Evil Dead II: Sequel or Remake?

[LordCrumb]

What are your thoughts, and how do you justify them?

Is Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn a sequel to The Evil Dead, or just a remake, updating and enhancing the original?

[csdot]

its a sequel. the beginning is just a modified recap of the original.

[Foggy]

Sequel, remake, does it really matter, it's ****ing awesome!!!

[Adam_ME]

Remake. I think Raimi said they had to do a recap of the original using fewer actors because of rights issues, but it still made it seem like less of a sequel and more of a retelling of the first movie along with what came after it.

Now Army of Darkness is even harder to pinpoint. It's a sequel, but the ending of Evil Dead II ends on a completely different note than the one AoD begins on.

[Scooby Blu]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Sequel, remake, does it really matter, it's ****ing awesome!!!

Well stated !

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by Adam_ME

Remake. I think Raimi said they had to do a recap of the original using fewer actors because of rights issues, but it still made it seem like less of a sequel and more of a retelling of the first movie along with what came after it.

Now Army of Darkness is even harder to pinpoint. It's a sequel, but the ending of Evil Dead II ends on a completely different note than the one AoD begins on.

Evil Dead 2 ends with him getting sucked into the vortex and Army starts with him falling from it.

[Ator the Invincible]

It's a sequel according to both Raimi and Campbell. Five minutes in it picks up at the exact moment the first one ends. Raimi wanted to do a recap of how Ash got to the cabin for those who never saw the first. Legal issues prevented that, and so we get the re-filmed, streamlined recap that makes up the first 5 minutes of part 2. Remember, the end of part 2 doesn't match up with the start of Army of Darkness either. But it's still clearly a sequel.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

Evil Dead 2 ends with him getting sucked into the vortex and Army starts with him falling from it.

Well EDII ends with Ash being loved by the Crusaders, but Army of Darkness starts with him being captured by the Crusaders

[Ator the Invincible]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

Evil Dead 2 ends with him getting sucked into the vortex and Army starts with him falling from it.

No, Evil Dead 2 ends with Ash coming out of the vortex and killing a deadite. All the knights then bow down to him and herald him their savior. Army of Darkness ignores that and re-films his arrival in the past quite differently.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by Foggy

Well EDII ends with Ash being loved by the Crusaders, but Army of Darkness starts with him being captured by the Crusaders

True I just thought he ment they where completely different which they are not. Slight difference nothing huge.

[Ator the Invincible]

Originally Posted by ArmyOfDarknessAW

True I just thought he ment they where completely different which they are not. Slight difference nothing huge.

They're exact opposites. In one he's being bowed down to. In the other he's taken as a prisoner. I'd call that a huge difference. It doesn't bother me really, because the movies are so fantastic. But it is there.

[ArmyOfDarknessAW]

Originally Posted by Ator the Invincible

They're exact opposites. In one he's being bowed down to. In the other he's taken as a slave. I'd call that a huge difference. It doesn't bother me really, because the movies are so fantastic. But it is there.

I just took it as something else sorry. I took it as the ending of 2 is completely different then AOD. I take the differences as pretty minor and it does not affect the movie at all. They both still keep the fact that he is sucked into the vortex and falls from it. Maybe it's just me being a blind fanboy but I just don't think the differences beyond that are much to be concerned about.

[LordCrumb]

Originally Posted by Ator the Invincible

It's a sequel according to both Raimi and Campbell. Five minutes in it picks up at the exact moment the first one ends. Raimi wanted to do a recap of how Ash got to the cabin for those who never saw the first. Legal issues prevented that, and so we get the re-filmed, streamlined recap that makes up the first 5 minutes of part 2. Remember, the end of part 2 doesn't match up with the start of Army of Darkness either. But it's still clearly a sequel.

Any direct quotes or links available?

Keep your thoughts coming folks!! much appreciated and interesting to hear other peoples thoughts.

[BladeRunner2007]

Imo it's clearly a sequel

[Walts Ghost]

It's absolutely a sequel. There's no way its not.

From IMDB:

Often considered to be a remake of The Evil Dead (1981), however this is not accurate. The rights to show scenes from the original could not be obtained to re-cap what happened, so they recreated the beginning to explain how Ash got to the cabin, a headless Linda, etc.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by csdot

its a sequel. the beginning is just a modified recap of the original.

Most definitely. I find myself wanting to die every time somebody labels it a remake.

[F13BluRay]

OMG! i never even knew people considered this a remake! That actually makes me mad OF COURSE ITS A SEQUEL!!!!!!

[Ator the Invincible]

Originally Posted by KaiGusto

Any direct quotes or links available?

Keep your thoughts coming folks!! much appreciated and interesting to hear other peoples thoughts.

Well, if you listen to audio commentary on Evil Dead 2 (which features both Campbell and Raimi), they explain the whole story of how they weren't allowed to use footage from part 1 for legal reasons, so they had to re-shoot the recap. At one point, they even included the other 3 characters from part 1 in the recap, but ultimately decided against it. Someone on the commentary (forget who) recalls filming a scene of all 5 characters sitting around listening to the recording before they decided to simplify it to just Ash and Linda.

Beyond that, I know I heard an interview with Campbell where he made a comment along the lines of "If the end of the first movie occurs within the first 10 minutes of the second, and then the story continues on, I'd call that a sequel." I tried to find it on Google, but no dice. I'll have to stick with the audio commentary as my evidence for now.

[LordCrumb]

I thought it might have been from the commentary, but I have not listened to it in years, so I might pop it in tonight and listen again.

[OrlandoEastwood]

I say it's both. To those who haven't seen it, and I wouldn't know who you are because everyone I know owns or has seen it, I would have to recommend watching the first film first, obviously. Evil Dead II is more of a horror-comedy where Evil Dead is just straight up horror. I don't want to say that Sam Raimi took Army of Darkness in the wrong direction by making it a comedy with some horror tones, but the series totally takes that turn in going a different route in genre with Evil Dead II.

I think one of the main reasons why Evil Dead IV (or Remake) hasn't been done yet is because of this whole change in genre. It'd be hard to go from comedy back to horror because it might kill the fans expectations of a movie. And I think Raimi has lost his touch as a filmmaker. Drag Me to Hell was an ok movie, I was really expecting more out of it, especially after his Spider-Man films.