Sam Raimi had to restage scenes from his feature debut to open Evil Dead II. Bruce Campbell returned as Ash in the 1987 horror-comedy.
Thirty-nine years later, it holds an 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 87 reviews. The site’s critics’ consensus focused on the film’s unique way of delivering fright and laughter:
“Less a continuation than an outright reimagining, Sam Raimi transforms his horror tale into a comedy of terrors — and arguably even improves on the original formula.”
It also ranks No. 18 on Time Out’s 100 Best Horror Movies, updated in September 2026. The original Evil Dead sits at No. 29.
Owen Gleiberman reviewed it for the Boston Phoenix:
“Raimi delivers. At this point, I’m not sure whether he’s a genius or certifiable (perhaps a bit of both), but Evil Dead 2 is the horror equivalent of the hardest drugs there are: it bypasses logic and heads straight for your pleasure centers.”
Turns out, it took help from Stephen King to make the sequel happen.
How Stephen King Got Evil Dead II Made
King had raved about Raimi’s debut, The Evil Dead, per Empire. “It was like a thunderstorm in a bottle,” the critically acclaimed author wrote.
Producer Dino De Laurentiis then approached Raimi to direct an adaptation of King’s Thinner. Raimi’s producing partner Rob Tapert recalled the response to The Hollywood Reporter.
“I can’t right now, I’m working on Evil Dead II,” Raimi told him. “And Dino says, ‘Really?” Six months later, we gave him the script for Evil Dead II. He had it translated into Italian and within 24 hours said yes.”
However, another issue came up. New Line owned the rights to the first film, so Raimi couldn’t use its footage. Campbell explained the problem to ComicBook.com.
“We couldn’t get the rights to our own movie, which is the most ridiculous thing ever,” he said. “So, we just shot a recap with different actors, as though that was the recap, but people thought, ‘He’s coming back to the same cabin with these new people? What?’”
Raimi therefore recreated the opening recap from scratch. The entire film ultimately cost approximately $3.6 million and grossed $5.9 million domestically.
Related: A 1984 Wes Craven Nightmare Still Holds a 93% Rotten Tomatoes Score 42 Years Later
