Tombs of the Blind Dead is one of the most solid, terrifying films ever made.  It gets under your skin and does not let go until the final frame.  That being said, Amando de Ossorio’s sequel, Return of the Evil Dead is like Tombs of the Blind Dead, on steroids.  Everything in the sequel is heightened to an almost ridiculous level.  The pacing is break-neck, the action is top notch, the nudity is cranked up and the character development actually competes with many of the better dramas ever made.  Didn’t see that coming from a film about The Knights Templar coming back from the dead, did you?  If Tombs of the Blind Dead was Ossorio’s Alien, then Return of the Evil Dead is his Aliens.

Rating:

Man, I really wish they got a better guy to announce the trailer.  He sounds like a drunk:

Return of the Evil Dead opens with a flashback, showing the audience what actually happened to the Knights Templar and how they ended up the way they did.  Flash forward 500 years and the audience is transported to a village nearby the Templar’s final resting place.  The people of the village are setting up festivities to celebrate the victory against the evil knights and their reign of terror.  Of course, with a title like Return of the Evil Dead, the audience knows exactly where this is going.  The film quickly brings our favorite dead Templars back to life and soon it’s a nonstop fight for survival as the villagers go from partying, drinking, and fornicating to running, screaming, and dying.

As I’ve stated already Return of the Evil Dead takes Tombs of the Blind Dead and amps up everything involved in the story.  One of the places where the sequel really trumps the original is the characters.  Going in to Return of the Evil Dead I wasn’t expecting anything more than paper-cutouts of characters to be chopped into itty-bitty pieces by the Knights Templar, but what I got were well thought out, three-dimensional characters that had a full range of emotions, baggage and personalities.  I’m not saying the acting was great, but the dialogue and development sure was mind-blowing.  Within the first twenty minutes the tension is already through the roof and the Knights haven’t even risen from their tombs yet.  Vivian (Esperanza Roy) has brought in Jack Marlowe (Tony Kendell) to run the fireworks display for the village celebration.  Those aren’t the only fireworks involved between these two, but there’s a small problem: Vivian’s Mayor Duncan’s (Fernando Sancho) fiancée.  And, he’s none-too-happy.  He calls in his bodyguard Howard (Frank Braña) to watch over Vivian.  Through minimal dialogue, the audience learns who is on whose side and what each person wants, all over the course of a minute and a half scene next to a bar.  It’s incredible how much effort Ossorio went through in developing his characters.  All of this, of course, pays off big-time later when tensions are to the breaking point and the threat of death lurks around every corner.

Once again, the cinematography is top-notch.  Every scene feels claustrophobic, even the large open plains feel like their closing in on the viewers.  Not much time is spent in the abbey where the Knights are buried, and this is fine as Tombs of the Blind Dead spent almost its entire running time there.  In Return of the Evil Dead most of the film is spent in the village.  Right from the get-go, everything feels small.  The town square seems to barely fit the inhabitants for the party, and every road seems to be a dead end.   This becomes so much more apparent when everyone is running for his or her lives, but no matter what road they turn down; the Blind Dead are waiting, swords drawn.

This brings us to the Blind Dead themselves.  Once again Ossorio brings out his version of the walking dead with grace and terror.  When the Blind Dead rise from their graves it’s just as haunting as in the first film.  The graveyard is eerily quiet and a soft mist filters through the courtyard as the gravestones begin to shudder as the dead push their way up from their resting places.  As they rise, more appear on their horses, filmed beautifully (just as in Tombs), and the sound of the hoof beats are made louder, creating an added emphasis on the quickness with which the Blind Dead hunt their prey.  In Return there are no zombie offspring created by the Blind Dead, but the Dead now have a new trick up their sleeve, or cloak, teamwork.  In the first film the Blind Dead wandered the abbey in search of their prey, succeeding because of their overwhelming numbers.  In Return of the Evil Dead, the Dead break apart into teams and block off the exits of the village, leaving the citizens to figure out an escape route for themselves. 

For fans of the living dead films, yes, even the gore and nudity are through the roof.  In Tombs of the Blind Dead the audience was treated to some minor gore, and some ‘teasing nudity’, but in Return of the Blind Dead, Ossorio threw out the subtle approach.  The first third of the film houses most of the nudity, and the women do look beautiful.  Even in the flash back sequence showing the Templars abusing a victim, she looked gorgeous, even as they proceeded to sacrifice her to the evil lord.  That brings us back to the gore.  Wow.  Body parts are cut off, swords are slowly (emphasis on slowly) pushed in and pulled out of the victims (I felt this made it look even more agonizing then usual), and entire groups of people are slaughtered at will.  Being that gore goes hand-in-hand with shock value, I feel I need to bring up one of the most shocking events I’ve ever seen, from this film.  Towards the end of the film, Mayor Duncan tries to use one of his henchmen’s daughters to lure the Blind Dead away from his getaway car.  Due to the fact the Blind Dead track on sound, he makes her call out to her father as she walks across the street.  I actually felt a little sick to my stomach watching this man using a child to get away from the Templar, but it made what happened next so much more satisfying.

The Return of the Evil Dead is not perfect, but it’s damned close.  I had one major gripe, and that was in the middle of the film when the Blind Dead are attacking the village, and interrupting the festivities.  Everything is going great, the Blind Dead corral the civilians into the center of town, and then start to decimate the population.  Jack and Howard decide to get the men together to fight back.  This goes well for a minute or two, but then it keeps going.  And going.  And going.  See, I’m not one to really say this, but this film could really use a cut from some of the fighting.  Yes.  I said it.  Return of the Evil Dead needed less fighting in the middle of the film.  The characters were so interesting and the subplots and back-stories so well-told, that the audience doesn’t need a lot of space filled by fighting.  There’s only so many ways a guy with a pitchfork can strike, or defend, against a horse-riding zombie.  That said, the fight scenes were great, just way too long.

Return of the Evil Dead is the perfect follow-up to one of the creepiest films ever made, and on its own, it out-performs most sequels with ease.  Be sure to check out Tombs of the Blind Dead first, as it sets up the Blind Dead themselves and allows Return of the Evil Dead to stretch out its claws and really dig into the characters that populate the story.  The goosebumps may not be as numbered as watching Tombs of the Blind Dead, but your heart will be racing as the Blind Dead close in on the last of their victims.  Just remember, they can hear every step, every movement, every heartbeat.