After a condensed recap, Evil Dead II
continues where its predecessor left off, with the Evil Force
catapulting Ash through the woods, and subsequently possessing him. Ash
is saved by the dawn, but his attempts to escape the woods prove
fruitless. As night falls, Ash is forced back into the cabin, and a
vicious cat-&-mouse game ensues.
First, the decapitated corpse of Linda rises from
the grave and tries once more to attack him; Ash dispenses of the head
and body with his trusty chainsaw. Next, his own right hand becomes
possessed, but Ash is able to sever it, again with the chainsaw. That
doesn’t stop the disembodied hand from scampering around and terrorising
Ash, however.
Soon, Ash is joined in the cabin by four more
people: Annie Knowby, the daughter of the Professor who read aloud the
incantations from the Book Of The Dead on the tape Ash played; Ed, her
boyfriend; and finally, Jake and Bobbie Jo, two country hicks who led
Annie and Ed to the cabin. Seeing the bloody mess and thinking Ash is
responsible for murdering Professor Knowby and his wife Henrietta, they
lock Ash in the cellar of the cabin. But someone (or something) else is
in the cellar with him...
You can read a PDF version of the script below.
This is the original shooting script not a transcript so there are some
sections & alterations you can read that didn't make it in to the
final film. Its formatted as per the original script and is the seventh
draft written by Sam Raimi & Scott Spiegel together completed May 5,
1986.
You can also download a higher quality PDF
version of the script via the link below, you'll need Adobe Acrobat 5.0
or higher to open it. It's 121 pages long, and is sized to print on
standard A4 paper.
Openly considered a way for Sam, Rob and
Bruce to lick their wounds following their disheartening experience on
Crimewave, their reinvigorated desire to prove themselves once again
leaps off every frame of Evil Dead II, resulting in one of the
wildest, most kinetic and outrageous experiences in horror cinema
history. The decision on the part of Sam and co-writer Scott Spiegel to
make more overt the Three Stooges-style humour prevalent in their early
Super-8 shorts but only latent in the original Evil Dead created what is
still seen as Sam's signature style - a heady brew of eerie chills and
broad “splatstick” humour. Bruce Campbell’s lasting screen persona as
half-action hero/half-doofus started right here, and many still feel it
is his most memorable performance.
Though not a box-office success on its original release, Evil Dead II's
reputation has grown dramatically through the years, rising through the
ranks from cult favourite to cinematic classic, surpassing even the
original. Its impact on the films of directors such as Peter Jackson (Braindead) and Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead)
is still felt to this day – note the UK quad poster for the film seen
on the main characters’ living room wall throughout both series of
Spaced.
Perhaps the most lasting consequence of Evil Dead II
is on the career of its makers. Making a sequel to their breakout hit
may have been a safe business decision after the sophomore slump of Crimewave,
but it was an opportunity they attacked with everything at their
disposal. Sam Raimi's confident strides forward as a director, utilising
every magic trick at his disposal, are still a delight and an
inspiration to watch.
Indeed, Campbell considers it the best film in the
trilogy, mainly because it was the perfect synthesis of having studio
money yet total artistic freedom, executive producer Dino De Laurentiis
trusting them to deliver the goods. His trust was not misplaced; without
Evil Dead II, not only would the careers of all involved have been very different, but horror cinema would be much poorer for its absence.
