Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn 
(1987)
by Billion$Baby

Well, most consider this to be the best of the 3 ED movies, but I actually enjoy Army of Darkness more. Hard to believe, I know! With that said, I still consider Evil Dead II to be one of the greatest and most original horror films ever made. This is a fun roller-coaster of a film, and Bruce Campbell gets his first chance to show the world what a truly unique actor he really is. Have you seen that fight with his own possessed hand? The one in Fight Club just didn't compare!

Can I just take this opportunity to inform anybody who may be under theimpression that this is a remake, that it is actually a direct sequel to the first film. This sequel shows us Ash's second night at the cabin. Raimi couldn't obtain the rights to use footage from the original feature, and so devised a feature that could be seen as either a stand-alone film or as a true sequel. If one removed the 5/6 minute introduction, this sequel would be a perfect continuation of the original story. We don't even see the Book of the Dead after this introduction, so that would tie-in with it's destruction at the end of the first film.

It was a shrewd move by Sam Raimi to make it possible to view this film on a stand-alone basis because many cinema goers would not have seen the original feature. When Evil Dead II was released on the big screen in the UK, the first film was still banned! (It is now finally available in uncut form).

According to the "Los Angeles Reader" and the "Evil Dead Companion", this was Raimi's strategy for the movie : "Instead of just building the suspense, peaking with the scare-point when the audience would jump (which we certainly did quite a bit), we would sometimes peak the suspense and then hit them with a gag. They're so edgy, they're either gonna scream or laugh. So we gave 'em a laugh once in a while, just to play with the dips and heights of the suspense - which was really our only goal : to give 'em a great ride...They'll have a great time with their dates."

This use of comedy becomes even more prevolent in the next sequel, but most do prefer this film's precise mix of comedy and horror, which is then combined with some very inventive and varied special effects. Dead By Dawn keeps an exciting pace for 85 minutes, and once seen, it is never forgotten (for all the right reasons!).I won't describe the plot as I should imagine that you all have seen the film by now. If you haven't seen it yet, where have you been? Shame on you. Buy it today! In fact, if you haven't seen any of the ED movies, I would advise you to either buy this one first or to just take my word for it, and buy the whole darn set!

Enough rambling. What about the disc itself?

Well, being an Evil Dead fan, I felt obliged to buy the limited edition tin package from Anchor Bay. Quite honestly, my personal advice would be not to bother! There are no extra features to be obtained by choosing that over the standard keep-case alternative. As well as a tin, all you get is a flyer for the new Hail To The King computer game and a booklet which repeats an old Fangoria article together with pictures taken from the film itself. I found the booklet to be a wasted opportunity, and other than Campbell's amusing dvd liner notes on the first page, it has nothing new to offer.

These are the features of the Anchor Bay disc :

Choice of full-screen or wide-screen presentation
Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 (THX)
Commentary by Raimi, Campbell, Spiegel and Nicotero
30 minute featurette with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage
"Preview" (advert!) of the Hail To The King computer game
Trailer
Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell bios
90 cool photographs

As usual, Raimi and Campbell steal the show with their commentary, and Spiegel and Nicotero also make a very interesting contribution, although with four voices the commentary can sometimes become rather hectic. It's also fascinating to watch the behind-the-scenes footage. We get to watch Sam and Bruce fooling around, and together with the commentary, it gives us an insight into to the arduous conditions on the set.

This footage was actually shot by the special effects team. My only complaint would be that as they profess to having shot 6 hours of such footage, I would have liked to have seen more. All 6 hours if possible!

The disc boasts very good picture quality and the remastered sound is very impressive. (My favoutite part of the 5.1 track is 47 minutes in, where all speakers are utilised seperately. Play it loud and you'll see why I love it!).

All in all, a very good package from Anchor Bay. Buy the standard keep-case version though, unless you want a cool Evil Dead II tin! This is a dvd that you need to own in your collection. I'd shout louder about the extras but being an Evil Dead fan, I'll always want more!