Before the release of Evil Dead Burn, from Sam Raimi’s low-budget horror classic to the blood-soaked modern reboots, here’s how every Evil Dead film and the TV series stack up.
The Evil Dead
Director: Sam Raimi
Year: 1981
The first in the franchise and very much a crash course in making a lean, mean horror film.
At under two hours, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend, sister and friends find the Naturom Demonto, the Sumerian Book of the Dead within the first 20 minutes and things immediately go very bad for the group in an isolated cabin.
The only negative of the film is that there is no backstory for Ash, his girlfriend or his friends.
Rating: 3 out of 5 human-skin covered books
Evil Dead II
Director: Sam Raimi
Year: 1987
A reboot of the original, the sequel omits Ash’s friends and instead reframes the story as only him and his girlfriend, Linda being attacked by demons in the first film, before the story progresses towards a new group coming to the cabin.
Unlike the dead serious first film, Raimi incorporates black slapstick comedy while amping up the gore and violence.
Rating: 4 out of 5 possessed hands
Army of Darkness
Director: Sam Raimi
Year: 1992
Teased in a page of the Book of the Dead in Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness transports Ash, his chainsaw and shotgun from the present to the dark ages to fight demons and figure out how to travel back to his time.
Out of Raimi’s original films, Army of Darkness is the most out there, as it completely drops any inkling of horror in favour of comedy and medieval swashbuckling entertainment.
Rating: 3 out of 5 catapults
Evil Dead
Director: Fede Alvarez
Year: 2013
A reboot of sorts, a different group of friends arrive at a cabin to help lead character Mia Allen (Jane Levy) fight off her heroin addiction.
The group intervention fails once they discover the Naturom Demonto in the basement.
Abandoning Raimi’s brand of slapstick, weird horror of the previous three entries, Alvarez’s film is ultra serious and the bloodiest entry in the franchise so far, with reportedly 265,000 litres of fake blood used in the film’s climax.
Rating: 4 out of 5 electrical knives
Ash vs Evil Dead
Showrunners: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi and Tom Spezialy
Year: 2015
Set in the “original universe”, the series picks up 30 years after Army of Darkness, with Ash – now an irresponsible adult with PTSD – accidentally releasing the demons with the Book of the Dead after failing to impress a date.
It is a return to form for fans that loved the more slapstick Raimi films.
Rating: 4 out of 5 toilet seats
Evil Dead Rise
Director: Lee Cronin
Year: 2023
Rather than recycle the cabin setting a third time, Cronin moves the main location the Naturom Demonto is unleashed to a high-rise apartment in Los Angeles.
The book’s Deadite demons are then set loose on the residents, lead character Beth (Lily Sullivan) and her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sunderland), along with the latter’s children.
In usual Evil Dead fashion, Rise is typically gory and violent, with the new setting providing some fresh new kills.
Rating: 3 out of 5 cheese graters
