evil dead 2

THE FLICK: It’s been said only a few hundred people bought the Velvet Underground’s first record, but every one of them became musicians. I’m not sure how many people got a chance to see Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2 in theaters, but it’s a safe bet the majority of them walked out wanting to be filmmakers. I know I sure the hell did! A bigger-budget (notice I didn’t say big budget) re-imagining of the original Evil Dead, which got a good boost of publicity thanks to a quote from Stephen King, Evil Dead 2 is the equivalent of cinematic anarchy. It breaks every rule in the Hollywood handbook except the most important – keep the audience entertained. Combining Three Stooges slapstick with non-stop gross-out gags, Raimi and his puppet of punishment Bruce Campbell elevate the horror/comedy genre to Citizen Kane standards. The first fifteen-minutes are a deliberate celluloid hazing. The audience is pummeled with visual tricks that don’t seem physically possible. It’s not just steadicam, it’s “shaky-cam” and “ram-o-cam” as Raimi drags the audience through cars, cabins, doors and trees. And once the actual plot proper kicks in (the forces of evil resurrected from an ancient book, yada, yada, yada) the real pummeling begins! But for every bucket of blood, every swallowed eyeball, every disembodied hand, there’s a hokey shtick your uncle might try at the next family reunion just around the corner. It becomes clear that Raimi was never out to scare anybody. He’s simply using the genre for his own purposes, which are much more good-natured than the title would lead one to believe. We’ve been had! And loved every second of it. Of course, Raimi eventually found his big-budget success. And the Evil Dead films have moved beyond cult status to a quasi pop-culture phenomenon akin to The Rocky Horror Picture Show – a level at which every quirky character, every blown line of dialogue and every on-set mistake is hailed as an intentional act of genius. And in this case, that just might be true. THE FEATURES: Hold on to your Necromonicons everybody! Anchor Bay has released yet another version of their favorite franchise, this time packaging it in a custom-designed vinyl “Book of the Dead” identical to the previous Evil Dead numero uno edition. Yes, it looks super cool (and even screams when you poke it in the eye!) and, yes, it still stinks to high heaven the first few days out of the box (what do they put in that stuff, anyway?). The question is, what kind of extras do you get? The commentary is the stuff of legends, gathering Raimi, Campbell, co-writer Scott Spiegel and make-up artist Greg Nicotero for a one-room yuk-fest that’s still surprisingly informative. Who knew the film’s stop-motion work was created by the same guy that did Davey and Goliath? Well, you might have if you’d bought the previous versions on DVD (or the old Elite “blood-red” laserdisc), because the commentary track is the same. But it’s still damn fun to listen to. Evil Dead 2: Behind The Screams is a 17-minute slide show narrated by sculpture Tom Sullivan (who also designed the DVD’s swanky packaging). The photos are numerous and amusing, with Sullivan providing a deadpan backstory detailing his time spent on set. Making of Evil Dead 2: The Gore the Merrier seems to be at first glance another one of those boring studio “how-to” featurettes, this one hosted by the KNB effects guys. But 30-minutes later you’ll be amazed by how much ground these guys cover – nearly every shock gag in the film – and laughing yourself silly at all the candid on-set hijinks perpetrated by Raimi and company. The usual trailer, still gallery and talent bios tag along for the ride. And let us not forget the HD Divimax transfer that puts a new spit and polish on the film itself. So open up that cubbyhole you call a DVD collection and compare these stats to what you already own. If there’s even a bit of wiggle room, this new edition should be up on your shelf.