Happy Halloween, dear readers… BEWARE OF SPOILERS…!
Whether or not they’re fans of the horror genre, it seems that everyone has that one movie they watch every year on All Hallow’s Eve. Whether they’re looking for outright terror or a good mix of cheap thrills and laughs, moviegoers and critics everywhere tend to either seek out the latest in horror films or pay homage to the classics that make a good Halloween movie night. What strikes me as interesting about the most popular choices, however, is that they can all be more or less assigned to a genre of horror. For instance, you’ve got the Universal monster movies, like “Frankenstein”, “The Wolfman”, and “Dracula”; and you’ve also got the staples of the age of slasher movies, such as “Friday the 13th”, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, and “Halloween”. Even more grounded thrillers like “Psycho” and the first “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” can be put into their own genre. But how do you talk about a movie that has a little bit of every layer of horror? Can a horror movie be shocking, hilarious, and uncomfortably tense all at once?
My answer would be yes, because Sam Raimi is in the film industry.
I, too, have a Halloween tradition. It’s with that, then, that I’d like to examine Evil Dead 2’s funny genius while offering some (hopefully original) perspective on one of my favorite movies of all time.
Less a sequel and more a fundamental remake of Sam Raimi’s cult classic horror film, Evil Dead 2 begins with Ash Williams’ romantic cabin getaway coming to a twisted and bloody halt upon the discovery of the “Necronomicon ex Mortis”, the book of the dead. Chaos, demonic possession, and mass dismemberment follows the pre-recorded reading of the book’s passages, and Ash is put through the fight of his life. As if being forced to kill his girlfriend, fighting his demonically possessed hand and being stranded in the cabin weren’t enough, the daughter of the book’s researcher comes to the site of the book’s finding with a small research team, determined to discover the fate of her father and the secrets of the book. Has salvation come for the broken Ash Williams? Or is Annie and her ragtag group just as doomed as others who summoned the book’s monstrosities?
A simple setup, to be sure, but as with most premises, success is all in the execution. The most obvious high point in this regard is definitely Sam Raimi’s mastery of camera work. Even in one of his earlier works, Raimi’s point-of-view tracking shots were spot on, and special mention must be given to the scene in which the unseen threat chases Ash all throughout the cabin. So dedicated was the director to the tension and panic of the scene that the camera even smashes through the window of a car and through the door inside the cabin. Actually, the practical effects as a whole are incredible, and there’s an impressive dimension in the fact that the actors and sets are actually getting as messy and bloody as they appear to be. Second most obvious is Evil Dead 2‘s masterful balance of horror and humor. Part of the beauty of this “Evil Dead” movie in particular is its lack of limitations in what could be a threat. Corpses, dismembered limbs, trees, and even furniture are out to get the heroes, and the result is as unnerving as it is hilarious. The horrific deaths of the cast are played mostly straight, but there’s a hint of Three Stooges-style slapstick to the more violent scenes. Ash in particular is as hilarious as he is tragic in how much abuse he takes from the “deadites”, and Bruce Campbell’s bombastic portrayal of the character’s initial cowardice and growing heroic charisma is a definite highlight of the movie.
Speaking of the protagonist, one thing that I think is overlooked is the movie’s narrative. It’d be easy to set the focus solely on the gory death scenes and gratuitous dismemberment, but serious attention is given to Ash’s struggle for survival. While some of that struggle is played for laughs, the movie makes it clear that the pain he’s receiving is just as mental as it is physical. The fact that the whole environment is against the main characters makes for an understated sense of tension, since literally anything could kill them or posses them at any moment. That tension makes for unparalleled catharsis after seeing Ash in those famous action scenes, and the transparent emotional investment in Ash’s struggle can be traced back to what makes the film work as a whole: it’s heart. It’d be bold to ever accuse Sam Raimi of being dispassionate, even if you’re not a fan of the genres he typically contributes to. It’d be simple to make a cabin-in-the-woods splatter fest, but since “Evil Dead 2” is a Sam Raimi film, its also a slapstick comedy, a character study, and a supernatural, eldritch horror film all at once, and the result is almost perfect because of it.
I think Bruce Campbell described the film perfectly, in-character:
Groovy.
Rich Reviews 