Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn [Blu-ray]

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Writer-director Sam Raimi's extremely stylized, blood-soaked follow-up to his creepy Evil Dead isn't really a sequel; rather, it's a remake on a better budget. It also isn't really a horror film (though there are plenty of decapitations, zombies, supernatural demons, and gore) as much as it is a hilarious, sophisticated slapstick send-up of the terror genre. Raimi takes every horror convention that exists and exaggerates it with mind-blowing special effects, crossed with mocking Three Stooges humor. The plot alone is a genre cliché right out of any number of horror films. Several teens (including our hero, Ash, played by Bruce Campbell in a manic tour-de-force of physical comedy) visit a broken-down cottage in the woods--miles from civilization--find a copy of the Book of the Dead, and unleash supernatural powers that gut every character in sight. All, that is, except Ash, who takes this very personally and spends much of the of the film getting his head smashed while battling the unseen forces. Raimi uses this bare-bones story as a stage to showcase dazzling special effects and eye-popping visuals, including some of the most spectacular point-of-view Steadicam work ever (done by Peter Deming). Although it went unnoticed in the theaters, the film has since become an influential cult-video favorite, paving the way for over-the-top comic gross-out films like Peter Jackson's Dead Alive. --Dave McCoy

Customer Reviews:

Ash is back with a fury and this time he's ready!.......2007-09-12

Ash is back in this campy, gorey, horror gem/classic! If you loved The Evil Dead then you'll love this Hilarious sequel. This sequel to The Evil Dead takes the mood and tone to a fairly different direction in that it's not quite as gorey or violent as the first and it's pretty darn funny. I just love that hysterical scene where Ash's hand become possessed and flips him and breaks plates over his head. I'm really impressed with its higher budget and faster pace. Best of all for the first time we get to see Ash's chainsaw hand weapon(AWESOME)! So if you like Sam Raimi Robert Tapert Bruce Campbell or just love a funny action-packed horror movie this one's right up your alley!

Creepy and cool!.......2007-08-28

This movie is what started it all for me. Love this type of horror movie, not to serious not too silly but scary as hell. Sam Rami shows great direction skills and imagination. Bruce Campbell will always have a gig at comic book conventions for the rest of his life because of this role. Out of the three this is the best. Sam, come back and direct some real movies and leave spidy alone. This movie is just a bad ass, fun movie to pop in and make your kids watch.

A must to have ..........2007-08-14

Fan or not ... you must have this "Book Of The Dead 2" edition.
Just one bad point to say if you compare Evil Dead 2 "Book Of The Dead" with the first Evil Dead "Book Of The Dead" ... this dvd is just in English !
No other language selection !
Otherwise a very very good quality for this product.
Real fine and a little surprise if you push the white eye.

Let's carve ourselves a witch!.......2007-07-24

A chainsaw-wielding, shotgun-shooting enforcer of evil...enough said. Although the first Evil Dead had it's share of slap stick humor and gore, this sequel is definitely an upgrade over its predecessor. The gore is so over-the-top, you can't help but to laugh at the Kool-Aid spewing and syrup-spilling madness. The scene where the severed hand gets caught in the mouse trap and then flips off Ash is classic! A must own for any B-movie horror fan, or any horror fan for that matter.

A Classic.......2007-06-17

This is one of the best films ever made.

I should end the review there, but I guess I'll add a few other remarks, since that line alone would strike many as preposterous. Ok, first I should clarify: this is one of the best films ever made if you like the horror genre (and especially the comedy-horror sub-genre). Obviously if you hate horror films you won't think this is very good. That's fine. Usually when I see those "Greatest 100 movies" type lists, I don't like more than 2 or 3 on the entire list. Everyone has an opinion, and opinions are of necessity subjective. So if you don't like horror... run from this page, run very quickly.

Still here? Great! Anyway, I'm not going to go over all the great stuff in the film, most people have covered that pretty well. There's gore, there's slapstick, there's a ton of sight gags and wonderfully corny lines and catch phrases. It also has some interesting characters, especially the heroic fool Ash. This is just a damn fine movie.

The packaging is certainly... interesting. The artwork inside is nice, though a depiction of the skull on the original cover would have been nice (especially since there are two blank pages). The commentary is great, with lots of entertaining stories, tons of insights and things to watch for in the movie, and some bad jokes (as one would expect). I wish they would have added another commentary or two, as there seems to be (based on what I've read) quite a bit more that could be said about this film, but I guess one will have to do. The other extras were also pretty interesting, with even the picture section (a narrated slide show) being engaging, which is a first.

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