, or crouch in a small hole in the floor acting as a "cellar", or - as on one day - both. Raimi became extremely overheated, to the point that his costume was literally filled with liters of sweat; special effects artist Gregory Nicotero describes pouring the fluid into several Dixie cups so as to get it out of the costume!
Evil Dead II grossed just over $800,000 across 310 movie screens in it's opening weekend, but, after a little over a month in theaters, ultimately grossed nearly $6 million at the US box office - making Evil Dead II a moderate success. Critics were universal in their praise of the film, with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times giving 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." 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?".
Evil Dead II grossed just over $800,000 across 310 movie screens in it's opening weekend, but, after a little over a month in theaters, ultimately grossed nearly $6 million at the US box office - making Evil Dead II a moderate success. Critics were universal in their praise of the film, with Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times giving 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." 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?".
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 98%
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