Evil Dead 2-
Book of the Dead Edition
(Anchor Bay Region 0 NTSC DVD)
(1987)
review by Head Cheeze

What’s rubber and screams and smells like the cleaning products aisle at the local supermarket? Well the new Evil Dead 2: Book of the Dead Edition, of course! Following up on the popular Book of the Dead edition of the original Evil Dead, Anchor Bay presents that film’s sequel in a Tom Sullivan designed Necronomicon cover, featuring an all-new, Hi-Def transfer supervised by director Sam Raimi, himself. There’s also a few special features thrown in for good measure, some new to this edition, and others culled from the last 324 versions of Evil Dead 2 that Anchor Bay has released (including the popular Evil Dead 2: Beach Ball edition, and the much-maligned Evil Dead 2: Feces-Flinging Monkey edition).

Okay, so I’m crackin’ wise, but I’ve got a reason to, don’t I? I mean, it’s pretty obvious that Anchor Bay’s sort of milked this Evil Dead cow dry; I have the half-a-dozen versions of Army of Darkness to prove it. But, in the case of Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, this is probably the least exploited of the trilogy in that I’ve only got one other version of this film in my collection (well, that and it’s tin-encased counterpart). Unlike Army of Darkness and Evil Dead, which have a honkin’ two-disc special edition and feature-packed Book of the Dead edition respectively, Evil Dead 2 has never gotten the truly “special” special-edition treatment.

And it still hasn’t.

Sure, the new Book of the Dead edition looks nifty on the surface, but where’s the beef?! Besides the admittedly nice new DiviMax anamorphic transfer, and an all-new featurette called Evil Dead 2- Behind the Screams, the other extras are carryovers from the previous editions, including an older commentary track, The Gore the Merrier featurette, theatrical trailer, and talent bios.

And, while this particular Book of the Dead “screams” when you press its eyeball, that’s about the only edge it has over the packaging of last year’s Evil Dead edition. That version also featured, in my opinion, a nicer interior design, as well as a booklet featuring liner notes. While I did use the screaming eyeball feature to chase Jehovah’s Witnesses off of my porch, I still prefer the design of the first Book of the Dead. However, I will say that this version is packed in a way that allows you to store it alongside your other DVD’s, which is a bonus feature even if it is only a matter of more cardboard and plastic.

One thing that both versions share, however, is the ability to clear out small rooms with their truly offensive toxic odor. While I’ve never been in proximity to tear gas, I imagine cracking open this baby is a close second. My eyes watered, my nose ran, and I swear I could feel my pupils dilate. For comparison’s sake, I took a sniff of the Evil Dead version, and that baby still packs a wallop. As I sat there, dizzy and slightly high, all I could imagine were thousands of Midwestern teenagers stuffing copies of this movie into paper bags and starting an all new huffing craze. Then again, for the forty clams they’d have to shell out to get this DVD, they could afford to buy some real drugs.

So should you buy this? That depends on two things; how big of a fan you are, and how much cash you have lying around. For penny conscious fans who already own a version of this film there’s just not enough stuff here, new or old, to justify rushing out and dropping $40 bucks. On the other hand, Raimiacs with money burning holes in their wallets will be more than pleased with the set, especially the new Hi-Def transfer, and will finally have a matching set of smelly rubber bookends to complete their collections.

At least until the inevitable Army of Darkness edition sometime next year.