After Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell wrapped up working on The Evil Dead, they had no intention of making another one, never mind a trilogy.

However, after a bad experience working on a larger studio project, 1985's Crimewave (which was the second feature to be written by the Coen brothers after their debut Blood Simple), which bombed on its release, the pair thought that their film careers had already ended.

But when The Evil Dead was finally picked up for distribution after languishing on shelves for a couple of years, as well as a money-can't-buy quote from none other than Stephen King, a sequel was mooted and the pair decided to grab hold of the opportunity with both hands. And the dead were back.

Although seemingly killed in the first film, its sequel opens with a quick retelling of what happened in the first episode, and then goes on to reveal that Ash (Campbell) was merely knocked around a bit and is still very much alive.

As you would expect, Ash is keen to leave the cabin and all its horrors behind. But the evil hasn't finished with him yet. Using the body of his dead girlfriend, the evil forces manage to prevent Ash from escaping.

Despite putting up a brave fight, it looks highly probable that Ash's number will soon be up. Then out of the blue arrives Annie Knowby (Sarah Berry), the daughter of the professor who owned the cabin, with not only a couple of companions in tow, but more importantly, some missing pages from the book of the dead her father discovered.

So with a few more bodies in the cabin, Ash's chance of staying alive a little more, seemingly increase. However, as has already been proven, evil loves company.

I.Hate. DIY!!!

With this Blu-ray tying in with the release of the highly unoriginal remake in cinemas, it only serves to cement how superior the original films are.

To make a distinction between the first film and this sequel, Raimi decided to go with a film with a far more comedic feel to it; in fact it probably owes more to the slapstick heroics of Laurel & Hardy than it does to the world of horror. So where the original was most definitely a horror film with a large dose of comedy, this one definitely has the measures the other way around.

What it also manages to produce is the evolution of the character Ash as an all-out hero. Ash may well be the fall guy, with everything except the kitchen sink thrown at him, but there's no question of him giving up without a fight.

It's a shame that the film's rich blend of horror and comedy has fallen out of vogue, because despite being over twenty five years old, this sequel is still thoroughly entertaining on all fronts. And when you consider that films can't afford to really scare audiences anymore, because films classified 18 just don't make nearly as much money as a 12A can, you would have thought that by adding more comedy would be the way to go. Clearly not.

Evil Dead II is still one of the best examples of what you can achieve with a sequel, as well still being a wickedly funny experience from beginning to end in its own right. And you've got to hand it to Ash, no one takes a beating quite like he does.