By Kevin B. Lee
[Editor's Note: This is the 933rd entry (published slightly out of order) in House contributor Kevin B. Lee's Shooting Down Pictures, a record of his ongoing quest to see every title on the list of the 1000 Greatest Films compiled by They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?]
In his follow-up to The Evil Dead (aka the quintessential film school horror movie), Sam Raimi and his immensely resourceful crew approach basically the same premise (Bruce Campbell & co. holed up in a cabin vs. zombies and assorted supernatural bullies) with ten times the budget. As a result the shock effects are more audacious and less crudely executed, though without losing the punky, do-it-yourself spirit of the original. At the same time, the possibly unintentional campiness of the first installment is now presented outright as a point of departure for a frontal assault on the line demarcating comedy and horror.
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To read the rest of the article, click here. See after the break for Kevin's video essay on the film.
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7 comments:
Love these video essays!
There's something out there.
Workshed!
Evil Dead II is great fun. In fact, it prompted my first celebrity interview in high school when Bruce Campbell showed up in my hometown to promote it.
this movie has always been a personal favorite -- the film is so kinetic and the humor so visual and cinematic that it's mind-boggling to consider that there are cinephiles (out there somewhere) that don't love evil dead II
Here's a close-up for ya -- POV of a deadite's eyeball as it shoots across the room toward a screaming woman's open mouth.
Groovy.
I rented this film as a young teenager with my cousins because the cover made it look like a film our parents wouldn’t want us to watch. I always thought it was funny that the cover of the film seemed so proud that Roger Ebert only gave it “3 stars”. That night we watched this film, and I was blown away. After this, all of my cousins fell asleep and I watched “Bladerunner” for the first time in my life - 2 inches from the screen - until 4am in the morning. Between the two of these films, it was a truly life changing evening.
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