Evil Dead II - Lisa's Review

So, I finally check out the sequel (or remake with a bigger budget as some would have you believe) to Evil Dead, aptly named Evil Dead 2.

From the get go, I'll say I really didn't like this movie AT ALL.  I know that possibly seems like a complete contradiction given that I really enjoyed the first Evil Dead movie, but this one didn't grab me at all.  I hadn't seen it before tonight and I expected something akin to the first movie with better effects.  Speaking of effects, while you can clearly see there is a bigger budget with this movie, I felt the effects were needless and in places ridiculous.  Looks like Buffy looked here for some of its ideas.  All the charm of Evil Dead seems lost in the attempt to bring this one up to date for the time.  Ironically it manages to date this movie even more than the first Evil Dead installment.

We have the same premise, albeit without the group of teenagers this time round.  A recorded message, which was meant as a warning is played, which contains passages from the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead).  This unleashes a demon which sets to possessing various people and inanimate objects throughout the course of the movie.




Bruce Campbell is an iconic character but I found even him irritating in this movie.  Its the original Jim Carey of enthusiastic over acting.   Also the scream we hear over and over from the lead actress is probably the worst I've heard in any movie EVER.  No fear, trepidation, horror, nothing!  Just an attempt to be as loud as possible.  I didn't care about any of the cast, so any deaths were a bit meh for me.

There were a few slight chuckle moments ('A Farewell to Arms' for anyone who has seen the movie), but no belly laughs were I think they were intended.  I just didn't feel anything watching it at all.  All in all it seems a bit of a waste of time to attempt to improve the first movie with this offering.  The special effects are dated and lack the original charm of the crude effects in the first movie.  I was surprised to not see Ray Harryhausens name in the credits at the end given some of the effects in places, I'm thinking especially the dancing decapitated corpse near the start of the movie.

I don't know what else I can say really.  I didn't like the effects, especially what felt like overkill with the transformation of the old lady in the cellar under the trapdoor.  I didn't like the 'feel' of the movie.  I didn't like the characters.  In fact I found it quite hard to stay awake, which is saying something from a person who suffers from regular insomnia.

I would definately not recommend this one, but would say avoid and just enjoy the original Evil Dead instead.  This one adds absolutely nothing in my opinion and just feels like a waste of time to me.