This article includes descriptions of fictional sexual assault.

Although all the The Evil Dead movies have changed a lot over the years, but there are a few things that every entry in the horror franchise has in common. All the Evil Dead movies are almost comically gory, although the tone of the series differs from one installment to another. All of them have roles for Bruce Campbell’s iconic antihero Ash, whether this is a brief voice-only cameo or a lead part.

Finally, although the body counts of the Evil Dead movies differ significantly, all of them focus on demonic monsters possessing and killing human victims. ittedly, 1992’s Army of Darkness is a little less dark than its predecessors, while 2013’s Evil Dead reboot is uniquely mean-spirited and grim in this regard. However, the basic setup of the series doesn't change from one installment to another. The settings and characters might be different but, once the Necronomicon comes out and its fateful incantations are read aloud, bloody mayhem becomes a reliable guarantee for viewers of the famous franchise.

10 Evil Dead Rise Isn't As Scary As Evil Dead 2013

Director Lee Cronin's Reboot Opted For Humor Over Horror

2023’s Evil Dead Rise was an acclaimed new addition to the franchise as The Hole In The Ground director Lee Cronin set the Deadites loose in an apartment building. A grueling, gruesome endurance test, Evil Dead Rise features some inventively nasty gore and doesn’t spare even its teenage characters from some brutal fates. That said, despite how much fake blood Evil Dead Rise used during its production, the reboot isn’t as outright scary as its immediate predecessor. Cronin blends the gleefully cartoony gore of the original movies with the visceral intensity of director Fede Alvarez’s 2013 reboot, but leans toward the former.

9 Evil Dead II’s Biggest Changes Saved The Series

Evil Dead’s Sequel Completely Flipped The Original Movie’s Style

Evil Dead Rise might not have matched Alvarez’s reboot in of sheer fear factor but, as 1987’s Evil Dead II proves, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Evil Dead II changed the Evil Dead franchise forever by adding overt comedy to the mix, and the franchise benefited massively from this tonal alternation. Campbell’s energetic, campy performance in the original movie was always perfectly suited to a more comedic take on the material, and Evil Dead II’s most memorable moments all spring from this cartoonier, more outlandish style. This daring switch risked the franchise’s reputation, but it paid off.

When the Evil Dead movies are now referenced, viewers are as likely to the macabre bloody silliness of Evil Dead II’s possessed hand as they are to reference the original movie’s much darker deaths. Evil Dead’s Ash Williams was always a likable leading man, but Campbell didn’t capture the character’s unique blend of ingenuity and over-the-top emoting until this bigger, bolder second installment. Meanwhile, director Sam Raimi ensures there are still some genuinely creepy moments, like Linda’s unsettling dance, amid all the inventive, absurd zaniness. In the process, he made an all-time great horror comedy.

8 Evil Dead 2013 Isn’t As Funny As Sam Raimi’s Original Movie

Director Fede Alvarez’s Movie Played Down A Vital Franchise Ingredient

While Evil Dead Rise isn’t as frightening as 2013's reboot, this doesn’t necessarily mean the 2013 outing is flawless. As outlined above, humor is a pivotal part of what makes the Evil Dead franchise so successful, and Alvarez’s movie is utterly devoid of comic relief. This does mean that Evil Dead 2013 is the most intense horror movie in the series, but it is hard not to feel like 2013’s Evil Dead reboot is missing the vital comedy that makes the Evil Dead movies so memorable. Like Alvarez's later Alien: Romulus, only the closing scene features any levity.

7 Army of Darkness Doesn’t Fit In The Evil Dead Universe

The Fantasy Adventure Is Way Sillier Than Its Predecessors

As if to prove just how hard it is to get the franchise’s tonal balance right, 1992’s Army of Darkness is too light-hearted and goofy to work as an Evil Dead movie. As another zany horror comedy from Raimi and Campbell, it is hard to deny that the Ray Harryhausen-inspired adventures of Army of Darkness are a delightful triumph. However, the sequel is so devoid of any substantial scares that it becomes more of a fantasy adventure than a horror. Army of Darkness feels more like a Monty Python sketch than 1981’s original The Evil Dead thanks to its fun, playful tone..

6 The Evil Dead Series Peaked With Evil Dead II

Evil Dead II Brings The Best Elements Of The Franchise Together

The issues faced by Evil Dead Rise, Evil Dead’s 2013 remake, and Army of Darkness prove two things. One, Evil Dead’s spinoff will have a hard time winning over viewers thanks to the franchise’s slippery tone. Two, Evil Dead II is the best Evil Dead movie precisely because the sequel manages to balance comedy and horror, something that proved surprisingly challenging in the subsequent franchise outings. Evil Dead Rise’s human characters are likable enough for their grisly demises to feel tragic, whereas the one-dimensional characters of Evil Dead II are the sort of victims whose deaths viewers can laugh at.

Evil Dead II features enough scares and creepy moments to work as a horror while also being filled with hilarious comedy.

Similarly, the grim, hopeless atmosphere of Evil Dead 2013 makes it a rough re-watch, while Army of Darkness feels too lightweight to qualify as a horror movie at all. In contrast, Evil Dead II features enough scares and creepy moments to work as a horror while also being stuffed with hilarious comedy. Some scenes, like the moment where the entire cabin begins to laugh along with a delusional Ash, balance comedy and horror within the same scene. Meanwhile, the gory horror is gruesome enough to be wince-inducing, but not so nasty that it is impossible for viewers to disengage and laugh.

5 Evil Dead Rise’s Big Change Was Way Overdue

The Franchise Badly Needed A New Location

Rewatching the entire Evil Dead series, it becomes abundantly clear that the location change of Evil Dead Rise was wildly overdue. As if to intentionally mess with viewers, Cronin’s movie even opened at an idyllic cabin nestled in the woods. However, the reboot soon jumped to an urban apartment building and remained there for the rest of its runtime. This was a great decision since the setting ensures Evil Dead Rise feels like a fresh new take on the familiar setup, and the inventive set-pieces that follow leave viewers wondering how the series didn't take this path far sooner.

4 Evil Dead’s Most Infamous Scene Is Tough To Re-Watch

The Original Movie’s Infamous Tree Sequence Feels Uniquely Tasteless

While 1981’s The Evil Dead has aged shockingly well for a low-budget indie movie made on a shoestring budget decades ago, there is one regrettable moment that is hard to revisit. While Cheryl investigates the woods, she is attacked and sexually assaulted by sentient demonic tree branches. This sounds too silly to be offensive, but the scene is surprisingly tasteless upon a re-watch. Like The Hills Have Eyes and Last House on the Left, The Evil Dead was released at a time when scenes of sexual assault were still fairly common in mainstream horror movies.

However, what makes this scene so upsetting is that it doesn’t align with the modus operandi of the Deadites throughout the rest of the movie. Unlike the Was Craven movies mentioned above, The Evil Dead doesn’t root this odious act in the narrative. As such, The Evil Dead’s infamous tree sequence feels like cheap shock value, as the rest of the movie never explores its psychological impact or sees the Deadites weaponize this sort of assault again. Moreover, the over-the-top, gore-forward style of the movie makes the scene feel all the more out of place and tacky amid much sillier violence.

3 Evil Dead’s Continuing Success Proves Gore Has A Place In Horror

The Franchise’s Unabashed Grisliness Highlights Gore’s Effectiveness

On the topic of graphic screen violence, the Evil Dead movies prove that gore isn’t always bad in horror movies. There is a strain of criticism that argues gore is only for horror movies that can’t achieve suspense without it, viewing graphic violence as a sort of panacea to the shortcomings of un-scary, ineffective horror movies. However, the inventive gore gags of the Evil Dead franchise prove just how much gore can be a helpful tool in a skilled director’s toolkit. The Evil Dead movies are artful precisely because of their creative gore, and wouldn’t work without it.

2 Evil Dead’s Original Hero Doesn’t Fit In Its New Movies

Bruce Campbell’s Ash Is Too Campy For Evil Dead 2013 and Evil Dead Rises

Although Bruce Campbell’s Ash might be one of the most iconic horror franchise leading men in the genre’s history, that doesn’t mean that horror movies haven't changed since he first wielded a chainsaw. In the ‘80s, Ash was an ideal horror protagonist. Hapless but heroic, Campbell’s Ash was a wide-eyed everyman with a streak of self-aware humor. He could have shone in anything from a slasher sequel to a monster movie but, as the ‘90s and ‘00s made horror heroes more brooding and self-serious, Ash went out of fashion. Thus, his return would have made 2023 and 2013’s reboots feel far too comedic.

1 Evil Dead’s Entire Premise Requires Really Dumb Characters

It Is So Easy To Not Read Aloud From A Cursed Book

Speaking of Ash’s goofy all-American charm, there is one element of the Evil Dead movies that the series has always struggled to justify since its inception. The premise of the Evil Dead movies requires its characters to act incredibly stupidly, and every movie struggles to justify why anyone would read aloud from a clearly cursed book that is covered in warnings about avoiding its contents. Since the series is consistently fun, it is easy to ignore this absurdity. However, it remains the silliest element of the series, as the characters in every new Evil Dead movie decide to risk their lives for the sake of idle curiosity.