Evil Dead II:Dead By Dawn is the 1987 sequel to the Evil Dead movie made in 1981. The film was directed by Sam Raimi. It starred Bruce Campbell & Sarah Berry. Often looked upon as a remake of the first film on a higher budget, it isn't and wasn't intended to be. The story goes a lil something like this: Ash and his girlfriend Linda take a romantic vacation to a seemingly abandoned cabin in the woods (which is all just basically a recap of the first film minus everyone else to catch viewers up with the plot). While in the cabin, Ash plays a tape of an archeology professor reciting passages from the Necronomicon(or "Book of the Dead"), which he has discovered during an archaeological dig(the professor, that is.). The recorded incantation unleashes an evil force that kills and possesses the body of Linda. Ash is forced to sacrifice his girlfriend. After he buries and dismembers his girlfriend, a spirit is seen on the hunt for Ash. It's there where the film picks up and continues. Alot of people don't know it but this movie might not have been made if it weren't for Author Stephen King. At the time, King was directing his first movie, Maximum Overdrive, based on his short story "Trucks". He had dinner with a crewmember who had been interviewed about the Evil Dead sequel, and the crewmember told King that the film was having trouble attracting funding. Upon hearing this, King, who had written a review of the first film which helped it become an audience favorite, called Dino De Laurentiis and asked him to fund the film. Initially skeptical, De Laurentiis agreed but only alotted Raimi & company $3.6 million as opposed to them wanting $4 million to make the movie. This sequel was originally planned to send Ash back to Medieval times but it was scrapped because of funding. That concept, eventually, became the third movie in the Evil Dead series. Evil Dead II did quite well at the box-office with fans of the original returning to see the further adventures of their favorite hero, Ash. Only this time, it isn't so much a horror movie as it is a 'dark' comedy of sorts with lots of gore. It's further proof that movies of this type can succeed. This Special Edition DVD is packed with plenty of extras. Indeed, it's another classic worth adding to your collection.
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