name	Evil Dead II
director	Sam Raimi
producer	Robert TapertAlex De BenedettiIrvin ShapiroBruce Campbell
writer	Sam RaimiScott Spiegel
based on	Characters bySam Raimi
starring	Bruce CampbellSarah Berry
music	Joseph LoDuca
cinematography	Peter Deming
editing	Kaye Davis
studio	De Laurentiis Entertainment GroupRenaissance Pictures
distributor	Paramount Pictures Rosebud Releasing Anchor Bay Entertainment
released
runtime	84 minutes
country
language	English
budget	$3.6 million
gross	$10,900,000 (est.)''()'' }}

''Evil Dead II'' (referred to in publicity materials as ''Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn'') is a 1987 American horror comedy film directed by Sam Raimi. It is a retcon sequel to the 1981 film ''The Evil Dead''. The film was written by Raimi and Scott Spiegel, produced by Rob Tapert and starring Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. Raimi and Spiegel wrote the script during production of ''Crimewave''.

Filming took place in Michigan and North Carolina in 1986 and the film was released in the United States on March 13, 1987. It was a minor box office success, achieving just under $6 million. , the total US box office gross is $10.9 million. It also received critical acclaim. Observers praised Raimi for the direction and Campbell for his role in the film. ''Evil Dead II'' was eventually followed by the 1992 film ''Army of Darkness''.

Plot[link]

Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) and his girlfriend Linda (Denise Bixler) take a romantic vacation in his 1973 Oldsmobile to a seemingly abandoned cabin in the woods. While in the cabin, Ash plays a tape of an archeology professor (the cabin's previous inhabitant), reciting passages from the ''Necronomicon Ex-Mortis'' (or "Book of the Dead"), which he has discovered during an archaeological dig. The recorded incantation unleashes an evil force which kills and later possesses the body of Linda. Ash is then forced to decapitate his girlfriend for his own safety. After he buries her, a spirit is seen on the hunt for Ash. Ash becomes briefly possessed by the demon, but when day breaks the spirit is gone, and Ash is back to normal. Ash finds little chance of safety, however, as the bridge leading to the cabin is destroyed. To make things worse, Ash is forced to sever his right hand, which has become possessed.

While Ash is dealing with this force, the professor's daughter, Annie, and her research partner, Ed Getley, return from the dig with more pages of the ''Necronomicon'' in tow, only to find the destroyed bridge. They enlist the help of Jake and Bobby Joe to guide them along an alternate trail to the cabin. The four of them find an embattled Ash, who is, seemingly, slowly being driven insane due to his encounter with the evil force, such as hallucinating that the inanimate objects in the cabin are laughing at him.

At first, he is mistaken for a murderer by the four people because he shoots at them through the door (mistaking them as the Evil Force), but they find out the truth after listening to a recording of Annie's father, Professor Knowby (John Peaks), that talked about how his wife Henrietta was possessed and buried in the cabin's cellar rather than dismembered. Ed is possessed and is soon killed by Ash. Bobby Joe tries to escape, but is attacked by the trees and dragged to her death. Ash is possessed once again and turns on his remaining companions, incapacitating Jake. Annie retreats to the cabin and accidentally stabs Jake and drags him to the cellar door, where he is killed by Henrietta in a bloodbath. Ash tries to kill Annie, but returns to normal when he sees Annie's necklace, which reminds him of Linda.

Ash, with Annie's help, modifies the chainsaw and attaches it to where his right hand had been. Ash eventually finds the missing pages of the Necronomicon and kills Henrietta, turned into a long-necked monster. Annie chants an incantation that sends the evil force back to where it came from. The incantation opens up a whirling temporal portal which not only draws in the evil force, but nearby trees, the Oldsmobile, and Ash himself. Ash's possessed hand stabs Annie with the Kandarian dagger.

Ash and his Oldsmobile land in what appears to be the Crusader-held Middle East in the year 1300 AD. He is then confronted by a group of knights who initially mistake him for a deadite, but they are quickly distracted when a real one actually shows up. Ash blasts the harpy-like deadite with his shotgun and is hailed as a hero who has come to save the realm, at which point he breaks down and screams "No!"

Cast[link]

Bruce Campbell as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams A common guy who travels to the cabin in the woods to spend the weekend with his girlfriend Linda. As the story follows, he must defeat the evil powers around him that keep growing. After enough attacks, he decides to take the evil head-on equipped with a shotgun and a chainsaw and sets out to face the enemy.

Sarah Berry as Annie Knowby, Professor Knowby's daughter. She travels to the cabin looking forward to share her discoveries of the book of the dead with her father. She thinks Ash murdered her parents at first, but when the evil spirits unleash against them, she realizes the truth and finds out her only way to survive is to help Ash defeat the spirits.

Danny Hicks as Jake, a white trash guy who freaks out before the evil spirits. When things turn bad, he thinks they have to escape before they all get killed.

Kassie Wesley as Bobby Joe, Jake's foul-mouthed, self-centered girlfriend. She tries to escape the cabin, only to get killed by the woods themselves (in a similar fashion Cheryl got raped in the first film).

Ted Raimi as Possessed Henrietta, Annie's possessed mother who uses her memories to lure her in order to kill her and everybody else, but gets killed when Ash stabs her through the chest with his chainsaw.

Denise Bixler as Linda, Ash's girlfriend. She gets possessed, then tries to kill Ash. In a desperate effort, he beheads her with a shovel before burying her. Later on, her corpse raises from the grave and resumes her intentions to kill Ash. He finally gets rid of her when he slashes her head with his chainsaw.

Richard Domeier as Professor Ed Getley, Professor Knowby's associate and Annie's boyfriend. After being attacked by the possessed Henrietta, he gets possessed by another spirit. He meets his doom when Ash dismembers him with an axe.

John Peaks as Professor Knowby, the archeologist who found the book of the dead. When he took it to his cabin to translate it, he unleashed its evil spirits by accident. His fate remains unknown, since he only appears as a floating head from another plane of existence.

Lou Hancock as Henrietta Knowby, Professor Knowby's wife. She gets possessed when her husband accidentally unleashes the evil spirits of the book of the dead.

Production[link]

The concept of a sequel to ''The Evil Dead'' was discussed during the location shooting on the first film. Sam Raimi wanted to toss his hero, Ash, through a time portal, back into the Middle Ages. That notion eventually led to the third installment, ''Army of Darkness''.

After the release of ''The Evil Dead'', Raimi moved on to ''Crimewave'', a cross between a crime film and a comedy produced by Raimi and Joel and Ethan Coen. Irvin Shapiro, a publicist who was primarily responsible for the mainstream release of ''The Evil Dead'', suggested that they next work on an ''Evil Dead'' sequel. Raimi scoffed at the idea, expecting ''Crimewave'' to be a hit, but Shapiro put out ads announcing the sequel regardless.

After ''Crimewave'' was released to little audience or critical acclaim, Raimi and Tapert, knowing that another flop would further stall their already lagging careers, took Shapiro up on his offer. Around the same time, they met Italian movie producer Dino De Laurentiis, the owner of production and distribution company DEG. He had asked Raimi if he would direct a theatrical adaptation of the Stephen King (written under his Richard Bachman pseudonym) novel ''Thinner''. Raimi turned down the offer, but De Laurentiis continued to be interested in the young filmmaker.

The ''Thinner'' adaptation was part of a deal between De Laurentiis and King to produce several adaptations of King's successful horror fiction. At the time, King was directing the first such adaptation, ''Maximum Overdrive'', based on his short story "''Trucks''". He had dinner with a crew member who had been interviewed about the ''Evil Dead'' sequel, and told King that the film was having trouble attracting funding. Upon hearing this, King, who had written a glowing review of the first film that helped it become an audience favorite at Cannes, called De Laurentiis and asked him to fund the film.

Though initially skeptical, De Laurentiis agreed after being presented with the extremely high Italian grosses for the first film. Although Raimi and Tapert had desired $4 million for the production, they were allotted only $3.6 million. As such, the planned medieval storyline had to be scrapped.

Script[link]

Though they had only recently received the funding necessary to produce the film, the script had been written for some time, having been composed largely during the production of ''Crimewave''. Raimi contacted his old friend Scott Spiegel, who had collaborated with Campbell and others on the Super-8 films they had produced during their childhood in Michigan. Most of these films had been comedies, and Spiegel felt that ''Evil Dead II'' should be less straight horror than the first. Initially, the opening sequence included all five characters from the original film, but, in an effort to save time and money, all but Ash and Linda were cut from the final draft.

Spiegel and Raimi wrote most of the film in their house in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California, where they were living with the aforementioned Coen brothers, as well as actors Frances McDormand, Kathy Bates, and Holly Hunter (Hunter was the primary inspiration for the Bobby Jo character). Due both to the distractions of their house guests and the films they were involved with, ''Crimewave'' and Josh Becker's ''Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except'', the script took an inordinately long time to finish.

Among the many inspirations for the film include The Three Stooges and other slapstick comedy films; Ash's fights with his disembodied hand come from a film made by Spiegel as a teenager, entitled ''Attack of the Helping Hand'', which was itself inspired by television commercials advertising Hamburger Helper. The "laughing room" scene, where all the objects in the room seemingly come to life and begin to cackle maniacally along with Ash, came about after Spiegel jokingly used a gooseneck lamp to visually demonstrate a Popeye-esque laugh. Scott Spiegel's humorous influence can be seen throughout the film, perhaps most prominently in certain visual jokes; for instance, when Ash traps his rogue hand under a pile of books, on top is ''A Farewell to Arms''.

Filming[link]

With the script completed, and a production company secured, filming could begin. The production commenced in Wadesboro, North Carolina, not far from De Laurentiis' offices in Wilmington. De Laurentiis had wanted them to film in his elaborate Wilmington studio, but the production team felt uneasy being so close to the producer, so they moved to Wadesboro, approximately three hours away. Steven Spielberg had previously filmed ''The Color Purple'' in Wadesboro, and the large white farmhouse used as an exterior location in that film became the production office for ''Evil Dead II''. Most of the film was shot in the woods near that farmhouse, or J.R. Faison Junior High School, which is where the interior cabin set was located.

The film's production was not nearly as chaotic or strange as the production of the original, largely because of Raimi, Tapert and Campbell's additional film making experience. However, there are nevertheless numerous stories about the strange happenings on the set. For instance, the rat seen in the cellar was nicknamed "Señor Cojones" by the crew ("cojones" is Spanish slang for "testicles").

Even so, there were hardships, mostly involving Ted Raimi's costume. Ted, director Sam's younger brother, had been involved in the first film briefly, acting as a fake Shemp, but in ''Evil Dead II'' he gets the larger role of the historian's demon-possessed wife, Henrietta. Raimi was forced to wear a full-body, latex costume, crouch in a small hole in the floor acting as a "cellar", or on one day, both. Raimi became extremely overheated, to the point that his costume was literally filled with liters of sweat; special effects artist Gregory Nicotero describes pouring the fluid into several Dixie cups so as to get it out of the costume. The sweat is also visible on-screen, dripping out of the costume's ear, in the scene where Henrietta spins around over Annie's head.

The crew also sneaked various in-jokes into the film itself, such as the clawed glove of Freddy Krueger, the primary antagonist of the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' series of slasher films, which hangs in the cabin's basement and toolshed. This was, at least partially, a reference to a scene in the original ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' where the character Nancy Thompson (portrayed by Heather Langenkamp), watches the original ''Evil Dead'' on a television set in her room. In turn, that scene was a reference to the torn ''The Hills Have Eyes'' poster seen in the original ''Evil Dead'' film, which was itself a reference to a torn ''Jaws'' poster in ''The Hills Have Eyes''.

At the film's wrap party, the crew held a talent contest, where Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell sang The Byrds' "Eight Miles High", with Nicotero on guitar.

Release[link]

Box office[link]

''Evil Dead II'' opened on March 13, 1987 to a weekend gross of $807,260. At this time, it was only in 310 theatres, resulting in its smaller gross. However, after spending a little over a month in theatres, the film ultimately grossed $5,923,044 domestically. Since then, the film has reached an estimated total of $10,900,000 in box office revenues.

Critical reception[link]

''Evil Dead II'' received very positive reviews from critics and audience members; it holds a 98% approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, slightly less than ''The Evil Dead'', which holds a 100% rating. On a similar website Metacritic, it holds a score of 69/100 (generally favorable) with a user rating of 9.2/10. ''Empire'' magazine praised the film saying "the gaudily gory, virtuoso, hyper-kinetic horror sequel/remake uses every trick in the cinematic book" and confirms that "Bruce Campbell and Raimi are gods" and Caryn James of ''The New York Times'' called it "genuine, if bizarre, proof of Sam Raimi's talent and developing skill." Leonard Maltin originally rated the film with two stars, but later increased the rating to three stars.

Roger Ebert of the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' gave the film a three star rating (out of four) describing it as "a fairly sophisticated satire." He praised the film's sense of surrealism, comedic timing, and "grubby, low-budget intensity." Ebert states that "if you know it's all special effects, and if you've seen a lot of other movies and have a sense of humor, you might have a great time at ''Evil Dead 2''." Richard Harrington of the ''Washington Post'' wrapped up his review stating that "the acting is straight out of '50s B movies. The exposition is clumsy, the sound track corny, the denouement silly. Then again, who said bad taste was easy?" Conversely, Pat Graham of ''Chicago Reader'' disliked the mix of horror and comedy, writing in his review that "The pop-up humor and smirkiness suggest Raimi's aspiring to the fashionable company of the brothers Coen, though on the basis of this strained effort I'd say he's overshot the mark."

''Entertainment Weekly'' ranked the film #19 on their list of "The Top 50 Cult Films." ''Sight and Sound'' ranked it #34 on their 50 Funniest Films of All Time list. In 2008, ''Empire'' magazine included ''Evil Dead II'' on their list of ''The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time'', ranked #49.

References[link]

;Bibliography

Warren, Bill. ''The Evil Dead Companion''. ISBN 0-312-27501-3.

Raimi, Sam. Spiegel, Scott. Nicotero, Greg. Campbell, Bruce. ''Evil Dead II'' DVD, audio commentary.

Campbell, Bruce. ''If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor''. ISBN 0-312-29145-0

External links[link]

''Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn'' at Deadites Online.

''Evil Dead II'' at Book Of The Dead

Category:The Evil Dead Category:1987 films Category:1980s comedy films Category:1980s horror films Category:American horror films Category:American comedy horror films Category:English-language films Category:Films directed by Sam Raimi Category:Films shot in North Carolina Category:Sequel films Category:Stop-motion animated films Category:Supernatural horror films Category:Paramount Pictures films

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director	Michael Sucsy
producer	Jennifer Aniston
writer	Margaret NagleJohn Lee Hancock
starring	Jennifer AnistonPam TillisJennifer LandonMelissa DiMarcoSandra OhEllen PompeoJimmy BennettJennette McCurdyKelly Rowland
distributor	DreamWorks Pictures
| country
language	English }}

''The Goree Girls'' is an upcoming musical film set in the 1940s which tells the story of eight Goree Prison inmates who form a country-western band. Filming was set to take place during January 2010, but was pushed back to accommodate Aniston's filming of ''Just Go With It''. Ellen Pompeo also agreed to put off production in order to spend more time with her daughter, Stella. The film will take place in Lubbock, Texas, Amarillo, Texas, Dallas, Texas, and Harlingen, Texas.

The film is based on a 2003 article in Texas Monthly magazine by Skip Hollandsworth.

This film is produced by and stars actress Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Landon, Jennette McCurdy, Kelly Rowland, Melissa DiMarco, Pam Tillis, and Jimmy Bennett.

Plot[link]

The film is based on a true story about eight women who were incarcerated at Texas’ Goree State Farm penitentiary in the 1940s. These women formed the Goree All Girl String Band, one of the first all-female western acts in history, capturing the hearts of millions in the process.

Cast[link]

Jennifer Aniston as Trisha Durant

Jennifer Landon as Kathy Roberts

Kelly Rowland as Jill Vegas

Melissa DiMarco as Erica Gilligan

Pam Tillis as Cassidy Sunderson

Jimmy Bennett as Logan Smith

Jennette McCurdy as Billie Crow

Ellen Pompeo as Farrah

Sandra Oh as Vicki

References[link]

External links[link]

Celebrity Wonder

Reelz Channel

All Movie Portal

Category:Upcoming films Category:American films Category:English-language films Category:Films set in Texas Category:Films set in the 1940s