Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn

In 1980, some kids clubbed some money together and made The Evil Dead. It jumped on the horror band-wagon and told a basic story of some kids staying in a cabin in the woods, beset by demons. The acting, script and special effects were all rather rudimentary. What lifted the film were the humour and the direction: moments of slapstick and a total freedom of camera movement that were utterly inspired.

Some years later, they came back and made essentially the same film again, with a bigger budget. And this time the gallows-slapstick humour and wacky camera angles were pushed to the fore. They threw everything into the pot, nothing was left out. And it works. And it’s utterly joyous, exhilarating bravado film making by some kids that didn’t really know any better.

It’s like watching an 85 minute, gore-soaked Tex Avery cartoon. Every trick they could think of is in this film. The camera is restless – it is either strapped onto the front of a motorbike and chasing Bruce Campbell through the surprisingly large interior of the small wooden cabin, or it’s strapped to Campbell himself. Or in one breath-taking shot, the camera is attached to a crane, with Bruce Campbell on a spinning device hurtling him through every branch Sam Raimi can drive him through. And when the camera isn’t moving, there’s reverse-motion acting, stop-motion animation, speeded-up film. It’s absolutely breathless.

And at the centre of it, is a largely solo performance by cult-hero Bruce Campbell – he may not win acting awards, but this is one of the most enjoyable performances ever captured on camera. Behind the camera, Sam Raimi, never better, and you almost sense him twitching with new ideas for inflicting pain on Ash/Bruce. Film-making rarely ever comes this passionate, inventive, or exciting.