Released: 1987
Runtime: 84 minutes
Bruce Campbell is the man. He is this film. Ash is an amazing character, and Campbell does an excellent job of portraying him.
Anyway onto the plot...
A lone survivor of an onslaught of flesh possessing spirits is holed up in a cabin with a group of strangers, while the same demons continue to attack... So the gist of it, Ash survived the first one (<-- That's a spoiler if you haven't seen it - highlight to reveal), and has been in this cabin ever since. When a group of people come across the cabin, they find Ash, and a lot of ghosts. They battle to defeat the evil within. The question is... Do they survive?
Sam Raimi (Oz the Great and Powerful, Spiderman 3) has definitely hit the nail on the head with this film. In fact he's done more than that, I think he has hammered home exactly what a comedy horror should be like. And sequels. This is an excellent example of how a sequel should be done. If I enjoy a movie, I expect the sequel to be on par, if not better than the first. So many film sequels suck (and they get worse the more they make - Wrong Turn for example). The first Evil Dead was good, and the remake is ok, as far as remakes go - but there's no Bruce :( Evil Dead II is a brilliant movie. One that I really enjoyed.
No disrespect to the other actors involved in the film, but without Bruce Campbell, this film would be nothing. Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley DePaiva, Ted Raimi (younger brother of Sam Raimi) and the rest were ok, nothing memorable or exciting about their performances though.
The comedy element was perfectly balanced with the horror. The costumes were amazing. On a shoe string budget, they managed to pull together the epitome of 80's horror.
I found a number of quotes from this film that I think everyone should know. Taken from IMDb
Henrietta: I'll swallow your soul! I'll swallow your soul! I'll swallow your soul!
Ash: [aims shot gun at Henrietta's face] Swallow this.
Annie: [Looking at a picture in the Necronomicon of Ash himself] In 1300 AD they called this man the uh, 'hero from the sky'. He was prophesied to have destroyed the evil.
Ash: He didn't do a very good job
Bobbie Joe: You're holding my hand too tight
Jake: Baby, I ain't holding your hand
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