What actually happens
A romantic getaway with an incriminating cassette
Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda, both students at Michigan State University, head out for a romantic getaway at a cabin that looks empty. Ash finds a tape left by Raymond Knowby, an archaeologist who lived there, in which Knowby reads out the Book of the Dead, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, which he found on a dig. Ash plays it, and the chanting releases an unseen evil called the Kandarian Demon. It kills Linda, possesses her and turns her into a deadite. This is the scene people dread, and it comes early: Ash beheads Linda with a shovel and puts her in a shallow grave by the cabin. As dawn approaches the evil throws Ash through the woods and briefly possesses him, until sunlight drives the demon out.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
A hand with a sense of humor
Ash tries to leave but finds the bridge to the cabin destroyed, and the evil herds him back inside. Linda's reanimated head sinks its teeth into his hand. Ash flees to the toolshed and wrecks the deadite Linda using a chainsaw, but the bitten right hand is possessed and tries to kill him. Ash saws it off and fires a shotgun at it, but the hand taunts him and escapes. Meanwhile Annie, Knowby's daughter, and her colleague Ed Getley come back from the dig carrying the missing pages of the Necronomicon. With the bridge out, they recruit Jake, a handyman, and his girlfriend Bobby Joe as guides on foot to the cabin. They find Ash fighting for his life. When he accidentally grazes Bobby Joe while aiming at his hand, they decide he murdered Annie's parents and lock him in the cellar.
Everyone in the cabin is having a worse night than you
The newcomers play the rest of the tape. Knowby says he killed his wife Henrietta when the demon possessed her, and he buried her in the cellar. Henrietta bursts out of her grave and possesses Ed, and Ash, out of the cellar by now, hacks him apart with an axe. Bobby Joe runs into the woods with Ash's severed hand clamped on hers, and possessed trees haul her off to die. Annie translates two pages of the Necronomicon, which describe a hero whose hand is a blade, and a ritual that makes the evil take physical form, then opens a portal to banish it. Jake turns on the group, throws the pages into the cellar and forces them at gunpoint to look for Bobby Joe. Ash is possessed again and attacks Jake. Annie stabs Jake with a Kandarian dagger because she thinks he is the possessed Ash, and Henrietta finishes him. Deadite Ash goes for Annie but becomes himself again when he sees Linda's necklace.
A chainsaw where the hand used to be
Annie helps Ash adapt his equipment: he fits the chainsaw onto the stump of his right arm and saws the barrel of the shotgun short. He goes down to the cellar, finds the missing pages of the Necronomicon, and kills Henrietta. Annie then begins reading the incantation aloud, which forces the demon to take a physical form, and it goes straight for Ash. The ritual is meant to open a portal that banishes the demon, so the rest of the fight depends on Annie reaching the last line.
The ending, explained
Before Annie finishes reciting, Ash's severed hand stabs Annie from behind. She completes the ritual as she dies, which opens a whirling vortex through time, and it pulls in the demon, Ash and his Oldsmobile Delta 88. The pair arrive in the Middle Ages, where some knights take him for a deadite until a harpy-like deadite shows up and Ash shoots it, and then they hail him as their champion. Ash realizes he is the hero the book prophesied, and he breaks down and screams in dismay. Linda, Ed, Bobby Joe, Jake and Henrietta are all dead, and Annie dies completing the ritual.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: no dog dies, and the animal heads on the cabin walls are taxidermy.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Evil Dead II scary?
Yes, Evil Dead II is a 6 out of 10 with medium dread. It has frequent jump scares and a gore level of 5, and a possessed hand that mocks Ash keeps it from being only grim.
How does Evil Dead II end?
Annie finishes the ritual as she dies, and the vortex it opens sucks the demon, Ash and his Oldsmobile into the Middle Ages. Knights there call Ash their champion, and he screams in dismay.
Does the dog die in Evil Dead II?
No dog dies in Evil Dead II. The animal heads on the walls of the cabin and shed are taxidermy, including a deer.
Is there a post-credits scene in Evil Dead II?
No. Evil Dead II has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
What is the Kandarian Demon in Evil Dead II?
It is the unseen evil Ash unleashes by playing a tape of Raymond Knowby reciting the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. In Evil Dead II it possesses people and turns them into deadites, and a ritual can make it take physical form and banish it.
