Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead saga is something of an institution in the world of horror movies with the first film in the influential franchise having come out in 1981. In fact, it’s cited as the film that influenced the likes of Edgar Wright and Shaun of the Dead, as well as The Cabin in the Woods.
With subsequent reboots and standalones since its first outing in the early 80s, Sam Raimi is back producing another Evil Dead film with Evil Dead Burn arriving at Cineworld on 9th July.
A sequel to the 2013 reboot and follow-up in 2023, Evil Dead Rise, read our guide on the story so far and where Evil Dead Burn places itself in the horror film’s long standing lore.
The story so far in the Evil Dead Saga
The Evil Dead (1981)
- The first Evil Dead movie introduces franchise lynchpin Bruce Campbell as the seemingly invincible Ash Williams.
- In the movie, Ash accompanies his fellow Michigan State University friends to a remote cabin in rural Tennesse.
- In the basement of the cabin, Ash and his friends uncover the cursed, flesh-bound book called the Necromonicon (aka the Book of the Dead).
- Upon reading the incantations in the book, Ash and co unleash an evil curse that progressively turns them into flesh-eating ghouls known as 'deadites'.
- Come sunrise, Ash is the only survivor, having been compelled to dismember his pals, his girlfriend Linda and his sister Cheryl.
Evil Dead II (1987)
- While the original The Evil Dead was being pulled left and right by the UK censors for home video approval, Raimi and Campbell alighted on an idea for a sequel.
- Raimi's publicist compelled him to make an Evil Dead sequel following the failure of Raimi's 1985 comedy Crimewave, on which Raimi collaborated with the Coen brothers.
- Evil Dead II is somewhat unusual in that it utilises the location of the first movie albeit with a stripped-down cast and a slightly different narrative focus.
- Despite bringing back Bruce Campbell's Ash, all of the previous movie's characters are absent save Ash's girlfriend Linda, who is now played by new actress Denise Bixler.
- This was due to budgetary concerns (initial script drafts had all of the original characters returning).
- There are other narrative discrepancies as well, including the surviving copy of the Necromonicon, which was destroyed at the end of The Evil Dead.
Army of Darkness (1992)
- The third and final movie in the OG Evil Dead trilogy was backed by Universal Studios who had partnered with Raimi on his 1990 comic book movie Darkman.
- Army of Darkness allowed Raimi to realise his initial plan for Evil Dead II: send Ash Williams back to the Middle Ages.
- Many narrative elements remain including the dreaded Necromonicon, which in this instance has the power to transport Ash back to his original timeline.
Evil Dead (2013)
- The Evil Dead remake was produced by Sam Raimi via his Ghost House Pictures label and directed by Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Álvarez.
- Billed as a "re-imagining" of the original movie, it ditches much of the humour and amps up the sadistic gore and terror.
- Álvarez described the movie as a continuation of the events of the first Evil Dead film.
- It re-stages the essential concept of The Evil Dead, presenting a boyfriend and girlfriend who arrive at a remote cabin where they meet their siblings and friends.
- They discover that the cellar of the cabin houses the possessed book the Necromonicon and that reading from it invites demonic possession.
- Many character traits are updated with the character of Mia (Jane Levy) being presented as a recovering heroin addict.
- Bruce Campbell appears uncredited in the post-credits scene as Ash Williams.
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
- Evil Dead Rise is a sequel to the 2013 Evil Dead remake and therefore technically not canon with the original movies.
- It's directed by Lee Cronin who helmed the well-regarded Irish supernatural horror The Hole in the Ground (2019).
- The movie relocates events to a Los Angeles department where the discovery of the Necronomicon causes people to transform into flesh-eating 'deadites'.
- Centrally, the movie focuses on two adult sisters, Beth (Lily Sullivan) and Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), whose families are beset by the terror that unfolds.
- The film is produced by longstanding Evil Dead producer Robert Tapert.
- Bruce Campbell appears in a cameo role as the voice of an unnamed priest on a record.
Topline facts you need to know about Evil Dead Burn before entering the horror universe
- The Book of the Dead, otherwise known as the Necronomicon is the source from which the evil force come from and the cause of all the chaos that ensues.
- Deadites are the zombie-like demonic entities that possess and torment the living.
- Evil Dead’s genre has shifted over the course of the franchise from pure horror to horror-comedy – but now it’s no-holds-back horror, so be prepared to be scared.
- A single timeline no longer connects the franchise. Instead, it revolves around the Necronomicon as the thread that connects the Evil Dead universe.
- So… new characters and locations can and are introduced, but the fundamentals of the evil, cursed world remain the same.
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