If you've never owned "Evil Dead II" before, or if you've owned it a million times already across VHS, Betamax, LaserDisc, VCD, DVD, and Blu-ray, the new 25th Anniversary Edition by Lionsgate is THE version to have.
Lionsgate apparently returned to the original camera negative for this new transfer, and it shows. Detail is far above and beyond every previous home video release, including the dreaded waxed-over Blu-ray from Anchor Bay. A strong grain structure is present, although some mild DVNR tampering is visible--the grain generally moves as grain ought to, although sometimes it becomes more static, but never at a standstill. Color grading is a lot more dynamic and pleasing with realistic flesh tones and beautiful lighting I swear I've never quite seen before, while the contrast is more stable with night scenes looking appropriately dark, while daytime and near-dusk scenes look more appropriate and fitting than ever before. Black levels are solid, although there have been concerns of black crush being involved--that is, when shadow detail is lost, the shading variances gone and blacks being "crushed" instead. This doesn't appear to be any defect of the mastering, however; the film has always been dark, and it's my belief that the stark, detail-free blacks are due to underexposure during filming. The '98 VHS tape, THX- and DiviMax-mastered DVDs, and original Blu-ray (all from Anchor Bay) that I own all feature the same "problem" (*); I believe it was an artistic decision and one that I find to be visually striking. To top it all off, the original age restriction warning before the Rosebud logo returns, which had been excised from Anchor Bay's Blu-ray.
*(This is not to say that old home video releases are correct and that they should be used as a guideline for how the film should look; old video masters should never be the standard of quality in any respect since they are often very inaccurate to the original film source. I'm simply saying that I doubt very much that ALL of these previous video masters would be so goofed up as to feature the exact same levels of black crush as featured on the Lionsgate Blu-ray, so it is almost definitely part of the original photography. The DiviMax/Book of the Dead DVD and Anchor Bay Blu-ray, by the way, are transferred from the same master.)
Full-res screenshots of the title can be viewed at caps-a-holic, which also compares this release to the Anchor Bay one.
Some may be upset to hear that the wires used to hold up the flying eyeball have been digitally removed. This doesn't bother me since they were never meant to be seen in the first place, but there is a quaintness that is now missing with their removal; far as I can tell, the rest of the wires remain intact, which is odd that they'd only fix the one. If only they'd gone all-out and fixed all the wires, the huge tear in Ted Raimi/Possessed Henrietta's rear, and fixed the shots where unfinished sets are seen. Hey, if you're going to fix one thing, why not fix it all à la "Blade Runner: The Final Cut"? It should be all or nothing; fix it all or leave it well enough alone.
The only audio provided is a DTS-HD 5.1 track with English, English SDH, and Spanish subtitles optional. An uncompressed original mono track would have been appreciated (coded as 2.0 dual mono); I've never been too wild over surround re-mixes, especially since only the original mix represents the intentions of the filmmakers. But, the 5.1 mix does the job well enough.
Extras include an all-new 100-minute documentary titled "Swallowed Souls: The Making of Evil Dead II", split up into several chapters and featuring endearing new stop-motion effects recreating scenes from the film (a whole full-length recreation of the film in this fashion would be a load of fun to see). The doc is fun and informative with a lot of new trivia that I'd never heard before, such as the existence of co-writer Scott Spiegel's short film "Attack of the Helping Hand" and its influence on the "Evil Dead II" script. A 30-minute behind-the-scenes production video is also provided, showing off among other things scenes which were deleted during the editing process which all have plenty of fascinating effects, and it's unfortunate that these scenes were not found and restored for this Blu-ray release as separate deleted scenes. A 7-minute return to the shooting locations is also new, and the standard definition "The Gore the Merrier" and Tom Sullivan photo commentary featurettes from the Anchor Bay DVDs are provided as well. The movie commentary is the same entertaining one which has been around since I believe one of the LaserDisc releases. The US trailer is thankfully presented in HD, and there are HD photo galleries as well.
"Evil Dead II", the fantastic sequel to the low-budget, DIY "The Evil Dead" (it's NOT a remake; the first seven minutes merely recap the first movie since rights to the footage could not be acquired), has never looked this pretty and detailed on home video, and is DEFINITELY worth the upgrade. (The THX-mastered DVD from 2000 can finally be retired.) Strangely, the restoration and transfer is not of the same caliber as Bob Murawski and Anchor Bay's work on the first film, so it's unfortunate that Lionsgate did not throw at the project quite the same amount of money and talent as the first film's HD restoration received, but it's an impressive transfer nonetheless, and the film has certainly never looked this good beyond its original theatrical exhibition. HIGHLY recommended for fans of this insane splatter comedy masterpiece and for newcomers as well. Sadly, the disc is Region A-locked. Sorry, overseas fans; hopefully you'll see this transfer released in your area before long.
Now if only "Army of Darkness" (both theatrical and director's cuts) would receive a Blu-ray release that doesn't look like sun-baked vomit. At least the NTSC Region 3 DVD put out by MGM exists.
