In anticipation of the new movie Evil Dead Rise, many might be wondering what they need to know before they watch the film. When a franchise passes its 30-year mark and even reboots itself, it's hard for new fans to navigate their decision to join the following. Here, we break down the entire history of the Evil Dead franchise to help those who plan on watching Evil Dead Rise to understand what came before.
In 1978, before directing the Spider-Man trilogy and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, an 18-year-old Sam Raimi produced a short microbudget film called Within the Woods. Along with his college friend Robert Tapert and dropout Bruce Campbell, Raimi managed to raise a budget of $1,600 to shoot the proof-of-concept over a three-day weekend. The short was inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon (or "Book of the Dead") and followed four teenagers who accidently disturb a Native American burial ground, unleashing evil spirits. Within the Woods was used to acquire funding for a feature-length film. Long story short, it spawned much more than that!
'The Evil Dead' Kicked Off a Cult Following
At age 22, Sam Raimi released The Evil Dead in 1981. Still working with a low-budget, albeit for a feature length film this time, the zany horror movie follows Ash Williams (Campbell), his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker), his sister Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss) and their friends Scott and Shelly (Hal Delrich and Sarah York respectively) as they visit a cabin in the woods of rural Tennessee. Much like Within the Woods, the Michigan State students accidentally unleash the evil dead by playing a recording of someone reading incantations from the Necronomicon in the cabin. One by one, each of Ash's friends become possessed and attack him until he throws the book in the fire, killing the "Deadites." As the lone survivor, Ash leaves the cabin, but the camera speeds towards him in an iconic final shot that embodies the unseen spirit's final attack.
'Evil Dead 2' Broke New Ground As a "Re-quel"
After the underwhelming reception of Raimi's next film, Crimewave (co-written by the Coen Brothers), the director decided to return to the cult-favorite world of The Evil Dead. Bruce Campbell recounts, “We didn’t own the rights to our own movie which is the most ridiculous thing ever,” and so 1987's Evil Dead II begins with a recap of the original, but completely re-shot, with Denise Bixler now in the role of Linda. The new footage retconned that only Ash and Linda visited the cabin in the original, which confused some fans. "People thought 'he’s coming back to the same cabin with these new people?" laughs Campbell. As a result, Evil Dead II is both a reboot and a sequel (or "re-quel" if you will).
Evil Dead II branched off into a more slapstick tone, embracing the horror from a less serious angle. In one of the franchise's most shocking moments, the film sees Ash's right hand becoming possessed as he fights off more Deadites, so he amputates it himself. He then replaces the missing hand by mounting a chainsaw to his stump, and saws off a shotgun to carry in his left hand. He teams up with Annie (Sarah Berry) among others who all perish, but not before Annie reads an incantation that opens a time portal and defeats the Deadites again. The time portal sucks Ash and his Oldsmobile back in time to the Middle Ages, where his shotgun (or "boomstick") leads the knights to hail him as a Deadite-killing hero. Absurd stuff!
'Army of Darkness' Is the Medieval-Dead
As per Sam Raimi's original idea for Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness finally time-travels the franchise into the Middle Ages. This 1992 movie maintains the dark-yet-pulpy tone of Raimi's 1990 film Darkman, showcasing his mastered balance between comedy and horror. Ash's story picks up where the last installation left off, rounding out the story with a climax of the fantasy-epic genre. After being captured by King Arthur, Ash discovers a way of returning to the modern age by finding the Necronomicon. Once again, he accidentally unleashes the evil dead, and after fighting off Deadites once more, the original trilogy ends with Ash returning to the present day and supermarket job at S-Mart. "Hail to the king, baby!"
The Original 'Evil Dead' Trilogy Branched Off Into Games and Even a Musical!
Even before the completion of the original trilogy, The Evil Dead and its cult following warranted a video game adaptation. The video game The Evil Dead was released for Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and BBC Micro in 1984. Since the original finale of the franchise in 1992, the IP has branched off into several more video games for PC, consoles, and mobile. These include 2000's Evil Dead: Hail to the King, 2003's Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick, 2005's Evil Dead: Regeneration, 2011's Army of Darkness: Defense, and most recently, 2022's Evil Dead: The Game. In addition, a musical adaptation of the original Evil Dead story hit the stage in Toronto in 2003, before its success led to its Off-Broadway tenure. The show is so gory and bloody that the front few rows are considered a splash zone!
2013's 'Evil Dead' Is Yet Another "Re-quel"
In 2013, director Fede Álvarez rebooted the franchise with Raimi, Campbell, and Tapert as producers. This reimagining of the story sees five new Michigan State students visiting a cabin in the woods. Recovering addict Mia (Jane Levy) is joined by her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez), and their friends Olivia (Jessica Lucas), Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) and Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore). As with the first two incarnations of this story, only one survives. This time, it's Mia.
This film focuses more on the perspectives of the victims possessed by the evil dead than those who fight it. Although the lore of the world remains consistent with the originals, this film portrays it in a much less campy way. The color palette is practically black and white, and everything is played seriously, even when the plot becomes as absurd as the originals. Much like Ash in Evil Dead II, Mia loses a hand and uses her stump to carry the chainsaw she wields. It's implied the movie is establishing Mia as the reboot's replacement for Ash; however, a post-credits scene reveals Bruce Campbell returning to say his trademark "groovy." It is clear the plan was to somehow merge the two worlds, making both canon, but Mia and the other characters of 2013's Evil Dead have yet to reappear in the franchise.
Ash Returns For the 'Ash vs. Evil Dead' TV Series
2013's Evil Dead received a generally positive critical response and grossed $80 million more than its production budget; however, some fans missed the campy fun of the originals. Those fans soon rejoiced when Bruce Campbell returned as Ash Williams in the Starz streaming series Ash Vs. Evil Dead. The show follows a now middle-aged Ash who still works at S-Mart when the evil dead is unleashed yet again. He teams up with a young cast, consisting of Ray Santiago's Pablo and Dana DeLorenzo's Kelly, as he takes on the role of the franchise's "legacy character" and experienced-yet-reluctant guide.
The pilot was directed by none other than Sam Raimi, establishing a visual style to the show consistent with the original movies. It ran for three seasons between 2015 and 2018 but was canceled due to underwhelming ratings. This prompted Bruce Campbell to hang up his chainsaw and boomstick, retiring from embodying the character in live-action. He is, however, attached to the announced animated revival of the show, happy to continue providing a voice for Ash Williams.
'Evil Dead Rise' Is Both Connected and Disconnected
Now, 10 years after Evil Dead, we return to the style and tone of the reboot with Evil Dead Rise. This is the first installation not to include Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams according to the franchise; however, Campbell participated in a Q&A after the film's premiere at SXSW where he told a heckler to "get the f*ck outta here!" Campbell's involvement with Evil Dead Rise is in the role of Executive Producer along with Sam Raimi, with Robert Tapert producing.
Evil Dead Rise is directed by Lee Cronin and is said to follow a wholly original story albeit linked to the others. Cronin shared in an interview with Empire, "in one of the early meetings I had with Sam Raimi, I said, 'You know the way in Army Of Darkness, there's three [Necronomicons]? You had one, Fede had one, I'm going to take the other one.'" As a result, Evil Dead Rise is expected to be free enough from the source material to welcome new viewers, yet reward those up-to-date on the franchise as a whole.
Evil Dead Rise comes to theaters on April 21.