Just a little video I did up with the interview Bruce did to explain the connection coupled with underlying footage to illustrate what he is talking about.
I did this back in the VHS days - spliced all 3 movies together at just the right points, to make it one big Evil Dead extravaganza movie. It was EPIC!!!
I think that Evil Dead 2 should be edited to make The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness directly correlated instead of having inconsistent recaps that make it too confusing for people who have no common sense. And yes that is the same idea, I just wanted to explain your idea for the people with no common sense. 😂
I've always liked a bit of the fun idea that Ash as a character is on some level going insane across the 3 films, and that the inconsistencies and differences in the 'backstory' are just evidence of his trauma and his mind and memories being warped and twisted by his experiences. Like...he doesn't give a crap about his sister for the rest of the story, because he has been so twisted by what he has gone through that he hardly remembers her at all, despite ALWAYS having Linda on his mind.
I've always loved the absurdity of looking at it litterally. Ash goes home after Evil Dead 1, finds another girl called Linda, takes her BACK to the cabin and regifts her the same necklace. Then he gets sucked into a portal and all the knights think he's amazing until one guy rolls up and says "now old on, we've gotta enslave this guy"
To be honest, even if both the things that happened to Cheryl and Linda are really horrible, i think Linda takes the cake Ash had to see her decapitated body get torn in half with a chainsaw and then cut in half her decapitated and possessed head So yeah, is all just one big shitstorm of evil, but some shits are bigger then others
@@mollies13 it means Ash stayed in the cabin for 2 days before he was sent to the Medieval times. Evil Dead 2 continues from the morning after Ash killed his friends at night. After the unseen force grabs him the sun saves him from being shortly possessed, but causes him to pass out long enough til it becomes night again. By the time he wakes up the sun is going down and the bridge out of the woods is destroyed, causing him to retreat to the cabin for one more night.
What’s crazy is if you follow this timeline, this means all three movies take place within a few days from each other. So ash went from pussy who wouldn’t hit a deadite with an axe in Evil Dead, to chainsaw wielding badass, defeating the army of darkness within 3 days. Wow, What a 180.
I always thought Ash was very inconsistent in Army of Darkness. He's constantly going back and forth from coward to bad ass and reasonably intelligent to very stupid.
On top of all that are all the continuity errors revolving around Ash's shirt that also adds to the charm of it. I love in the original he gets sprayed with blood all over his face and shirt after beheading Linda, then as he's walking away he's practically clean. He then goes back into the cabin with quite a bit of blood on his shirt and then it cuts again and there's only like a couple of bloodstains on it lol.
My favorite continuity in any franchise is Evil Dead. I much rather a franchise say, none of it matters, just enjoy rather than for a bunch of retcons that only ends up breaking the timeline in more ways.
@@rustyfisher2081 I love how that's even mentioned in the last season of Ash vs the Evil Dead. They're at Ash's old high school and he says, "That's where I met my first Linda".
NickJarno that's basically why I made it. I got sick of typing out the whole story each time so now I can just link the video. I figured others might like to do the same so I made the video public heh.
Whatever guys! The part where Ash gets flown through the woods has Evil Dead 2 make sense as a sequel. End of! Conclusion: Evil Dead 2 is NOT a remake. The 2013 movie is the one and only remake.
(SPOLIERS) it makes perfect sense. In order for the TV series to make sense in the second season when ash returns back to his home town he's viewed as a murderer for killing his friends and sister in the cabin nicknaming him ashy slashy. How could that have happened if the second one is a "remake" it doesnt add up that way
Yup, they even adressed the issue with the reshot recap in part 2 in AvED! "Wait, was the tape recorder in the cellar or on the table? I have conflicting memories about it.." lol
You can't look TOO closely at this series and expect it to make full sense. Like, people in his hometown know about all the killings but uhhh they just left everyone's decomposing bodies in the cabin.
In my head canon, I like to think that what happens is that when the demon hits him in the first movie, it makes him relive the night a second time in a different twisted way in his head before turning him into a deadite. But honestly I've just accepted that Evil Dead is the kind of franchise where you shouldn't think too hard about this kind of stuff.
Ash went to the cabin back in 1981 with Cheryl, Linda, Shelly, and Scotty. After Ash had no choice but to kill everyone, he's the last survivor and attended to leave the cabin. But because the evil entity was still roaming within the woods it takes Ash. Which sends him flying through the trees and landing in a puddle, causing him to become possessed. So from 'The Evil Dead' to 'Evil Dead 2' Ash never left the cabin.
The second one is a remake up until the demon grabs Ash and throws him through the woods. After that is when Evil Dead 2 actually starts. It's a different take on the first movie, which is why it's only Ash and Linda going on a romantic outing and it's a different version of Ash finding the tape recorder, again until the demon grabs Ash and throws him through the woods.
I like to think the evil entity was trying to corrupt Ash in the first. Failed, and forced Ash to repeat the story in a constant loop. But in the second, Ash opens a portal to the past, breaking the loop.
I completely agree with you. I was always under the impression that the evil entity was trying to corrupt Ash due him being the sole survivor and thus, the evil entity kept calling him back while Ash’s memories of the cabin were completely clouded from his mind.
@@MegaFinalRound I know this is late, but if youre appearing at some sort of con, they're gonna make you charge, it's what happened when RDCWORLD appeared at a con and everything they did was super money grubbing because they didn't have any other choice, so now they're trying to make their own convention
It honestly never bothered me. Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell have been pretty upfront in interviews and commentaries and whatnot that they don't really care too much about things like continuity, and are just interested in entertaining the audience. So I always just sort-of assumed that the heavily-alterred recap in ED2 was a simplified retelling of the more important events of ED1, just to catch up any new audience members. Sure, there are other things that don't quite fit in with the first movie (The cabins a bit bigger, Ash should have known about the bridge being destroyed already, the shotgun changes from single to double-barrel, the basement door goes from broken to unbroken, etc.), but they're mostly either just cosmetic or otherwise minute issues, so they don't bother me too much, either. The movies already overly fantastical and insane, operating on borderline-cartoon logic... so I'm willing to cut them some slack for making alterations to continuity when its to the service of the experience.
@@HOTD108_ Minutus is the Latin word for "small," and it gave rise to both the adjective minute (my-NOOT), or incredibly small, and the noun minute (MIN-it), or 60 seconds of time. Though they are pronounced differently, both words refer to small measurements.
Honestly a great way to look at it. Each installment is entertaining on its own, and so long as they carry the same themes (book of the dead origin, humor, over the top deadities) then I don't care too much about continuity, if at all.
I’ve always thought this, and as a kid I imagined the first couple of minutes of Evil Dead 2 was almost like Ash having a lovely dream about Linda before reality kicked in.
Exactly what I thought, too. In fact, you could make a three movie supercut by cutting both ends off Evil Dead 2 which brings all three movies in line. As for the ending of Army of Darkness, I guess to keep it more tonally consistent, it would have to be the apocalypse ending, wouldn't it?
Shan Wickremesinghe the full interview actually has Bruce saying nearly that exact same thing. I cut the interview just for this purpose because no one is really confused that Army of Darkness is a sequel.
Of course, I was just mentioning that that would clear up another incongruity which is the end of Evil Dead 2 showing everyone worshipping him after he did that thing as opposed to how Army of Darkness started where ... they did something different.
However, at the end of Evil Dead 2 Ash is hailed as a hero, but at the beggining of Army of Darkness he is a prisoner. Is there an official explanation for this? (besides retcon)
Aber Beront the official reason is discussed in this full interview, and it's basically the same thing. they couldn't get the rights to ED2 when they made AOD so they had to reshoot the recap again.
I can't remember whether it was from Sam Raimi or from a fan page, but I always liked the explanation that it's Ash telling his own story and that he keeps telling it differently every time because he is an unreliable narrator. Each time he tells it it's more and more about him as he's egotistical. I always liked that explanation because it really does fit Ash's character.
I remember that from the Evil Dead handbook about 15 years ago. If you cut the beginning and end off of evil dead 2, all three movies make one continuous story. The problem is, in evil dead 2, Ash doesn’t have any of the injuries that he did in evil dead 1. Remember how they messed up his leg? He was limping out of the cabin.
I’d say overall that’s the least of the issues haha. The cabin is slightly bigger and has a more…how do I put it? decorated look to it. There’s the small shed _behind_ the work shed and the cabin (albeit even in the first Evil Dead no one ever enters it) that disappears entirely, not a huge loss but still. Ash loses the single barrelled shotgun from the first movie for the double barrelled boomstick, which was the right choice but still, the point remains. The cellar door repairs itself. The cellar itself is different I’m fairly sure, similar but definitely different. There are _so_ many other inconsistencies and errors I could list, but at the end of the day, who cares? 10/10 sequel, continuity be damned. If people are so bothered, they should just skip the recap to the moment where they recreate the ending shot from the first movie and continue from there.
Honestly injuries are pretty easy to handwave when half of his night is spent seeing illusions, lies, and driving him insane. Much less all the adreneline. Additionally, when one is possessed they get far stronger and more durable than normal. There is actually an argument made the reason his injuries vanish is that he's healed. As well as the reason he's so durable and strong in 2 and 3 (and the tv series) is becaues he was an enhanced deadite that took back his soul and self. That being what makes one a chosen one. So, I've alwas liked ot chock it up to insanity illusions.
This was exactly what me and my siblings theorized when we watched Evil Dead 2 and Evil Dead 1 a few months later on VHS. We assumed that the first few scenes with Linda in the beginning of ED 2 was just a flash nightmare Ash had when the Evil Force tackled him through the woods and he only came back to reality after he hit the tree. We didn't come up with any explanation on the continuity "error" when her body (it being naked) came back to attack Ash in the workshop in later scene though.
Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
The first movie ends with a tight zoom on Bruce's face. I f**cking love how it zooms right back out of that shot for the second movie. It's so damn cool!
Amazing! I edited both movies together back in 1999, with this exact edit. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd hear anyone else talk about it. Let alone Bruce Cambell himself.
The same people who think he says "Klaatu Barada Nikto" when that is the line from "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and his line is clearly "Klaatu VERATA Nicto."
AngryJT is right it was obviously a recap from the first movie, it even had the same "ending" after the first 10 mins. Who in the world does a remake of a movie that is only 10 mins long. Sorry, but people who thought/think it's a remake are a few cards short of a full deck.
I think when Ash is hurtling backwards through the air he is having his life flash before his eyes, which is all of the retcon with Linda, as it makes sense that he would be thinking of images about his girlfriend and the immediate events leading up to his flying through the air, and not necessarily all the other details about his friends, which explains the rather quick truncated scenes at the beginning of part 2, they are flashing scenes from part 1, seen through his eyes while hurtling backward.
There is a really good theory that “The Evil Force” put him through a time loop to drive him insane and every iteration is slightly different. Evil Dead 2 is just the end of the loop. The sequence that finally causes Ash to snap. That’s why in Ash vs The Evil Dead he remembers both going to the cabin with his friends and going with just his girlfriend. It’s not that far of a stretch. There is time travel in these movies.
Bro, thats a reach. It's not a complex or layered scenario. It's literally this. The first movie was made to be a standalone. The first movie took off mainly due to the Stephen King endorsement and bad press on it's violence. So when given a higher budget to make the 2nd one, he chose to remake it and fix the things he didn't like about the first one. Then you throw in the rights issues and you can see how it turned out. Both are great! But it's ok and you can still love the franchise while accepting the 2nd was just the 1st movie he wanted to make with more funding.
@@apollyonexe868 It’s a reach? Ash is laughed at by a lamp, gets into a fight with his own hand, and is transported to medieval times. Pretty sure “time loop” is possible in this universe.
@@thenothing2786 I get it's fun to think there's a bigger plot especially if you yearn for more content. I totally get the thought pattern. But sometimes you can get carried away in overcomplicating and romanticizing about a deeper meaning. But it's ok to take something for what it is. It's no more than a retcon or two. Or three. Or seven. He didn't expect the first film to explode and was tasked to make a sequel, but he had issues with the first film in his mind, so he set out to change and improve the things he thought he could do better, or suited the tone and direction he wanted for the second. Try and think of it this way. Evil Dead 1 was his first attempt. Evil Dead 2 was him coming back with a fresh take.
@@apollyonexe868 I know and love to story behind the making of this movie. If Chins Could Kill is one of my favorite books of all time. I read it once a year to remind myself that with enough motivation, even in the face of failure, I can still create something amazing. The main reason Rami made Evil Dead 2 was because after Crime Wave flopped he thought his career was possibly over. So he went back to Evil Dead because of its growing fan base. But when he made the film he created new laws for the Evil Dead universe that allows for pretty much every and any possibility.
@@thenothing2786 Yes. Retcons. Again. It's ok my dude. There's nothing bad by just allowing it to be a retcon fest for a first movie that was initially a standalone, until its success. That doesn't make Sam Raimi a bad dude, just someone who strived for perfection. So it's ok. You can be at peace..lol
Dude, even I understood this was a "recap" when I was 10 to explain the story to people that missed the first one. People are just really dumb. Especially when the thing gets him and throws him. I always took the ending of the first movie as a cliffhanger and it isn't hard to understand that the real sequel begins when the demon comes at him. The shot is basically the same!
It was always "obvious" to me even 27 years ago but not right away. Now to play devil's advocate and look at it from another view I can see that if someone was a child/teen back in the 80s/90s with just VHS and no information/internet I can see it being indeed confusing the first or second time watching it. You see him back at the cabin with a girl and not a group of friends like the first one and he looks insane for going "back". If you were around back then it was normal that not everyone viewed it as a full on sequel and thought he went back to the cabin like an idiot as an improved/continuation of Evil Dead 1 or a remake of sorts in a tongue in cheek sort of way. I'm not sure what you're negativity and seriousness is all about but I'm not sure why you feel the need to insult fellow Evil Dead fans and say people are VERY dumb for thinking something that is understandably confusing.
Even back then the movie was called Evil Dead _2_ ... accent on the two, and the VHS tape cover said "The sequel to THE EVIL DEAD" right on the back of it. It takes a special kind of stupid to think a reboot would have a 2 in it and be called a "Sequel" on the cover.
Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
The amount of continuity errors is pretty crazy though. Like in part 1 his boomstick is a single barrel, in 2 it's a double barrel. Linda is comes out of the grave in part 1, but is buried again in part 2 to come out of the grave again. Stuff like that. Also he drives to the bridge to discover it's out in both films.
The shotgun thing is unavoidable. Best to just try and ignore it. As for Linda in ED1, he put her in the grave but he didn't finish the job. She interrupts him, and that's when he knocks off her head with the shovel he was using to dig the grave. I don't remember him reburying her after that, but when she rises again in ED2 they just show her shaking off some dirt before doing that dance. It's not that bad. As for the bridge, I actually just posted how to easily edit that for proper continuity.
@@randir14 It really depends, movie rights are a tricky thing. It really boils down to what the contract states and who owns what. For example the first childs play is owned by MGM, while the rights to the sequels are held by Don Mancini the screen writer. That's why the remake in 2019 was so vastly different they really only had the option to change up the story or make a shot for shot remake.They weren't able to reference any story elements after the first film leading to a completely new story. Similar thing happened with friday the 13th and lead to a long lawsuit that was only recently settled, also the reason there hasn't been a movie in years and why the game died down. In all reality this explanation doesn't cover half of the confusion on the topic but I hope it helps
I was confused the first time simply because the opening scene we get shows only Ash with his girlfriend in the car, and then we never see the bodies of his friend and sister. And it didn't help when the back of the box on the blu-ray from what I remember said something like "Ash goes back to the cabin". I think they should have just reshot the ending of the first movie where he gets out of the cabin, and then gets hit by the evil. It'd be nice if they could make some kind of ultimate cut of the 2 movies which is probably impossible due to the movie rights.
Well they were going to do that (Sam Raimi was going to be Scotty), there's even a behind the scenes picture of a Book of the Dead prop made to be thrown into the fireplace. The reason why they didn't was because of budget. They couldn't afford to do the stop motion meltdown at the end and just scrapped the whole thing and just assumed that people would fill in the gaps themselves. They assumed wrong.
I'VE DONE THIS!!! A few years ago I cut all three Evil Dead movies together. I cut these two exactly like this, and the transition between 2 and Army of Darkness is even smoother. It ends up being about 4hrs long. 👍
"and the transition between 2 and Army of Darkness is even smoother." Yeah, sure pal.. At the end of part 2, Ash ends up in ancient Sumeria which is even forshadowed in the movie itself mind you! In AOD, he's in England!! Does that sound.. smooth?
@@Stigmatix666 when you combine Evil Dead 2 & Army of Darkness, you don't use Evil Dead 2's ending. The flashing in the portal is where to stop, and the explosion in the sky in Army of Darkness is where you start
@@joenesvick7043 I know that, but it's still a retcon. In order for it to work properly, you'd actually have to remove the foreshadowing scene from ED2 which pictures Ash as the *chosen one* in ancient Sumeria in the book of the dead. And that would ruin the entire movie and make zero sense..
My explanation always was that Ash in the first movie was a scared and uninteresting guy. Then he was the only one who survived. At the beginning of the second movie, the whole last survivor thing got into his head and he became to be a little self-centered. So the re-telling of the first movie was his perspective. Playing piano, reciting the verses, defeating the evil almost alone, true view of a egomaniac, And I really like that explanation I must say especially in the context of the last movie.
I was a kid when I saw Evil Dead 1 and 2 and I just assumed they showed the speedy recap of the first for the people who probably haven't seen 1 or maybe hated Evil Dead 1. Evil Dead 2 was a huge step up from the first one.
@Chad Why is it officially titled "Army of Darkness" rather than "Evil Dead III" like the previous installments? *Universal wanted to market the film as a stand-alone feature for audiences who had not seen The Evil Dead or Evil Dead II which is also the reason for the prologue. The rights to the franchise had also changed hands, meaning the name "Evil Dead" could not be used anyway. Sam Raimi as a result used the subheading, "The Medieval Dead". However some releases such as the 2 disc UK anchor bay edition has the title The Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness* Stop trolling
I'm kinda glad about that rights thing, it was cool to see a new backstory filmed, it gives the movie a unique flavor rather than just stock footage. ED2 use to be my favorite, but after watching them all again I'm gonna go with the original.
Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
I always imagined the intro of Evil Dead 2 is a recently mentally broken Ash misremembering the events of the cabin. Even the first night is traumatizing, you can easily argue under the stress Ash wanted to forget what happened to his best friends, girlfriend and ESPECIALLY younger sister.
Also, that's why the Book Disappears after it's used in Evil Dead 2 and they instead have to use the missing pages that Annie Found, because the Book was technically burned in the First one.
This timeline has always made sense in terms of motivation, and Ash Vs. really solidified it, but I do wonder how some of the little plotholes are meant to work. Like, Cheryl busted the cellar door Henrietta was still trapped by, then Ash sawed it open and it was STILL intact in Vs. I guess Ruby repaired it for some reason? Or, the Necronomicon was later declared fireproof, but I guess burning it exorcises all current posessions. Maybe lets it relocate so it's not the best solution, since it was the PAGES in 2. I guess the bits of his friends from 1 just melted completely away with the Necronomicon skipping town? The place was clean for a little bit in 2. Ash Vs. actually lampshaded that sunlight worked ONCE, but Ash is also one of the few people to shake off a possession with willpower, so that may be a Chosen One thing. That one I'll buy no problem.
They even adressed the issue with the reshot recap in part 2 in AvED! "Wait, was the tape recorder in the cellar or on the table? I have conflicting memories about it.." lol
Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
This is my take on the continuity error: Ash misremembers the events of the first movie due to him hitting his head on the tree at the end of the first movie. He only remembers Linda being with him because she was the most important to him out of his friends. He eventually gets his memories back tho
The way i see it is ash becoming so traumatized by the events is that even if he tries to remember them how they actually happened his PTSD will worsen and lastly you have to keep in mind none of them for were expecting to be possessed by the deadites it was a sudden turn of events that nobody saw them xoming.
I stood in line to get three signatures on a book and two movie posters, for five hours. He stayed until 2am at the comic book store signing everything and he did it with a smile. He signed my book with his signature, then one poster with "give me some sugar baby" and "that's pillow talk baby". The following year they announced that he would only sign one thing and it was only his name. He said he had cramps in his writing hand and arm for a week and never recovered from the previous year. Bruce Campbell is awesome.
I've considered this before, but eventually decided they're best left in the way they are, mostly because the recaps in both EVIL DEAD II and ARMY OF DARKNESS are really stylistic and cool ... I mean the narration in AoD is so badass I'd miss it if it was spliced into the end of EDII
@@BayattheMoonNetwork Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
it's sad how people STILL don't understand. at the tender age of 18 I realised all of what Bruce was saying all on my own. like it's not hard...its common sesne.
I live in Tennessee and have only ever been about 20 miles from where they shot the cabin footage. It's not around anymore but I remember feeling so amazed getting to see that place, like I had peeked behind the curtain of a movie
Evil Dead fans, and a lot of film fans in general, can't handle BAD CONTINUITY. They think continuity mistakes are deliberate, and are trying to say something, and they aren't! They're movies. You have to let go of some thing's once in awhile, such as trying to explain where Ash's friends went in the opening of "Evil Dead 2". They didn't bother to hire actors to film a half second for the recap. It wasn't important to the story the sequel was trying to tell. But no, people want to make more out of it...
I like how Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness are able to work as stand-alone movies. Even "Army" had a recap of Evil Dead 2 at the beginning, although it was more faithful sans the knights capturing Ash like a slave instead of cheering him.
Exactly J.t. Mills, when we try to convince these people that it is a sequel and not a remake they say "You are taking it too seriously" which is hilarious because THEY are taking it to seriously. Trying to say that the new recap in Evil Dead 2 proofs it is a remake because of this thing or that thing ... no it was a rights issues so they filmed a new recap. That's it, nothing more. The movie is a sequel/continuation .. end of story.
now that I think about it, they should have just hired or even got people for free to do the recap ,would have solved a lot of confusion haha , could have got people for really cheap or even friends just to make it more clear. The most confusing thing is him being back there with 1 person, a chick as if he's impressing her. I can see how that is probably the most confusing thing to people hahahaha
No all it really needed was a voice over narration. They did the EXACT same thing at the beginning of Army of Darkness, but everyone knows it is a sequel, and there is no confusion, because they had a voice over narration. If you played the same first 7 mins of ED2 and had a Bruce voiceover discussing it like "this is what happened" no one would be confused. Well except the truly stupid idiots.
I never understood how people thought that part two was a remake! I love the idea that poor ash-just when he thinks it’s all over- has to spend two nights in that same cabin. No wonder he went batshit crazy dancing with the inanimate objects in the house!
Great video. I always thought that the story of the first movie continued just like explained here and the first few minuted on Evil Dead 2 were just a fast recap what happened before.
I never knew this was a debate lol I always thought that the recap in the second film was literally just that....a cliff-notes recap to help catch people up on why Ash was at the cabin and how he ended up in the situation he was in, made specifically for people who never watched the first film whatsoever. If it really bothers people so much and they need some kind of explanation for the recap scenes instead of just viewing it as a recap, they could explain it as either a dream Ash is having, or some kind of mind torture from the Evil by forcing him to relieve the nightmare he just thought he beat.
The only issue is visual continuity with Ash's dishevelled look. He has blood all over his face from the ending of Evil Dead 1 then when the entity hits him, the blood is mysteriously absent. It would've worked better if they filmed the beheading of his girlfriend exactly like the first where once Linda's body lands on top of him her blood gushes out on to his face. Then the match up would be flawless.
I want to point out that Return of the Living Dead Part 2 did the same type of thing where it had the 2 characters from the first movie but they were like completely different people and the events of the first film seem to have never happened lol
They should make one long cut including all three original films. They should cut off the beginning of Evil Dead 2, like Bruce said, and they should cut off the end of Evil Dead 2, so Army of Darkness continuity makes sense.
I have been TELLING EVERYONE this for fucking YEARS. I actually had such a long-standing debate with a very old friend of mine that one night I used my old VHS copies to do EXACTLY what the mighty Bruce explains in this video, dude final,y conceded.
Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
This would still have some slight continuity issues though ever after cutting out the whole redone opening recap- such as how all the blobby carnage of his friends that melted on the floor from the night before and all the damage that was done in the cabin from the first movie. The book of the dead was thrown in the fire in the first movie, but that didn't happen in the second where it picks up. It's as if the night before really didn't happen because the cabin is in good shape now. And even Ash does not seem to act like he knew the cabin that well or went through that previous night with his friends. Like the movie builds mainly on the recap only with his girlfriend being there and I think there could have been ways around that. Feels like he really never was in the basement in how he acts going down there in party 2, yet he was down there in the first movie. Not trying to nitpick, though. These are great movies; I just have a thing for continuity in any film franchise. :)
I think you’d like the timeline where it’s just the first movie and then the 2013 remake then ! there’s multiple different timelines due to the newer movies It’s really just all about what the viewer likes in the end
In my perspective i did not look at it as if Ash got new friends and went back to the cabin, i saw it as a direct sequal picking off of where it ended. But for those who got confused can you tell me why, i never saw with a new pack of friends (excluded ash vs evil dead)
I'll say that especially if someone was a child/teen back in the 80s/90s with just VHS and no information/internet I can see it being indeed confusing the first or second time watching it when you see him back at the cabin with a girl and not a group of friends like the first one.
I always thought the beginning of Evil Dead 2 was meant as a stylistic way of recapping the first movie for the people who hadn’t seen it, condensing the original into a few minutes so that 2 could stand on its own.
When Evil Dead 2 was first released on home video a friend of mine and I made a VHS that did exactly this. We dubbed The Evil Dead and paused it and cued up Evil Dead 2 and continued it just as the demon hit him. We wore that tape out. When Army of Darkness came out we made a new tape with all 3 movies uninterrupted. Yep, we were nerds! 😂
When watching evil dead 2 i thought the beginning was gonna be a dream sequence with his gf turning into a demon waking ash up from his nightmare and start right when he was push by the dead spirit but it was a re-write due to company issues but it would've been better if it started off where ash was pushed back by the spirits to prevent continuity errors.
I created a fan edit linking together all 3 movies using this exact edit to go from 1 to 2 years before I knew this story. Nice to know that transition was intentionally put there. There is one minor continuity issue though with the remains of Ash's friends (cept for his girlfriend who was buried) having completely vanished from the floor of the cabin, but that's it really minor and the rest of it flows REALLY nicely.
Sort of surprising that, in the home video age where home market distribution rights get sorted out all the time...that there hasn't been some sort of special box set of all 3 films where the "re-caps" at the beginning of each film DO use the footage from the previous films and it is all treated with a stronger sense of continuity.
I mean duh, didn't every evil dead fan already know this? idk maybe because ive watched them back to back before a bunch of times. seemed pretty obvious to me.
XFreedomPrimeX you'd think that, but on this video alone I have had several confused questions and 3 major arguments that devolved into anger resulting in me having to block people. All because they refuse to believe what is right in front of their face, they want to think it is a remake and won't listen to anyone or anything that tells them otherwise.
Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
Ash discovered that the bridge went out before any of the demons showed up. What followed was an entire night of absolute horror, grotesque maiming, and Ash being brought to the brink of insanity. I hardly think one would have time to ponder about something that happened just before an event that forced you kill both friends and family.
Another explanation could be that he thought once the sun rose, he could leave. He didn't react that way because he discovered the bridge was destroyed, he reacted that way because he was still trapped.
This transition would make sense if it wasn't for the fact that the necronomicon was destroyed in Evil Dead 1, but reappears in Evil Dead 2 and also looks different. I get that, symbolically, it picks up where 1 left off, but the continuity would be off
Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
You can call people stupid all you want, but it's completely unfair. Some didn't think it through enough, some overthought, and some just accepted it and ignored the inconsistencies, but at the end of the day, Raimi failed to make the two feel fully cohesive, whether intentional or not, which caused confusion. There's no need to arrogantly insult others. If you don't want to explain it to people anymore, then DON'T, problem solved. I'll take annoying, repetitive questions from those trying to learn over hubris any day.
@@bigcrackrock Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
Why would this ever be confusing to anyone - even without Campbell's excellent explanation? The only time I was ever confused by this was the very first time I saw Evil Dead II, and I was wondering why he was returning, and why he didn't seem to remember all the shit that happened in the first film. But as soon as the Evil came rushing through the woods and smashed into him I thought it made perfect sense that the opening was the first movie comprised into a few short segments - and the rest was what happened after the first movie.
Nop, WRONG. The Evil Dead (1981) is OFFICIALLY 1000% CONFIRMED as an STAND-ALONE movie, Ash DIES at the end, CONFIRMED BY RAIMI !!!. The other movies are remakes, accept THE TRUTH.
@@officialtheevildeadchannel8323 No. they originally intended for him to die but later retconned it in order to make the other films. So while Raimi “confirmed” that ash died at the end, this is *no longer true*. The fact that the other films were made is confirmation enough. Retcons exist, deal with it.
I took the plot of the Evil Dead comic series as canon. There's a multiverse with an entirely different Ash, a Deadite Evil Ash and a Necronomicon in each universe. The first Ash from the first movie is either dead or became a deadite.
I haven’t seen Evil Dead or Evil Dead 2 but this is still fascinating. Reminds me of the start of Back to the Future 2, although in that they refilmed the same scenes with the new Jennifer actress shot-for-shot so it was less confusing.
Posted 5 years ago but the time is just right for me to be seeing it today. Thanks, Alfred Gorithm (algorithm for those that didnt catch my lame ass dadism)
Well, in the RECAP none of his friends are there, just his girlfriend who he decapitates..so this still doesn't add up. You can see why it's really confusing.
Jimmy Darmody it's because it is a recap, recaps don't tell you every detail just the important ones. If you it out the recap and splice together the films as suggested in the video his friends are part of it all.
Bay at the Moon Productions I would say that that was important for the recap. I understand what you're getting at but this is the main reason for the confusion so evidently it is VERY important. Maybe not important to tell the story of the sequel but definitely important to keep the continuity. I've always viewed them as two different movies. My logic was that Sam now had a bigger budget and maybe more control so he could make the movie better. It's obvious from this video that their intent is as you displayed it but regardless, it's still confusing and filled with inconsistencies such as the bridge scene.
Bay at the Moon Productions I personally think Bruce nailed it when he called it a requel. You don't have to watch The Evil Dead to follow ED2. So you can view it however you want.
Jimmy Darmody that is the very definition of a recap yep :P. They are put in so people can get caught up and don't need to see the first part. It doesn't invalidate the first part though, it's just for convenience.
I remember when I was little me and my brother watched these all the time, back in the day he bought a vhs with like 8-10 hours on it and he then rented from blockbuster evil dead 1, 2 and army of darkness and he recorded them all on to one tape and spliced it in a way that evil dead 2 had the recap cut off and on my brothers tape it played just like Bruce explains it. I honestly never knew about the recap till years later when I got the Blu-ray, if I’m being honest I miss my brothers old tape version, especially how it transitioned into all three movies so smoothly Sam rami and everyone on that team was great at attention to detail
I always figured it was something like this. The differences in the recap don't really have a major impact on the story overall but were a bit jarring the first time I watched it but I never thought for a second that he was making a return trip. Also, we have an tattoo studio/ and movie/dinner theater nearby in an old multiplex that plays old horror and sci-fi and I got to watch them on the big screen a few years back, it was awesome.
The first one was “done by New Line Cinema”? When Sam Raimi and crew shot, edited, and mastered it, they did it all on their own; I thought New Line only had distribution rights?
I actually liked the inconsistencies between all the films. In The Evil Dead, Ash goes to the cabin with his girlfriend, sister and friends. In Evil Dead 2, Ash goes to the cabin only with his girlfriend, and the film ends with him in medieval times immediately hailed as the hero of the sky, but in Army of Darkness, he gets immediately taken prisoner. I figured maybe there was the potential for a multi-verse story arc.
I love the tone of Bruce's voice, as if considering Ash to be stupid enough to revisit the cabin is entirely outside the realm of possibility... I kinda feel like this is EXACTLY the kind of behavior we could expect from him... he is not the thinking man's hero.
