Evil Dead 2. Now with comedy goodness.

You know when you finish something, and you look at it again, and you wish you could do it over again? There’s a really cool movie example of this. And no, I don't mean Star Wars. George Lucas has lost his mind. I’m talking about Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series, specifically, Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. This is a great filmmaking story. He scrapes together enough money to make a movie, he and his brother and their friend Bruce make this crazy horror film about zombies in the woods.

It's Evil Dead, a scary, digusting, and unintentionally cheesy film that follows the story of two couples who decide to spend a weekend partying in the woods. Isn't that always the way? A classic formula, which leads to a night of horror, including a woman being raped by a possessed tree. A little twist on the traditional story for you there. Bruce, playing the hero Ash, must fight the zombies and get out alive. They have to make it until dawn, and despite losing a hand, and replacing it with a chainsaw, he makes it out. Or does he? See what I mean?

So a few years later, Evil Dead 2 comes out. How very exciting, a sequel. But it starts the same way. Two couples going to the woods, Ash doesn't appear to have any idea what's coming, zombies pop up--and he’s surprised. Yes, people, they remade the exact same movie, a few years later, with the same leading man. And as fascinating as that it is, they pulled a George Lucas, and made it completely ridiculous. Except I think they meant to make it ridiculous. You get physical humor, sight gags, and lines so cheesy that they beg to be quoted. Let's give an example (because it’s fun):

Ash cuts off his hand, because it becomes infected by a zombie. The zombie hand, runs around like Thing from the Addams Family and leads Ash on a Roadrunner-Wile E. Coyote style chase, until he finally captures it under a bucket, and places some books on it. The title of the book? A "Farewell to Arms." That’s comedy gold right there.

The amazing thing is, it retains a horror feel to it, and has some scary sections. This formula must have been successful, because they abandon the horror, and the final installation, Army of Darkness is the most hilarious zombie movie ever. Army of Darkness deserves it’s own blog. This launches Bruce Campbell into semi-obscurity as a successful B-movie actor, and I hear that Raimi guy did some other movies. I was always most impressed with the fact that Raimi took a chance on the story a second time, did something pretty risky, and managed to work a few really cool, artistic shots into a gory horror-comedy.