EVIL DEAD II (1987)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama* 
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *metaphysical, sociological*


I'll be pretty brief in my remarks on the last two installments of Sam Raimi's. I decided to re-view them largely because Ash Williams has become a cult-figure, thanks to Bruce Campbell's "balls-to-the-wall" performance. But I've never really cared for the oeuvre of Sam Raimi, though he did two really good SPIDER-MAN films and presumably had some creative input in the HERCULES and XENA TV-shows-- all of which I've enjoyed.

EVIL DEAD 2 is certainly a much better film than its precursor, and a lot of that can be credited to Raimi's decision to give Ash a more slapsticky vibe, up to and including quotes from Three Stooges routines. Still, the improvement in Ash didn't extend to any of the other characters, who were just as much throwaway cannon-fodder. It's not impossible to do a hard-hitting, gory film that allows for some in-depth characterization, as witness the recently reviewed HELLRAISER II. But in his EVIL DEAD films, Raimi pretty much throws characterization out the window.

So DEAD is moderately enjoyable whenever Ash is strutting his stuff, and not at any other time. The film's highlight is Ash's decision to fit a chainsaw onto his missing hand, which is almost as much of a grabber as his final confrontation with the main demon.  Yet, for all his bravado, Ash is still what I call a "demihero:" he's out to save himself, and maybe others if things work out that way-- but he's not yet a hero. EVIL DEAD II belongs to the mythos of the "drama," in which, even if a sympathetic character is more important to the story than the monster he battles, he's in some way curtailed by the influence of the monster and/or some monstrous reality.