Trailer
Plot summary
At a cabin in the woods, Ash Williams plays a tape left behind by Raymond Knowby, the archaeologist who lived there before him. On the recording Knowby speaks passages from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the Book of the Dead, which he had found on a dig. The words wake the Kandarian Demon, and it takes hold of Linda, Ash's girlfriend. With the bridge out, Annie, the professor's daughter, comes back from the dig with her research partner Ed Getley and the pages the book is missing. The pair hire Jake, who runs the gas station, and his girlfriend Bobby Joe to guide them to the cabin on foot. Ash is still there when they reach it.
In these lists: The Best Horror Movies of the 1980s
Cast
- Snowy Wintersas Dancer
- Sol Abramsas Fake Shemp (as Sid Abrams)
Show all 20 cast
- Thomas Kiddas Fake Shemp
- Jenny Griffithas Fake Shemp
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Evil Dead II (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- King, the horror novelist whose books De Laurentiis was adapting, heard over dinner from a crew member that Evil Dead II was having trouble attracting funding; having written a glowing review of the first film, he called De Laurentiis and asked him to fund it.
- For Ash's chainsaw hand, effects artist Verne Hyde modified a real chainsaw, replacing its gasoline engine with a small 12-volt electric motor so Campbell could insert his hand into the body of the saw; the teeth were filed down for safety and tobacco smoke was pumped up his leg to simulate chainsaw smoke.
- Ted Raimi, director Sam's younger brother, plays the undead Henrietta in a full-body latex costume; he became so overheated that the costume filled with liters of sweat, which Nicotero describes pouring into several Dixie cups.
- The 1993 first-person shooter Doom was inspired by Evil Dead II: its programmer John Carmack came up with the concept of using technology to fight demons from the Dungeons & Dragons campaigns the team played, combining the styles of Evil Dead II and Aliens.
- Lawrence Gleason, the company's president of marketing and distribution, felt that if the film were cut for an R rating it "would have been about 62 minutes long", and that both Raimi's vision and the audience's enjoyment would have been sabotaged.
- Rosebud Releasing Corporation, a shell company run by De Laurentiis' son-in-law Alex De Benedetti, was set up to handle the film's US release, allowing it to be shown unrated.
- Raimi and Tapert had wanted $4 million for the production, but De Laurentiis requested a film similar to its predecessor instead of their original medieval-themed proposal, which was used instead for the second sequel, Army of Darkness.
