Evil Dead II

Evil Dead II is, quite simply, the Citizen Kane of horror/comedy films. While writer/director Sam Raimi's inventive 1981 debut, The Evil Dead, had darkly comical moments amidst the DIY scares, this sequel ratchets up both the gore and the laughs to brilliantly ridiculous heights. When Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) brings his sweetheart (Denise Bixler) to a cabin in the woods for a romantic weekend, they find themselves under siege by demonic forces with a nasty sense of humor. Unlike many slowly building horror movies, Evil Dead II wastes no time in throwing the audience directly into the macabre mayhem—body parts are severed, blood of varying hues is copiously sprayed, chainsaws are wielded. The film's piece de resistance is inarguably Ash's extended showdown with his demon-possessed hand, leading to sequences of sublime slapstick, and the movie so thoroughly creates its own strange world that viewers will never hear the words "work shed" and "fruit cellar" in the same way again. What truly elevates Evil Dead II to legendary status is the combination of Raimi's playful, yet effectively suspenseful, direction and Campbell's charmingly campy lead performance. Decades later, Raimi is one of Hollywood's top filmmakers, and Campbell is a prolific actor and a B-movie icon—this relentlessly fun and phantasmagorical film is what got them there.