"Kiss Your Nerves Good-Bye!"	Year of Release: 1987 Directed by: Sam Raimi Running Time: Approx. 84 minutes Rating: Not Rated Listing on the A.K.A. Page: YES! Click here! A Second Opinion: Eccentric Cinema Buy the Special Edition DVD at: Amazon.com or Movies Unlimited.com My Rating:

Ashley "Ash" Williams- Bruce Campbell! Leaner and meaner than he was in first movie. Ash stupidly unleashes the "Evil Dead" and must use everything at his disposal to fight them off. At the end, Ash is sucked through a portal and ends up stranded in Medieval Times. He just can't catch a break!

Linda- Ash's girlfriend. She is possessed by a demon and tries to kill Ash. He decapitates her with a shovel and later finishes the job with a chainsaw.

Professor Knowby and Henrietta Knowby- The Professor had discovered the Necrinomicon and made the accursed recording that Ash plays. He is nowhere to be found, therefore he must be dead. Henrietta apparently had been possessed and then killed by her husband, then buried in the fruit cellar. She hangs around during the whole movie, creating macabre mischief whenever she can. She's hacked up with a chainsaw by Ash.

Annie Knowby- The late Professor and Henrietta's daughter. She arrives at the cabin to see her folks, only to discover a badly beaten Ash, who's drenched with blood. At the end of the movie, she recites passages from the Necrinomicon which opens a time rift, sending the Evil Dead and Ash back in time. She dies after being stabbed by Ash's possessed hand.

Ed Getley- Annie's ahm... boyfriend? Perhaps he's her fiancé? I'm not sure. In any case, he becomes possessed and is chopped up with an axe by Ash.

Jake- A redneck that guides Annie and Ed through the forest. He's a complete pain in the ass and causes quite a few problems due to his simple mindedness. He disappears in a fountain of blood (more like pinkish, red water actually) when pulled down into the fruit cellar by the possessed Henrietta.

Bobbie Joe- Jake's woman. She's pretty good looking but is none too bright. She runs off into the woods, only to be attacked by vines and smashed into a tree. That must've hurt, but at least she wasn't raped by the trees like Cheryl in the first movie.

The Evil Dead- Khandarian demons resurrected (again) by Ash after he plays Professor Knowby's recording. The extremely sadistic demons are sucked back into Medieval Times along with poor Ash at the end of the movie.

After The Evil Dead came out, Raimi and company thought it was a failure. Months after its release, they soon discovered that The Evil Dead was pretty damned popular. And what happens when a movie becomes a hit or does well? A sequel must be made of course (milking a franchise technique, pioneered by thousands of people in Hollywood). So by 1987, Evil Dead II was completed, and unleashed on the public. It's been sixteen years since its initial release, and this film is still around (thanks to those magnificent bastards at Anchor Bay). This happens to be my favorite movie of the Evil Dead trilogy. The first was made primarily for scares (and did have some dark humor) and the third was mostly for laughs, but Evil Dead II seems to sit right in the middle of the two. Not just because of the number two itself, but because it acted like a transitional bridge between the other two films.
This movie starts off with a narration about the history of the Necrinomicon. Inked in blood and bound in human flesh, it contains verses and rites that will allow demons to possess the living. Then we cut to Ash and Linda arriving up at the seemingly deserted cabin in the woods (yes! It is the exact same one from the original). As night falls, Ash woos Linda with some sweet talk and his skills as a pianist (as in piano player? Yeah I know what you were thinking sicko!). Ash goes to grab a bottle of wine while Linda changes and notices a tape recorder sitting on a nearby table. Instead of pushing his curiosity aside, Ash sits down and hits the play button. The tape is a recording of Professor Knowby, reciting passages from the Necrinomicon. As the Professor's recitations come to a close, an invisible force smashes through a window and claims Linda.
Ash runs to see what happened, only to find that Linda is missing. He quickly goes outside so search for his beloved, only to find that she is possessed. As she shambles toward him, like a devilish marionette, Ash trips backwards and hits the ground. He then grabs the nearest weapon he can find, a conveniently placed shovel. As Linda leaps at him, Ash swings the shovel's blade upwards and beheads her. He then buries her in a shallow grave (of what appears to be coal) and grieves over his lost love (remember that ugly magnifying glass necklace from the first one? Well it's back and plays a small but crucial role in this movie too). Suddenly, another invisible Force comes crashing through the back door of the cabin and out the front. It lifts Ash up and sends him spinning and flying across the forest. His trip ends swiftly once he hits a tree and is sent splashing into a puddle of muddy water (actually, the only puddle in the whole damn forest!).
Ash lays face first in the puddle until he suddenly lifts his head, revealing that he is possessed! But at that moment, the sun arose and banished the demons to their dark hiding places until nightfall. Exhausted from the ordeal, Ash passes out and eventually awakens to find that the night will be coming soon. He quickly runs back to the cabin and gets into his car. For of those of you who have seen the original Evil Dead, you know what will happen next. Ash drives to the bridge that is the only way to escape, and finds that it's destroyed (and that the girders on his side of the bridge are bent into the shape of a gnarled hand)! Without any warning, the sun sets and our hero is again assaulted by an invisible force. Ash hops into his car and races back to the cabin for safety.
He manages to make inside the cabin, but the Force is too close behind and coming on strong. A chase ensues through the cabin, and Ash manages to outsmart his demonic pursuer by hiding in the fruit cellar. The Force then goes into full reverse and nestles back into the deep, dark, woods. In the meantime, Annie Knowby has just arrived at an airstrip and is greeted by Ed. They plan on taking some newly found pages of the Necrinomicon to her father for some translation. But enough about them, they'll be along shortly. Back at the cabin, Ash is tormented by the demons. He begins to start grieving over Linda's death when suddenly she pops out of her grave and starts doing a somewhat erotic dance (which is kind of disgusting since she's now a rotting corpse). She disappears into the darkness and shortly sneak attacks Ash. Ash wakes up screaming! Oh thank god, it was all a dream. Just as he's getting comfortable in his rocking chair, Linda's head falls onto his lap.
The disembodied head bites Ash's hand and holds on like a bulldog. No matter what he hits her head off of, she won't let go. So what does he do? He goes to the tool shed being the sensible man that he is. Ash puts Linda's head in a vice and reaches for the chainsaw... but it's not where it should be. Suddenly the shed's door explodes open and Linda's headless body charges at Ash with the chainsaw. Ash manages to wrestle the body to the floor and then uses the chainsaw on Linda's head. Ash goes back inside the cabin and arms himself with a shotgun. Then the demons begin tormenting Ash again, causing him to hallucinate and feel guilty about killing Linda. And just as he thought he had his sanity in check, his hand becomes possessed! Back out on the road, Ed and Annie have come to the bridge, where Jake is setting up a roadblock.
Annie begs Jake for help in finding an alternate route since the bridge is down. After some debating, Jake agrees to take her down a trail and to carry her luggage all for a hundred dollars (what's funny about this is that he thinks Annie just has a few small bags. Turns out she also has a huge trunk for him to carry too). Back at the cabin, Ash begins battling against his possessed hand. It smashes plates galore over his head, punches him, claws him, and even flips him at one point. It succeeds in knocking Ash out and then tries to grab a cleaver. Ash wakes up just in time to pin his evil hand to the floor with a knife. Then he grabs the nearby chainsaw and lops it off at the wrist. Ash uses some cloth, gauze, and duct tape to wrap the bloody stump where his hand was and then puts metal waste basket over the severed hand (he also places some books on top to weigh it down. The top one being "A Farewell to Arms!" Hahahahahahaha!).
The hand escapes from its prison and scurries about the floor and into a mousehole. Ash uses his shotgun to fire oat it, and misses a few times until he gets off what he thinks is a lucky shot. What happens next is completely unexpected by Ash. A stream of blood blasts from all the gunshot holes in the cabin walls, saturating Ash. Then the reddish liquid turns black and streams back into the wall, leaving Ash bewildered, damp, and dirty. Ash goes to sit down on a nearby chair and falls through it, evoking laughter from the stuffed and mounted deer head above the fireplace. Pretty soon, every piece of furniture is laughing at Ash as well. Ash descends into madness and begins laughing along with everything until he hears a noise at the door. He fires two shots through the door and reloads. As he opens the door to investigate, Jake rushes in and starts beating on Ash (oh great, first the demons kick his ass, now a redneck starts picking a fight).
Ash is beaten up a bit more (everyone thinks he killed Annie's parents) and locked in the fruit cellar. As the newcomers try and piece together what may have happened, Annie notices the tape recorder. She turns it on and learns the horrible truth about her mother, who is buried in the fruit cellar. As Ash listens to the recording while recuperating from his recent thrashings, the possessed corpse of Henrietta climbs out of the earthen floor of the cellar. Ash lets out a high pitched scream and starts banging on the entrance to the fruit cellar. At the last minute Ash is rescued from certain death, but now that damn Henrietta demon is causing trouble. While Jake is getting his ass kicked by the evil beast woman, Ash runs over and shuts the door on Henrietta's head. What happens next is probably the most memorable scene from the movie. Ash jumps on the door, causing one of Henrietta's eyes to pop out and fly across the room, right into Bobbie Joe's mouth (and if you look really closely, you can see the fishing line holding he eyeball up).
With Henrietta trapped in the cellar once again, things seem safe, until Ed becomes possessed. Ed eats a clump of Billie Joe's hair and beats up on Jake with ease (you know, things demons normally do). Ash runs outside and returns with an axe. Needless to say, Ed didn't stand a chance. He is quickly chopped up by Ash, causing green blood to splatter everywhere! Once again, Ash saves the day! Some time passes and suddenly a strange variety of sound effects and camera angles flash across the screen. This signals the short visit from Professor Knowby's ghost, who tells Annie to read the newly discovered passages of the Necrinomicon to dispel the evil demon. After the Professor's spirit leaves, Bobbie Joe runs off into the forest after meeting Ash's possessed hand.
For her stupidity, Bobbie Joe is attacked by some vines and dragged through the forest, smack dab into the trunk of a large tree. Not the way I'd want to die, but it beats getting raped by the trees before they kill you right? Anyway, Jake gets antsy and wants to go out after Bobbie Joe but Ash and Annie will have none of that. Jake gets a hold of Ash's gun and forces them outside, but not before the foolish hick tosses the necessary pages of the Necrinomicon! As I said, Jake forces Ash and Annie outside, and begins calling out for Bobbie Joe. His yelling attracts The Force which takes possession of Ash. To cut a long sequence short, Annie stabs Jake thinking it's demonic Ash (with the skull dagger from the first film). Then she drags the wounded redneck into the living room but puts him too close the fruit cellar door.
Henrietta grabs Jake and pulls him into the opening, resulting in gallons of blood (which is a good thing. Jake was a real liability!). Suddenly, demonic Ash pops up out of nowhere (right on cue!) and attacks Annie. Before Ash continues his onslaught, he looks down on the floor and sees the magnifying glass necklace. He picks it up and begins to get all teary eyed under his latex makeup. I guess it jogs his loving memories of Linda because Ash changes back to normal. But Annie isn't convinced at first and begins chasing Ash with an axe. After they settle that ordeal, Ash realizes that he must venture into the fruit cellar and reclaim the pages of the Necrinomicon. Before doing so, he goes out to the work shed and attaches the chainsaw to his arm stump and saws off most of the shotgun's barrel. ("Groovy.")
Ash then goes into the cellar and effortlessly grabs all of the Necrinomicon pages. (It all seems too easy...) Just as he thinks he's in the clear, the demonic Henrietta, who was hiding under the stairs the whole time, attacks. Ash is knocked out leaving Annie to fend for herself. As Henrietta floats in the air and pulls on Annie's hair, Ash crawls out of the cellar, ready for battle. He goes toe to toe with the demonic bitch and seems to be doing well, until she changes into the ostrich woman of death! (Her neck elongates about six feet into the air for chris sakes!) Annie then distracts the beast, giving Ash ample time to dismember Henrietta with his trusty chainsaw.
So what's left for our hero and heroine? Well apparently Annie recited the passage that would give the demon a flesh and blood form (pretty cool looking in my opinion), and on top of that, all the trees near the cabin have come alive and are on the offensive. All Annie has to do is recite another passage to banish the evil while Ash holds off any attackers. Annie is nearly finished with the recitation but wouldn't you know it, that pesky hand of Ash's stabbed her in the back. Ash tries to tend to her but ends up getting captured by the evil spirit (which, in its flesh form, is almost all mouth). Ash fights for his life, giving the toothy beast a chainsaw blade in the eye. But all is not lost!
As Annie dies, she utters the final words of the passage and opens a rift in time that sucks everything into it, including poor Ash. After flipping every which way through the time portal, Ash ends up in medieval Europe and is quickly surrounded by extras dressed in knight armor. They all decide that he is a Deadite and are about to kill him when.... a large flying stop motion creature flies in for an attack run. Ash stands up, aims his sawed off shotgun at the beast, and blows Its head off. This act is celebrated by the surrounding knights and men-at-arms who hail Ash (said Hail to our hero is led by Sam Raimi himself in a small cameo) while standing in front of a scale model of a castle. So the movie ends, and Ash is now "Trapped in Time. Surrounded by Evil. Low on Gas."
Well as I said, Evil Dead II is my favorite of the series and brings the first and third installments together quite nicely. The special effects in this movie were pretty decent, especially the prosthetics and milk white contact lenses (which no one could see out of). The several stop motion sequences in the movie are pretty good, but not very convincing (then again, when have stop motion special effects ever been convincing in this day and age?). Also, the creature at the end was quite gruesome looking with it's large mouth full of irregular pointy teeth, one glaring red eye, and multitude of heads attached to it's one side (to represent captured souls I presume?). Too bad it didn't get much more screen time. Acting wise, everyone did a fairly good job (kudos to Ted Raimi who played the Possessed Henrietta), especially Bruce Campbell as the tormented Ash. All in all, Evil Dead II is a must see in my book. It's fun, it's original (which is hard to say about movies nowadays), and has the right mixture of horror and comedy that have rightfully earned it cult movie status.

Ash: (After lopping of his hand.) "Uh huh... That's right. Who's laughing now?"

Possessed Henrietta: "Someone's in my fruit cellar! Someone with a fresh soul!"

Ash: "Groovy."

Possessed Henrietta: "Hey! I'll swallow your soul, I'll swallow your soul, I'll swallow your soul, ACK!"
Ash: "Swallow this." (Blasts Henrietta's head with his shotgun.)

Ash: (As he's being sucked into the time rift.) "For God sakes! How do you stop it?!"