Editing Evil Dead II (section)

===Writing===
Despite Raimi's crew having only recently received the funding necessary to produce the film, the script had been written for some time, having been composed largely during the production of ''Crimewave''. Raimi contacted his old friend [[Scott Spiegel]], who had collaborated with Campbell and others on the [[Super 8 mm film]]s they had produced during their childhood in [[Michigan]]. Most of these films had been comedies, and Spiegel felt that ''Evil Dead II'' should be less straight horror than the first. Initially, the opening sequence included all five of the original film's characters; however, in an effort to save time and money, all but Ash and Linda were cut from the final draft. The film went through several other drafts, including a group of escaped convicts holding Ash captive in the cabin while searching for buried treasure.<ref name=companion/>{{rp|109–110}}

Spiegel and Raimi wrote most of the film in their house in [[Silver Lake, Los Angeles|Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California]], where they were living with the aforementioned Coen brothers, as well as actors [[Frances McDormand]], [[Kathy Bates]], and [[Holly Hunter]] (the primary inspiration for the Bobby Joe character). Due both to the distractions of their house guests and the films they were involved with, ''Crimewave'' and [[Josh Becker (filmmaker)|Josh Becker]]'s ''[[Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except]]'', the script took a long time to finish.<ref name=companion/>{{rp|109}}

Among the film's many inspirations include the [[The Three Stooges|Three Stooges]] and [[slapstick comedy]] films. Ash's fights with his disembodied hand come from a film made by Spiegel as a teenager titled ''[[Attack of the Helping Hand]]'', which was itself inspired by television commercials advertising [[Hamburger Helper]]. The "laughing room" scene, where all the objects in the room seemingly come to life and begin to cackle maniacally along with Ash, came about after Spiegel jokingly used a gooseneck lamp to visually demonstrate a [[Popeye]]-esque laugh. Spiegel's humorous influence can be seen throughout the film, perhaps most prominently in certain visual jokes. For instance, when Ash traps his rogue hand under a pile of books, on top is ''[[A Farewell to Arms]]''.<ref name=companion/>{{rp|111}}

While Raimi and Campbell have stated that ''Evil Dead II'' was intended as a direct sequel, there are differences between the first installment and the recap at the beginning of the second: for example, the Necronomicon is destroyed in a fire by Ash during the conclusion of ''The Evil Dead'', but remains intact in ''Evil Dead II''. The corpses of Ash's friends from the first are absent, and are never mentioned. The cabin itself remains perfectly intact until the events of this film, despite much of it having been destroyed in the original film.