'Evil Dead 2' - High-Def Digest review

[jed]

Just posted Kenneth's review of 'Evil Dead 2.' A huge fan of the film itself, he says the audio/video quality of this Blu-ray release won't stand out from the high-def crowd, but it can still offer you a great time this Halloween.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/970/evildead2.html

[supra2jzgte]

This movie is classic. Thats all I have to say about that. The picture quality is no suprise but I am suprised about the audio rating. I figured it would sound like crap even with a remaster.

-dad

[sonny gaunt]

I agree with the review, great job. Had I waited to read your review it would have saved me the purchase.

[Motorheadache]

Yeah, think I'll just stick with my good old DVD of this one.
One thing about the recap at the beginning, I think Raimi made it a tradition to recap the previous story different from how the movie actually went in these films. In Army of Darkness, the recap is also completely different from the actual ending in Evil Dead 2. I suspect if they made a 4th film it would also change the events of Army of Darkness.

[zombiequest]

I actually watched it last week and I have to say from a Blu-Ray fan's standpoint that I was a little disappointed. I guess after watching "Open Season" and newer films where the lack of any grain is so apparent and it blows your mind to see an older film where you see grain in the dark areas, it just makes you wonder if you're watching an upconverted dvd or High Def... I love the movie to death, but I was really expecting somethnig mind-blowing from the HD... never got that feeling.

[Brad1963]

I actually did not mind EVIL DEAD 2's transfer. It is about what expected considering the original source and past DVD releases. It looks the best it ever has on BLU RAY in my opinion.

[hi-def-fanboy]

From the age and budget of the film, all that could really be expected from this release is an upgrade in quality. It was never going to be fantastic but didn't expect it to either.
Will give it a look.

[zallapo]

If it's anyhting like the Army Of Darkness HD-DVD transfer, than I'll be a happy chappy. yes, it's no stunner, but it's a nice upgrade over any of the previous dvd's.

I don't know how people can expect a low budget 20 yr old film like this to suddenly turn to gold upon a high-def release. Talk about wishful thinking, this ain't no Jerry Bruckheimer production kiddies.

[cooltobeyou]

I picked this up, and I'm very happy with my purchase.

I think that sometimes we get too caught up in all this hi def PQ hype, and we forget that we're buying A MOVIE. IMO, Evil Dead 2 is worth $25 regardless of the format and picture quality...its just THAT GOOD of a movie.

As for the PQ though, I do agree that its a little below average for a Hi-Def release...but like everyone else already said, its a 20 plus year old low budget film. When looked at from that view point, the film looks pretty damn good. Besides, even though it doesn't look like the greatest Blu-Ray on the market, its still an obvious improvement over the standard DVD.

[mrkiller]

I just want Evil Dead 1, it was the first horror film I watched.

[sonny gaunt]

Originally Posted by cooltobeyou

I picked this up, and I'm very happy with my purchase.

I think that sometimes we get too caught up in all this hi def PQ hype, and we forget that we're buying A MOVIE. IMO, Evil Dead 2 is worth $25 regardless of the format and picture quality...its just THAT GOOD of a movie.

As for the PQ though, I do agree that its a little below average for a Hi-Def release...but like everyone else already said, its a 20 plus year old low budget film. When looked at from that view point, the film looks pretty damn good. Besides, even though it doesn't look like the greatest Blu-Ray on the market, its still an obvious improvement over the standard DVD.

Unfortunately, I do expect better PQ-being as I've purchased this title about 4 times already(skipping the last 2 SDs). I would be willing to bet that there are better prints out there. Anyone remember when ED2 was stuck in legal limbo? About 6 months before the Blood-RED LD came out?

[theHDphantom]

Excellent review Kenneth. I had bought Evil Dead II before your review came out and I agree with you all the way. Going into this one, I was expecting the video to be lacking major high def quality, but I bought it anyway because I'm a huge fan of this one. I was KIND OF impressed with this video transfer. I thought it was perfectly clean with absolutely no video noise, so it SORT OF exceded my expectations. BUT, it all still didn't look all that high def. It almost looked like a really, really good upconverted DVD. So yeah, 2.5 outta 5 is spot on. Great job, and I'm really looking forward to your Day of the Dead review.

[cooltobeyou]

Originally Posted by sonny gaunt

Unfortunately, I do expect better PQ-being as I've purchased this title about 4 times already(skipping the last 2 SDs).

I can see your point there. This is actually the first time I've purchased this movie, so I guess I can be a little more forgiving on the PQ.

[madFloyd]

I was blown away by Army of Darkness, but very disapointed by Evil Dead 2. The grain and noise are super distracting.

I almost prefer my DVD over this. Comparing many scenes, HD just seems to exasperate the grain without bringing any more detail. I would classify the grain as noise in these circumstances, but I'm sure that technically it's grain.

I say 'almost prefer' because the DVD version still has that 'dvd blotchyness' on a large screen where you can clearly tell that detail just isn't there. This is improved on the Bluray version at the expense of the aforementioned noise/grain.

[sonny gaunt]

Originally Posted by madFloyd

I was blown away by Army of Darkness, but very disapointed by Evil Dead 2. The grain and noise are super distracting.

I almost prefer my DVD over this. Comparing many scenes, HD just seems to exasperate the grain without bringing any more detail. I would classify the grain as noise in these circumstances, but I'm sure that technically it's grain.

I say 'almost prefer' because the DVD version still has that 'dvd blotchyness' on a large screen where you can clearly tell that detail just isn't there. This is improved on the Bluray version at the expense of the aforementioned noise/grain.

\
To quote SHAUN"No, what's "exasperate" mean?". IMO if Uni had used the HD transfer that was used for the Japanese DVD release then it really would have been a 5 starrer.