The first time I actually watched Evil Dead 2 was with friends of mine in their apartment in upstate New York. I had heard of the film before but never saw it and we settled in to watch the movie only to find it good creepy, scary and fun. Now the folks over at FYE have re-released this classic in their own exclusive steel-book but is this a release you should nab or should you keep it closed like the Necronomicon Ex Mortis?
The steel-book itself is simply breathtaking as there is some black and red art of four characters from the film. On the cover is the iconic Ash holding his chainsaw and ax and on the back is a possessed version of himself. The two inside pictures I love the most as the one on the right is the deadite that will swallow his soul and on the left is the deer from when he goes insane.
For those that have never seen this film it deals with Ash and his girlfriend Linda as they go out to a cabin located deep in the woods. Upon arriving at this cabin Linda stumbles across a book that is on a table and she plays a tape. The tape says that the book is called Necronomicon Ex Mortis or more commonly known as the book of the dead. Linda starts the tape which awakens something deep and terrible in the woods. The spirit that inhabits these woods grabs a hold of Linda and possesses her and Ash has to kill her, however, she does not stay dead. What happens next is an amazing story that has a lot of practical effects, one liners and a great script. 
And when you are done with the film there are more special features than you can shake a deadite at! Starting off with an audio commentary on the film that not only has Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell but also the co-writer of the film Scott Spiegel and SFX wizard Greg Nicotero! Dead by Dawn focuses on the film and how this sequel eventually got to the silver screen. There are interviews with all of the actors that took part in the film in the segment The Chosen Ones. If you ever wondered what it was like to work with Sam Raimi this is chronicled in Madman Sam. Want to know about the special effects? Then look no further than Dead Effects as Greg Nicotero goes over what was used in the film. The stop motion work that was used in the film is covered in the featurette Re-Animated. If you love the cinematography you can find out more about their Method to Madness. See how this film evolved from what it was to its eventual cult classic status in Rosebud. If you ever wanted to see what the iconic filming locations look like n you can in the featurette Road to Woodsboro. And last but not least you can experience some of the short films taken on set with Cabin Fever. The number of special features will keep you viewing this disc again and again as there is always something new to uncover.
Whether you are a fan of the Evil Dead series or haven’t heard of the film until this point you MUST check out this version from FYE. For more information on this and other releases head over to www.fye.com and get ready for a trip to a cabin in the woods.
