EVIL DEAD II: Dead by Dawn (1987) Retrospective / Review 

Originally published in October 2016, due to a copyright claim the video has had to be re-edited.

This is the perfect mix of the more traditional ultra violent horror of The Evil Dead and the cheesy action hero fun of Army of darkness

Bruce Campbell is the only man so groovy that he makes Chuck Norris shit himself

The one thing that endears me to Bruce Campbell moreover His swoonsome machismo and indomitable charisma, is His ability to totally let His fear fly free and scream His butt off! Most Guys in Horror Flicks these days haven't got the balls to appear so helpless and afraid, and it really ruins the atmosphere. All Hail to the Scream King! 💖💖💖💖💖

I always thought the strange continuity was due to the necronomicon distorting reality. Ash is worshipped as a God at the end of evil dead 2,yet begins army of darkness as a slave. Part of its evil is how it makes you forget things or changes things to be funny,even.

Its a fun ride from beginning to end. Its like watching a rated R version of Looney Tunes or Three Stooges.

Evil Dead 1 = horror content 100, comedy 0 Evil Dead 2 = horror content 70, comedy 30 Evil Dead 3 = horror content 20, comedy 80 😂

I love, love, LOVE this movie! The laughing lamp, deer, and Ash scene is amazing!

My favourite Raimi movie. Definitely one of the all time great horror-comedies.

watch this movie and convince me that Jim Carrey hasn't watched it a dozen times.

I love the effects in the two originals! They add so much to the look and feel, they wouldn’t be the same without them

My 2 favorite movie quotes of all time -- "I might be synthetic, but I'm not stupid" ("Bishop" in "Aliens") AND "Groovy" ("Ash" in "Evil Dead II")

I'm very sirprised you did'nt mention the T.V. show Burn notice which Bruce does his best dramatic performance ever

I have this theory about the weird continuity.The Necronomicon might retconn the universe when it gets destroyed, that's why we have the Necronomicon becoming stronger and stronger.In the first film, it's easy to burn and gets destroyed, so it retconns the timeline leading to Evil Dead 2, in which it's a little bit stronger.Then it retconns it to the middle ages where it has many fake versions of it.When it sees Ash has killed the deadites,it retconns the timeline again, leading to the remake/reboot.In this one is so strong it can't be burned.

Evil Dead 2 is my favorite in series and made me fall in love with Bruce as a actor ( loved him in Xena) and made Ash my all time favorite male horror movie hero. For its highs and lows, I loved Ash vs Evil Dead after this cause its mostly captured what they did with this film.

What do you mean they removed Army of Darkness from the timeline? Ash brings up the fact that he went back in time in the second season of Ash vs Evil Dead. I also don't agree with you saying people should skip 1 in favor of 2 just because, anyway the timeline is still Evil Dead > Evil Dead 2 > Army of Darkness > Ash vs Evil Dead

My favorite horror movie and in my top 5 movies of all time. Ted Raimi is awesome. I met him once and he's exactly how you'd image him.

I love how one minute you're in a tense horror scene and the next you're laughing your ass off at a bloody 3 stooges skit. This is the only horror comedy I've ever seen that reaches that perfect mix of horror and comedy.

Raimi really is a strange one, insanely creatively and talented but is, essentially, a workman like director.

they got the rights to army of darkness midway through ash vs evil dead season 2 i believe, so they do reference it after that point.

A Great Decade for Movies. No CGI Nonsense.

EVERY time I see Bruce Campbell, I am reminded how in the late eighties/early nineties I was always hoping SOMEONE would be smart enough to cast him as the new Superman...he would have been PERFECT in that suit, and his looks would have been amazing to play the part...I mean that jawline ALONE is SOOO damned Superman... By the way, Crimewave is SERIOUSLY underrated, it's friggin' HILARIOUS in spots, and Raimi's fingerprints (direction, tone) are all OVER the thing...plus, BRUCE stars as an egotistical slimeball...how can you go wrong with THAT?

Evil Dead 2: MASTERPIECE!

For more Bruce Campbell, you can check out the excellent and underrated serie "Burn Notice" :D

The low budget and occasionally poor special effects are a big part of this movie's charm. It wouldn't be the same without the dodgy quality, it gives it a lo-fi charm that other movies can't touch.

please tell me how the hell I lived in Wilmington, NC, for 5 years, graduated from UNC-Wilmington, & have almost all of my friends there, yet I NEVER knew that Evil Dead was filmed/based there

The fan theory i heard to reconcile ED1 and 2 is the differences were caused by Ash's time traveling antics (particularly in AOD, but maybe also the tv series). I think this is the only real way you can fit them together.

Evil Dead 2 is the greatest 1950's B-movie horror made in the 80's. I love every frame of this film.

The best review channel on the internet... A+ work every time... The editing your narrative is world class. Now to enjoy this review :)

My 10 year old daughter asked, "Dad, can we watch a horror movie tonight?" I said, "Shure, I got a VCR a few weeks ago at Goodwill (secondhand/thrift store: $9.99!). I have your late step-mom's copy (❤ you Baby) of Evil Dead II on VHS..." "I don't want to watch some crappy old tape..." 🤣🤣🤣 I laughed. We watched it in the dark, she was terrified! She also laughed a lot!

I remember been a kid, walking to my blockbuster store and seen that dvd cover (or vhs maybe) been terrified of that skull with big eyes, years later when i bought it, it was funny that the actual skull never shows up in the movie!! (the one from the cover) but i still loved it. Its so much fun, and Bruce is amazing! I love the show also.

Now, as the new Evil Dead game is coming out in few days, it would be PERFECT time to do retrospective review of the first movie. I have been waiting for it few years already TBH. :D

Count myself among those who were disappointed that ED2 wasn’t a serious continuation of the original. To me ED1 was very effective with the camera angles and super creepy plot elements. Definitely ahead of its time.

Army of Darkness is actually considered cannon in Ash vs Evil Dead thanks to Ash mentioning that he went back to the middle ages in season 2

I love the term "Video Nasties".

I just have to say that the editing on this video is just great. Kudos to you sir.

I really love your retrospective series.

You are incredible, man. You just sold me the movie again only with your intro. Fascinating.

Stephen King was such a huge fan of The Evil Dead (1981) that he convinced producer Dino De Laurentiis over dinner (who was producing King's Maximum Overdrive (1986) at the time) to have his production company DEG (De Laurentiis Entertainment Group) finance Evil Dead II. During the scene where the severed head of Linda bites Ash's hand, Bruce Campbell says the single line "work shed". This line was later re-dubbed in post-production due to the quality of the audio, giving it a strange, slightly "disproportionate" sound to the audio. Nine years later, while filming his cameo in Escape from L.A. (1996), the first thing Kurt Russell said to Bruce Campbell on the set was, jokingly, "Say 'work shed'". Sam Raimi credits Stephen King with making this film possible. Raimi couldn't acquire enough money to fund the production, so King, a huge fan of the original, convinced financiers to give Raimi the money he needed for a second movie. Raimi later made appearances in the miniseries The Stand (1994) and The Shining (1997), both written by King. The large demonic head Ash battles in the climax of the film, which the crew nicknamed the "rotten applehead", was too large and cumbersome for the crew to carry back to California, so it was left in North Carolina and soon disappeared. Its whereabouts were unknown for a number of years until it was found in a Halloween haunted house attraction just outside the original shooting location of Wadesboro, North Carolina. Bruce Campbell's favorite film of the trilogy Ash's chainsaw appears to switch hands in one scene. This is because Sam Raimi decided Ash should walk the opposite way across the room in that scene, so he flipped the negative. Bruce Campbell completely improvised the scene where he fights his possessed hand in the kitchen of the cabin. Sam Raimi praised his performance and used the first take for the film. The smoke that comes from the chainsaw is actually tobacco smoke. Sam Raimi rigged tubing to the back of the chainsaw, hid off-camera and blew cigarette smoke through the tube to create the effect. The actors were completely blind when they had to wear opaque contact lenses when they were playing possessed versions of their characters. The only way they knew how and where to move was through rigorous rehearsals. The producers insisted upon using different colors of blood to avoid an X rating. This proved futile, as the MPAA gave the film an X anyway. The film was ultimately released unrated. The sounds of the evil travelling through the forest were a combination of Sam Raimis voice and audio samples of Orson Welles, technically making this the last film he appeared in in any capacity After watching the final cut of the film, producer Dino De Laurentiis knew for certain the film would get an X rating from the MPAA due to the high amount of violence and gore. However, Sam Raimi argued if the film would be re-cut to secure an R rating, it would only be around an hour long. Since De Laurentiis wasn't allowed to release an unrated film, he ultimately decided to pseudonymously credit his production company under the name Rosebud Releasing Corporation, allowing him to not submit the film to the MPAA and release the film without a rating. In a visual pun, one of the books on the can that traps Ash's possessed hand is Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms". The eyeball swallowing shot was actually filmed in reverse. At 1:07:05 Ash's first utterance of his signature comment "Groovy". The failure of Crimewave (1985), Sam Raimi's follow-up to The Evil Dead (1981) prompted him to return to this film, even though the ending of that movie (the unseen "evil" attacking Ash) was originally meant as closure, not a cliffhanger. When Ash was driving away from the forest in the beginning after driving to the bridge and seeing it had been destroyed, the branches that hit Bruce in the face were controlled by Sam. After evil Ash throws Annie across the room, he sees Linda's necklace on the floor. The chain resembles a skull, as it also did in The Evil Dead (1981) when Ash used the necklace to reach the book of the dead near the end of the film. Ash (Bruce Campbell) drives the same 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 as in the original film. The car was owned by Sam Raimi at the time (originally bought by Raimi's father for the family when Sam was 14). Film debut of Kassie Wesley DePaiva A glove belonging to the A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Freddy Krueger character can be seen hanging above the door of the tool shed when Ash carves his girlfriends head with a chainsaw and when he's looking for the pages in the later cellar scenes. This was in response to the use of The Evil Dead (1981) on a television screen in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The poster for the movie shows a close-up of a skeleton with eyes. This creature is not seen anywhere in the movie, but a similar enemy does show up in the sequel, Army of Darkness (1992). Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert's original idea for the film's plot had Ash held captive in the cabin by a group of escaped convicts searching for buried treasure. Bobby Joe's death was originally planned for a man and would have been much more violent with him being split in half by a tree. The Book of the Dead (called Naturom Demonto in The Evil Dead (1981)) makes an appearance in the film's recap of previous events, but is now called Necronomicon Ex Mortis. Although the prologue doesn't show Ash destroying the book in the fire like he did in The Evil Dead, note that the book itself is never seen again in the film, suggesting that its destruction took place off-screen; all the recitations from the book are done from its missing pages that Annie Knowby (Sarah Berry brought along with her to the cabin.

RIP to star Danny Hicks, who has passed away.

My favorite Horror - comedy movie of year Evil Dead 2 (1987) 😍❤️❤️🎥🎬🎞️⚰️📼⭐⭐⭐⭐🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️🧟🧟🎃💀👻 1-Evil Dead 2 (1987) 2- The Lost boys (1987) 3-Creepshow 2(1987) 4- Predator (1987) 5- A nightmare on elm street 3 Dream Warriors (1987) 6- The monster squad (1987)

Its great to see a review from somebody who loves this movie as much as I do

If you love these flicks, go check out "Evil Dead: The Musical" if you ever see it produced at a live theatre near you...or make it a road trip (you won't regret it). It's a hilarious parody and the best musical ever made, hands down! Most productions make the first few rows the "splatter zone". Groovy!

Amazing movie and great acting by legend Bruce Campbell

got to meet Bruce this summer hes a real person

News flash: Ash is Guts' father from the anime Berserk! Ash went back in time to medieval Europe in Army of darkness, he banged a maiden that became Guts' mother. So that explains why Guts is so badass and has a knack for fighting demons.

Great job Oliver! Total classic!

Oh, didn't really read the title and just jumped in and my first thought was you made this one already!

I like the Evil Dead movies!! They are fun, dark, hilarious, and full of action.

So Groovy, Oliver. Hail to the King Oliver.

Love all your vids mate x

to me Phantasm 2, Evil Dead 2, TCM 2 are the template on how to do a Horror sequel 'right'. Go with your instincts and be willing to take risks... that is what made their predecessors a success in the first place.

My dad was an employee at a video store in the UK during the release of Evil Dead 1 and 2, he said the films were really popular especially the first one. As said in the video, the UK government was incredibly sensitive when it came to “video nasties” like Evil Dead and The Texas Chsinsaw Masacre. Evil Dead is my favourite horror franchise and personally Ash vs Evil Dead is my fave thing from the series ^^

Actually, Ash vs Evil dead does not remove Army of Darkness from continuity, as they do verbally reference the third film with a line of dialogue from Ash mentioning him stating he had been sent into the past.

One of best representation of 1980s horror genre

I commend this movie for striking a balance, once thought previously unachievable. That is, merging comedy with horror.

Oh, the good 'ole Copyright Claim... Hey, it gives me a reason to re-watch this retrospective at least!

Bruce Campbell has never given a great dramatic performance? You're clearly forgetting his pitch-perfect portrayal of Elvis in Bubba Ho-Tep. :)

“Groovy”

Ever do a tango & cash?

I LOVE Evil Dead 2. I only like the 1st and 3rd films. Oliver is dead on about the cheap effects adding to the experience...I wouldn’t change them either. Stone cold classic.

Do Scanners, if you haven't done a retrospective/review on it yet. That would be great.

I thought it crazy and quite laughable when Ash is looking for the loose pages and proceeds down a hallway he has collected pages in his left hand and his right is raised. You hear the running of the chainsaw but his hand is not only there but functions as he manipulates it. Bruce looks up at it then yanks it down. What I like about Evil Dead 2 is the same for Blair Witch they were unpolished organic movies. I provides for me a deeper sense of realism.

Watching this 4 years after it was released, the show did in fact later acknowledge Army of darkness, and Evil Dead 1 was always canon to the show

Evil Dead 1 was not uncut in its pre-cert uk vhs form, it was the uk cinema version. It was just less cut than the 1990 vhs re-issue.

Seen this is a screening introduced by Bruce Campbell last March. Who knew that seeing a film for the 100th time could be so groovy

1K like right here! Thanks for all the amazing content!

The absolute king of horror,the one and only 🤟

👹👹”HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES”👹👹

Fantastic , reminds me of 1990 ragging school smocking 🌿 and 😂 laughing my ass off ....

Army of Darkness isn’t removed from the timeline since it’s mentioned by Ash when he’s talking to (spoiler) Pablo’s dead body

Wasn't Army of Darkness later added to the continuity of Ash vs. Evil Dead? I thought I heard a line in Season 2 where Ash talks about AOD events.

Oliver I'm a huge fan and would definitely say we're kindred spirits across seas lol.Supreman the movie will always be my favorite film of all time.But I also love horror. The fly the thing and the first evil dead being my top films obviously a huge fan of practical effects. What are your favorite horror films ?

The early pre-cert U.K. video of The Evil Dead was not uncut, it was the same as the censored cinema version. Later 18-rated videos were cut even more.

It's had plenty of cuts over the year but I'm 100% sure when I watched it on VHS a late 80s copy it was 100% uncut with scenes such as it showing you when he hits ed with the axe and his head splitting in two and it showing blood instead of green goo

Such a fun movie! Love the series!

Me and Bruce Campbell both born on the 22nd of June!!! Groovy 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Just bought the blueray yesterday great film

I don't have either of the three films on blu ray yet. I only have the Anchor Bay dvd's of them and even the bootleg edition dvd of the third film too.

"Workshed!"

The weird janky look of the movie is what MAKES it memorable to me

I'd love to see those storyboards!

Rented Evil Dead 2 from my neighborhood video store when I was 10. The owner called my folks and asked if they were ok with it. I brought it home, had the shit scared out of me until about a third of the way through and then I couldn’t stop laughing. My dad came into the living room and said “what the hell is this “?! It took about 5 minutes and we were both dying laughing. Three stooges/H.P. Lovecraft? How can you go wrong?

20:39 - 20:47 that's how the fans felt when they saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

Love your videos

11:07: Guiding Life? Probably Guiding Light?

Evil dead 2 is one of those movies that is as near perfect as you can get.

Work shed.

I love this series

Man, sucks so HARD that the series ended before the season end because of ratings. Sure Ash... uh, I mean, Bruce got pissed saying that more people were pirating the show than actually paying for it, but it really didn't help that it was a Showtime exclusive. People weren't going to pay for one primium cable channel for a year only for one show no matter how good it is. Then, what about people who DON'T have cable at all, or can't GET cable in their area? They're supposed to buy a satellite package for one single show? Besides, to be honest I really don't think watching the show through certain "free streaming" sites have that negative of a financial impact on the material. As I've read in a few studies "...while industry representatives complain of the economic and social harm caused by bootlegging, its effects are more difficult to ascertain and may even have a positive impact upon legitimate sales." At least in my life this seems to be true. I've been exposed to WAY more media that I've later paid for official material of, than if I wouldn't have had the funds to explore certain media and never been introduced to the material in the first place. I would have never known about Bruce Campbell and Evil Dead if it weren't for my friend's bootleg copy of Evil Dead, as well as that being my introduction to Bruce C and the rest of the material related to his filmography. And because I loved it so much I've paid for official merchandise towards the Evil Dead IP as well as other things/movies with BC in it (loved the camio in Spiderman). If not for that bootleg I wouldn't have paid for those things because I would never have been exposed to Bruce Campbell's main body of work. Anyway, the series was really good, too bad it'll never be finished.

Does anyone know what the track is called when Ash uses his chainsaw hand for the first time and says his most famous line "Groovy."

I absolutely love the whole franchise.

Great film. Bruce Campbell is a great actor

I really dig bruce in burn notice.

There is something that where cut out of the theatrical version of Evil Dead 3 that i think should have stayed in the film.

You should Review Crime Wave as it's a really zany movie taking lots of Gags from the 3 Stooges

0:51 1:07 1:08 1:09 1:19 1:20 1:21 1:22 1:24 1:25 1:26 1:27 1:28 1:29 1:30 1:52 2:06 13:57 14:00 16:38 17:39 24:53 26:58 27:58 28:05 28:11

Awesome

I like the first one best.

Bruce Campbell's the man I never met him in person my aunt was his housekeeper when he lived in Miami Florida I have a notepad and his coffee mug that says this is Bruce Campbell's Notepad my aunt never knew who Bruce Campbell was or any of his movies and when she told me she was his housekeeper it was pretty cool but when I went to visit her in Miami he already left the California to work on us TV series and she gave me a bunch of his stuff it was pretty cool I love this movie review brings back old memories great memories