Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn Blu-ray Movie Review

Camp horror at its best--now available to own on Blu-ray!

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 24, 2007

I'll swallow your soul!

Before becoming the world-famous director of the Spider-Man trilogy, director Sam Raimi teamed up with now-legendary B-film actor Bruce "The Chin" Campbell to make two small, low budget horror films entitled The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn. This is one of my favorite horror films. What sets it apart from much of the drivel being released today like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remakes and the Saw films is the mood of the films. Horror films today seem to have one goal only: to forego story in favor of outdoing each other in their copious amounts of gore that are present to simply gross-out audiences and push the carnage envelope further and further. More effective horror films don't have the goal of putting the most blood and mangled body parts on screen. Rather, they try to be genuinely frightening while including gore to progress the story, relying on mood, acting, sound, and, most importantly, the viewer's imagination to piece together what's happening (think of the original Halloween or the classic Universal horror films). These films don't revel in gore, and if they do it's because they fall into the second category of successful horror: the horror-comedy. This approach to horror films is what we see in Evil Dead II. The film is certainly bloody and violent. It embraces the violence and mixes it with over the top humor to produce a final film that scares its audience, but doesn't leave them running for the bathroom to be sick. Instead, it leaves them walking away from the film chuckling at the absurdity they just witnessed.

Groovy.

If the beginning of Evil Dead II looks familiar, chances are you've seen the first installment of the series. It's a re-filmed recap of the first movie used to introduce audiences to the back story of the first film, where Ash battled the forces of evil at a secluded cabin in the woods. After the recap, our hero, Ash (Bruce Campbell), awakens at dawn as the smoke from the previous night clears to find himself in a puddle of mud--possessed by the evil spirits! But as day breaks, he returns to his normal self. Attempting to flee the evil once and for all, Ash heads for the only bridge leading out of the mountains, only to find it destroyed by the evil spirits. He is chased back to the cabin (where it is night again) and the next 70 minutes is packed with thrills, chills, and more blood and laughs than you can possibly imagine. With the help of Annie Knowby (Sarah Berry), Ash must battle not only the spirits and those they possess, but also himself as he loses grip with reality and sanity, continuing to fight off the possession inflicting his own body, often resulting in some genuinely funny and memorable scenes.

More than anything else, it's Bruce Cambell's performance that makes this a memorable movie. He's nothing short of brilliant in his portrayal of Ash. That's not to say he was snubbed for not being in contention for the Oscar in 1987, but he plays to the part and tone of the film so well that nobody else could have pulled it off and made it work like Bruce did. Another key factor is the lifelong friendship Campbell has with director Sam Raimi. The two grew up together making films, again with Raimi behind the camera and Campbell in front, so they know what each other's strengths and weaknesses are, and because of this we get a cohesive final product that excels on every level it shot for. Evil Dead II is a bona fide classic of the horror-comedy picture, not only adding a terrific entry to the genre but also redefining it.

Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I'm sorry to report that I found my old, upconverted THX-approved standard definition DVD copy of Evil Dead II to look better than it's 1080p Blu-ray counterpart. Still, the DVD edition is not heads and shoulders above what we have here. The source material for this movie is dated and was shot on a lower quality film stock, so it's never going to look like Casino Royale, for instance, though I am sure some out there think it should "because it's in high-def." What we get on this Blu-ray release is supposedly the same master transfer that appeared on the Book of the Dead standard definition DVD release from several years ago. There are several shots that look overly soft, so much so you have to think that this was director's intent. Starz has also added a great deal of edge enhancement to most of the movie that I did not notice in doing back-to-back comparisons of several scenes with my DVD copy. The Blu-ray version did appear to be somewhat brighter than the DVD; colors seemed a tad more vibrant on this latest release. In that case the Blu-ray looks better, but after having watched the entire Blu-ray disc and ran comparisons with the THX DVD, I have to say I prefer the look of the upconverted DVD simply for the lack of severe edge enhancement present throughout the Blu-ray. While both versions suffer from some problems, most of them are inherent to the film itself. Special effect scenes, for example, will always look bad compared to the rest of the film. In my opinion, the THX DVD version is just a little better than the Blu-ray in overall quality.

Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn is presented courtesy of Starz with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack as well as a PCM 5.1 Uncompressed soundtrack. My initial reaction to this track as the picture starts has always been (and still is after hearing the Blu-ray version) that it sounds "tiny," as if the microphones were a good ways away when recording the dialogue. It's as if the vast majority of the sound was recorded after the fact (as is the case with many movies) but somehow the track doesn't always "gel" with what was going on onscreen. It often sounded as if everything was just a little off. Sometimes dialogue appeared to be recorded too loudly or too softly. There are no lip-synch issues, but nevertheless I felt the audio was somehow misplaced. This is likely just a reflection of the budget available to the sound designers in post production. That's not to say the sound mix here is bad. It's not and doesn't always suffer from these issues. There are several really great effects scattered throughout the movie. There is some wonderful sound design as sounds of evil spirits literally fly around the room. It had one of my cats looking around the room trying to figure out what was happening, and another, bass heavy scene scared her out of the room completely. That's a first as far as I know. This track is a definite improvement over previous-generation Dolby Digital tracks, despite some issues that have been present in every iteration of the track I have heard over the years.

Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The main attraction here is a commentary track featuring writer/director Sam Raimi, actor Bruce Campbell, co-writer Scott Spiegel, and make-up artist Greg Nicotero. This quartet is very, very passionate about this film. They remember many of the particulars of the making of the movie, including many of the technical aspects that will be over the heads of most of the audience (including mine!). Anecdote after anecdote is offered up. This track is chock full of information. It's a track that has been recycled several times over on home video, but it's always worth a listen. Also included are "Film Fast Facts." These are pop-up, text-based trivia boxes that offers almost nothing that isn't mentioned in the commentary track (usually at the same time the fact is being discussed on the commentary track). There are also two featurettes on the disc: Evil Dead 2: Behind-The-Screams (480p, 17 minutes) and The Gore the Merrier (480p, 32 minutes). Behind the Screams is a montage of photos taken by Tom Sullivan. Sullivan narrates the featurette as well. The Gore the Merrier is a fun 30-minute ride through the making of the many special effects in the film. Wrapping up the bonus section is a 480p trailer for the movie.

Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn is a true classic in the horror genre. Few movies have achieved the remarkable success this film has by blending over the top humor, scares, violence, and special effects. For a 20 year old film, we get some very good sound design that will have your head on a swivel as the action envelopes you. Picture quality could do without the edge enhancement, however. We get some old, recycled supplements but they are so good that there is really no need to replace them. Overall this is a great addition to your collection if you don't already have this movie on DVD, especially the THX-approved disc. Recommended for first-time buyers or those upgrading from laserdisc or VHS only.