Dance of the Devil II - Now there is more dancing

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Movie
German title Dance of the Devil II - Now there is more dancing
Original title Evil Dead II - Dead by Dawn
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1987
length Theatrical version: 81 minutes
Uncut: 84 minutes
Age rating FSK 16; BBFC 15, 18
Rod
Director Sam Raimi
script Sam Raimi
Scott Spiegel
production Robert G. Tapert
music Joseph LoDuca
camera Peter Deming
cut Kaye Davis
occupation

Tanz der Teufel II - Now there is even more dancing (original title: Evil Dead II - Dead by Dawn ) is an American horror / splatter comedy by the director Sam Raimi .

The 1987 film is the sequel to the horror film Dance of the Devils with Bruce Campbell in the lead role of Ash. The plot is largely similar to that of the first part, but since the film contains less exaggerated depictions of violence and some slapstick-like performances by Bruce Campbell , which are obviously influenced by the Three Stooges , it seems more agreeable for a broader audience.

With a budget of 3.5 million US dollars, the film, which is ten times more expensive than its predecessor, enjoys cult status among fans. This applies in particular to the main character, Ash, the tough, masculine and eloquent hero of the film, with his entertainingly pointed sayings and empty phrases (e.g. Groovy ! , Who's laughing now ?! and Swallow this! ).

The action of the film continues in Army of Darkness , the third part of the series.

action

Flashback: Ash is only on vacation in a forest hut with his girlfriend Linda. He finds a mysterious book, the Book of the Dead , and a tape recorder. On this one can be heard of a professor who begins to quote passages from the book. This awakens demonic forces in the surrounding forest, which then attack Linda and take her into the forest. Ash follows her and is attacked by the now possessed Linda. Ash cuts off her head and buries her. The next morning, the supernatural force from the forest attacks him too.

From that moment on, when the first film ended, the story continues. Ash is thrown through the forest and ends up in a puddle. When he shows up again, he is obsessed for a brief moment. However, when the sun rises, it changes back again. Ash tries to escape by car, but the only bridge that leads to the remote place is destroyed. The following night, Linda comes back to life. Her body and severed head, now acting independently, try to kill Ash. In a tool shed, however, Ash can finally destroy them with the help of a chainsaw. Ash is then attacked by his own hand, which he cuts off with the chainsaw.

Meanwhile, Annie Knowby, the professor's daughter, and her boyfriend Jake also make their way to the hut to continue researching the book with her father. At the destroyed bridge they meet the road worker Ed and his girlfriend Bobbie Joe, who lead them on a path to the house. The newcomers believe Ash killed the professor and his wife and lock him up in the basement. You find the tape and listen to it. Professor Knowby tells that his wife Henrietta attacked him and he had to kill her and bury her in the basement. At this very moment, Henrietta digs herself out of the ground and attacks Ash. The others free him and lock Henrietta in the basement.

From now on the five will work together. Jake is next attacked by the demonic power and killed by Ash with an ax. The path, the only escape route, has now disappeared. The professor's ghost appears to the group and tells them to quote a passage from the book in order to save his soul and their lives. You look at the relevant pages and find two spells. The first transforms the evil into something living and the second opens a wormhole designed to destroy the evil. They will also discover a story from the Middle Ages that tells of a savior who fought against evil.

Bobbie Joe is attacked by Ash's severed hand and flees into the woods. Ed throws the saving pages of the book into the basement and forces Ash and Annie at gunpoint to look for his girlfriend with him. Out in the woods, Ash becomes possessed and attacks Ed. Annie escapes back into the house. When someone tried to break into the door, she rammed a dagger into his chest that was lying by the tape recorder, and only then realized that it was not Ash, but Ed. She pulls the seriously injured man into the living room, where Henrietta pulls him down through the cellar hatch and kills him. The possessed Ash enters the house and attacks Annie. But when he finds his girlfriend's necklace on the floor, his grief turns him back into a normal person.

Ash mounts the chainsaw on the stump of his arm and goes into the basement, armed with a rifle. He manages to find the pages and kill Henrietta. Annie starts quoting from the book. The first part turns evil into flesh, whereupon a giant monster attacks the house. Ash's severed hand reappears and rams the dagger into Annie's back. Dying, she also recites the second part. A wormhole opens, and the evil, but also Ash, are pulled through.

He then finds himself in a wasteland surrounded by knights near a castle. They are about to kill him when a winged demon attacks. Ash shoots him and is then celebrated by the knights as the liberator of evil. Desperate, he realizes that he has become the Savior of whom the book tells.

Continuation or remake?

At the beginning of the film, the plot of the first part is briefly recapitulated. For legal reasons, recordings of the first part could not simply be used for this sequence. In addition, many actors from the first part were no longer available. Since director Raimi wanted the film to be understandable for a wide audience and therefore also for people who had not seen the first part, he decided to re-shoot the flashback to the events of part one.

Reviews

Tanz der Teufel II was positively rated by 98% of the critics on the Rotten Tomatoes , with 58 reviews being counted. The conclusion of the site: "By increasing the special effects and slapstick gore, Tanz der Teufel II is just as good - if not better - than the original."

The lexicon of international films wrote that “the technically experienced accumulation of drastic scenes of the horror film, a multitude of relevant quotes and touches of macabre humor” cost “audience fears with relish” and play “necrophilically and smugly with unsavory moments and moments of shock”.

Cinema summed up: "Macabre, tasteless, bloody: that's cult."

Publications

The original German theatrical version was shortened by almost 60 seconds. The publications on LaserDisc and VHS with FSK not approved under the age of 18 have also been shortened. The DVD version by Kinowelt , released years later, presented the film for the first time unabridged in the German version. Shortly thereafter, Kinowelt released another, only slightly cut, FSK-16 version.

For years there have also been rumors that the film had to be shortened in the United States for a so-called R-Rating and that more scenes should exist. However, this has meanwhile been denied by Sam Raimi; there are pictures of some scenes that do not appear in the film, but these are only production photos. In September 2013, however, a previously unreleased extended cut of the film was released in Germany. In June 2016, the uncut version of the film was released from the age of 16. On February 14, 2019, a restored version of the film was released as 4K or UHD Blu-Ray.

Trivia

  • Next to the door in the basement of the hut hangs the clawed glove of Freddy Krueger , the main character in the Nightmare film series. The gesture can be seen as a thank you to Wes Craven . He let the protagonists in the first Nightmare film, Dance of the Devils, watch on television.
  • Sam Raimi makes a cameo in the film. He is the knight who cheers Ash towards the end of the film.
  • The book had the title Naturon Demonto in the first part ( Tanz der Teufel ) , but was then renamed Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (see Necronomicon ) in honor of HP Lovecraft in the second part .
  • In music videos like Everlong from the Foo Fighters or Love? the band Strapping Young Lad, there are numerous references to the film.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Certificate of Release for Tanz der Teufel II - Now there is more dancing . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/evil-dead-ii-1987
  3. ↑ http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/evil-dead-ii-0
  4. Jump up ↑ Rotten Tomatoes : Dance of the Devils II - Now there is more dancing
  5. Jump up ↑ Dance of the Devil II - Now there is more dancing. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  6. ↑ Cinema.de: Tanz der Teufel II - Now there is more dancing - Cinema criticism
  7. ↑ Comparison of the cut versions of the FSK 16 version and the uncut version from Kinowelt of Tanz der Teufel 2 at Schnittberichte.com
  8. ↑ schnittberichte.com, accessed on June 30, 2016