Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Evil Dead II/Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) - Campbell, Spiegel and Raimi's crazy, gory classic

4/06/2017

Evil Dead II/Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) - Campbell, Spiegel and Raimi's crazy, gory classic

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The iconic, cool skull face poster for Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II

Ash and his girlfriend are in a cabin in the woods, when he unintentionally releases the evil of Necronomicom (The Book of the Dead), and soon demons spread and attack most spectacularly.

Led by a positively rabid performance by the inimitable master of physical, cartoonish horror acting, Bruce Campbell (Ash vs Evil Dead (2015-16)), Evil Dead II elbows itself violently ahead at a mad pace with effects by the wheelbarrow. Its visuals, camera work (by cinematographer Peter Deming (Drag Me to Hell (2009)), dummies, prosthetics etc. all serve the wild lunacy that is maybe the best 1980's-made 'nothing's-too-much' effects-driven horror, as well as my favorite in the franchise.
The story is extremely (and intentionally) silly, - more or less the story of the original The Evil Dead (1981) all over again, just sillier, with lots of ludicrous, fantastical incongruities that only heighten the fun factor. Mixed in are sequences of genuine nightmarish horror.
Evil Dead II is written by Scott Spiegel (The Rookie (1990)) and Michigander master co-writer-director Sam Raimi (Crimewave (1985)). It is essentially a horror gore comedy about-nothing near-masterpiece.

Related posts:

Sam Raimi: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess
Evil Dead (2013) - One hell of a ride (producer)
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) - A fun, eye-popping adventure
Drag Me to Hell (2009) - Raimi returns to horror in high style
Army of Darkness (1992) or, Medieval Death

Top 10: Best franchise movies

Bruce Campbell gives an interview at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con about his work on the Ash vs Evil Dead TV-series

Cost: 3.6 mil. $
Box office: 5.9 mil. $ (North America only, on first release)
= Uncertainty (but likely a huge hit)
[Evil Dead II was released 13 March (USA) and runs 84 minutes. After the failure of Raimi and Joel and Ethan Coen's Crimewave (1985), Raimi needed a hit and reverted to the sequel idea. Stephen King, a fan of the first film, introduced him to Dino De Laurentiis, who financed Evil Dead II. Due to the relatively small budget, the idea to move Ash to Medieval times were scrapped until the next film in the franchise, Raimi's also great Army of Darkness (1992). Shooting took place in North Carolina, including at De Laurentiis' Studios in Wadesboro, and in Detroit, Michigan from May - September 1986 with re-shoots in December 1986. The film opened #14 to an 807k $ first weekend in just 310 theaters in North America, its peak there. It seems to have racked in good business abroad: Reportedly 3 mil. $ in France, 1.1 mil. £ (UK), 1.4 mil. $ in West Germany and also good performances in Spain, Italy and other markets. It also continued grossing in North America, where its gross by 2006 had reportedly reached 10.9 mil. $. It has likely grossed upwards of 20 mil. $ by now, which would make it a huge hit. Roger Ebert gave it 3 stars, and Leonard Maltin has changed his initial 2 star review to 3 stars. Evil Dead II has become a cult film, and the franchise continued with one 1992 sequel, a 2013 remake and a TV-series, Ash vs Evil Dead (2015-16). Evil Dead II is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Evil Dead II?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)

4/06/2017

Evil Dead II/Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987) - Campbell, Spiegel and Raimi's crazy, gory classic

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