Review of Evil Dead 2

Introduction

This is another of those films that those of us of a certain age might have fond memories of from our mid to late teens, as it`s the sort of comedy/horror crossover that seems to appeal to adolescents. This mixture of gore and slapstick "innards in the face" style humour means that you won`t be scared by what you see, and you`re more likely to start laughing than screaming.

It follows on loosely from the first film, but the two are so different that you don`t really need to watch them in sequence to gain the full effect. The sequel does try to recap what happened for those of you who didn`t see it, but it`s all rather confusing for those of you who did - this "recap" is mentioned in the commentary track too.

Video

We get a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, which is a rather mixed bag as it has plenty of good moments (good detail, good colours) but also some not quite so good moments (grain, although this is probably due to the film stock used.)

It`s probably about the best that you`re going to see it though, so it`s a cautious thumbs up...

Audio

A DD5.1 remix has been performed on the soundtrack, and this is also a mixed bag. Some of the effects sound very good, and there`s quite a lot of directional stuff going on. The dialogue is audible at all times, but isn`t always as good as the effects.

As with the video, it`s not amazing, but it`s certainly up to the task, and about as good as you`re going to get.

Features

A nice little selection of features.

The biggest and best is the commentary track, which features Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Greg Nicotero and Scott Spiegel. One of the funniest commentary tracks to grace a DVD, as they basically sit there and rip into the film whilst trying to impart interesting information about it.

There`s also a 30 minute "making of" documentary which consists of interviews, behind the scenes footage and more. A very interesting addition, and much better than the average PR fluff that some companies pass off as documentaries.

There`s also a trailer which seems to portray a slightly different film to the one that I watched.

Conclusion

The problem with films that you have fond memories of is that the mind can play tricks. Sitting down to watch this film now was a rather different experience. It was still quite funny and entertaining, but nowhere near the classic that I remembered it to be or that others hold it up as.

Technically the disc varies from good to quite good, but if you are a fan of this film you probably won`t be disappointed by what you get here, and you`ll enjoy the commentary a lot. The disc could have been better, but at least the RRP is lower than the standard 19.99 so you can pick this one up at a reasonable price.

Fans will love it, but it wasn`t as good as I remembered.