Box Art Review #2 - Evil Dead 2

Box Art Review # 2

Evil Dead 2 (1987)

Directed by Sam Raimi

Starring Bruce Campbell

The Movie

As classic as Evil Dead is, Evil Dead 2 is twice as classic. Everything great about the first film is twice as great here; there’s more gore, more comedy, and more Bruce Campbell. The one iconic moment from the first film that gets the shaft here is the tree rape scene, which is less of a tree rape and more of a tree molestation in this one.

There’s a lot of confusion over whether Evil Dead 2 is a sequel or a remake. According to the DVD and Blu-ray, the producers of Evil Dead 2 were unable to secure the rights to Evil Dead 1 (their own fucking movie) and so were unable to show a (not quite necessary) recap of the previous film. Instead, they decided to re-film those parts, this time with less stupid people fucking around in the cabin, and then add on the sequel stuff. What we ended up with is a movie that not only stands on its own, but surpasses the original.

The story is basically a more fleshed out version of the original film. This time, Ash and his girlfriend are the sole couple en route to the cabin in the woods. When they get there, it doesn’t take long for shit to hit the fan. With his girlfriend dead and his hand chainsawed off, Ash is none too pleased when two girls and a redneck show up and make shit worse. One of the girls proves to be semi-useful when she helps out with the reverse demon summoning, but ultimately Ash turns out to be the film’s only survivor just before he gets transported to Medieval times to set up the third movie in the trilogy.

The Cover

Everything about Evil Dead 2 screams iconic. This cover image is one of the best, most evocative covers/posters for any horror film to date. A pre-photoshop skull with eyeballs and visible eyelashes on the right stares down at us as the cheesy 80s tagline reads, “2 TERRIFYING, 2 FRIGHTENING, 2 MUCH!” It’s so fucking great man, 2 MUCH indeed. That font totally rules too, it’s sort of a hybrid of splattered blood dripping and crude incisions. Last, but not least, it must be said that DEAD BY DAWN is probably the greatest title known to man, and it’s a shame it doesn’t always follow the words Evil Dead 2.

The back is host to three quotes that provide apt and witty descriptions of the film, but aren’t necessarily indicative of a glowing review. Take, for instance, “It’s the sort of film that fans of ‘Freddy,’ and ‘Texas Chainsaw’ will flock to.” While this is an absolutely true statement, it’s not necessarily endorsing the movie. I mean, at the time of its release, movies like Evil Dead 2 were considered filth, the kind of garbage that was corrupting the minds of children along with Dungeons and Dragons and Heavy Metal records. Clearly the distributors cherrypicked that review for a line that would sell the movie regardless of the overall content of the review itself.

Movie: 5/5

Cover: 5/5

Evil Dead 2 (25th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]