Top 25 Greatest Halloween Films: #16 – 'Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn' (1987)

#16: Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987)

“Groovy.”

This masterpiece mix of horror and slapstick gave whole new meaning to the term “eye candy” and forever cemented co-writer/director Sam Raimi’s status as a unique talent on the rise. There are so many directorial flourishes in this low-budget sequel/remake of the even lower budgeted “Evil Dead” ($350k versus $3.5 million) that to list each one would mean listing most every beat of the story. Endlessly inventive in every possible way, like most of the films on this countdown, while giving it another look last night I wondered if it deserved a higher ranking.

The sole survivor of “Evil Dead,” Ashley “Ash” Williams (The Mighty Bruce Campbell), takes his girlfriend deep in the woods for a quiet, romantic weekend in a secluded cabin. Drawn to a reel to reel tape recorder, Ash hits PLAY and listens to the cabin’s absent owner, a professor, read a spell from the pages of the Book of the Dead. What this spell unleashes is a bona fide tour de force of shocks, gore, comedy, and all the qualities required to craft a timeless cult-classic – most especially Bruce Campbell’s mind-blowingly awesome central performance.

Most of the story’s action takes place in and around the single location of this rural cabin and how Raimi and his co-writer Scott Spiegel managed to keep the plot relentlessly churning with the benefit of only a few location cutaways (to four people who have no idea they’re about to join Ash’s fight with the evil dead) is a minor miracle. There are more story turns in the first ten minutes here than you see in the entirety of some feature films. If forced to register a complaint it would be only that Raimi never stops to give us a breather.

Not that I’m qualified (or interested), but if I were ever given the opportunity to teach a class in filmmaking, the centerpiece of the course would be “Evil Dead 2.” It’s a splendid example of how to write to a low budget. The tone Raimi sets make his cheap special effects work perfectly within the world he’s created and the sweat equity that went into the script sleight-of-hands the story’s lack of scope. Most of all, however, by studying the pace, rhythm and feel of the genius and inspiration that went into each and every scene, a budding filmmaker can start the process of understanding the potential of lighting, camera placement, sound design and, most importantly, putting it all together in the final editing process.

The only flaw in this idea is that the film is so damned entertaining you’re always going to forget to study what you’re watching.

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What didn’t make the list: *ducks* Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi chiller easily ranks in the top 25 films I’ve re-watched more than any other over the course of the last thirty years, but it’s also so far off my Halloween Radar (there is such a thing thanks to Ronco) that had the title not periodically popped up in the various comment streams of this series, I would’ve never considered it. Maybe the disqualifier is the sci-fi element. Maybe it’s the fact that the memory of the first time I ever saw it — on HBO during a sweltering summer day while sitting on the living room floor in front of a fan — is just too strong. And in my defense, the film was originally released in late May…

Terrific haunted house story, AWEsome underwear scene — give me some time to wrap my mind around it and let’s talk it over again next year.