Bruce Campbell Was Baffled By One Bizarre Evil Dead 2 Censorship Demand

Once upon a time, "Evil Dead" franchise director Sam Raimi took on the censors and changed horror forever, but his mission encountered a few road blocks along the way. Speaking on the "Evil Dead II" commentary track, star Bruce Campbell revealed one scene from the film was banned in the United Kingdom — and it isn't even the most messed up moment in the movie.

According to Campbell, the scene where Ash gets kicked while he's unconscious was too much for the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) in the '80s. Bear in mind, "Evil Dead II" also includes a scene where Campbell's character, Ash Williams, chops off his own hand with a chainsaw, but that was fine for the British censors. As the actor told it:

"The thing I really like about this scene is, in England [...] What they cut out of this, out of the whole movie, was me getting kicked when I'm unconscious. Because in England, you can't kick a man when he's down, but, of course, you can lop heads off and arms and legs, but you can't kick an unconscious man."

For what it's worth, the BBFC used to be quite uptight about this sort of thing. Movies and TV shows depicting headbutts also experienced censorship all the way into the 1990s, so this cut aligns with the BBFC's values back in the day. 

What's more, "Evil Dead II" also came out during the nation's "video nasties" period, in which some of the best horror movies ever were heavily censored or banned. It's an era Campbell doesn't have the fondest memories of.

The "Evil Dead" property was no stranger to censorship in Britain by the time the 1987 sequel came out. The film was banned on home video in England for a while, with the full uncut version finally seeing the light of day in the year 2000. Bruce Campbell lambasted the BBFC over its censorship until as recently as 2021, even going as far to call out the institution on X (formerly known as Twitter):

"Let's be clear. Your system back then [in the '80s] was draconian and myopic. Thankfully, your multi-year 'ban' only stoked interest in the film and made it #1 on video in the UK when it was finally released. Thanks for nothin.'"

The "Evil Dead" franchise is still going strong to this day. As of this writing, "Evil Dead Burn" is slated for release this year, but it looks set to be very different from Sam Raimi and Campbell's more comedic offerings from back in the day. If the upcoming horror flick is anything like 2023's "Evil Dead Rise," it'll be far more messed up than the movies that annoyed the BBFC all those years ago.