Golden Oldies: Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)

Director Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn stars Bruce Campbell as Ash, everyone's favorite zombie slaying hero. The first Evil Dead, released in 1983, told the tale of five friends that spent the night in a cabin in the woods and accidentally unleashed demons that would in turn ruin their night. Evil Dead 2 was brought to us four years later in 1987 as if there was no such thing as the original film. There was neither a recap nor even a hint of the first film mentioned in the sequel, making Evil Dead 2 that much more bizarre. Though the film does not consist of much more than Bruce Campbell holding up a cabin from the undead with a group of strangers, 2 has every element of a perfect sequel: more laughs, chills, and thrills, a larger body count, and a bigger budget. Much like Raimi's other trilogy- Spiderman, the second film was arguably more exceptional than the initial film. From the convivial one-liners, to the boundless gore, to the alluring Campbell, Evil Dead 2 is not only everything a horror fan could ask for, but a comedy fan as well. Sure, the film is very campy, but did it ever promise not to be? For this viewer it only adds to the thrilling fun. Having begun as a very low budget, simplistic fright show to becoming a cult-classic horror trilogy, to having its own nation-wide musical, the Evil Dead trilogy has come a long way. For this viewer, Evil Dead 2 contained more laughs, more thrills, and more fun than the others, scoring it a solid 4 stars.