How to Watch the Evil Dead Movies in Order

Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981) is an utterly terrifying, extra-gory supernatural horror film about five people who awaken evil spirits by reading from the Necronomicon (The Book of the Dead). The film launched the career of actor Bruce Campbell and birthed a rabid cult following. The franchise now encompasses four other films, a TV series (Ash vs. Evil Dead), a musical, video games, comic books, and merchandise.

Six years later, in 1987, Raimi essentially remade The Evil Dead with a bigger budget. Evil Dead II (a.k.a. Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn) again scared the bejesus out of audiences but also made them laugh. ED2 also landed Campbell’s character Ash Williams in medieval times, setting up the 1992 film Army of Darkness, which made us laugh more than tremble.

In 2013, Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Álvarez (Don’t Breathe) rebooted/reimagined The Evil Dead with Evil Dead (2013), which some fans love and others hate. The film is ultimately best known for using 70,000 gallons of fake blood.

Now, 44 years after shooting the original film, comes another reboot, Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise. With an entirely new cast and story, Evil Dead Rise uses what worked in the original The Evil Dead—fast action, clever camera work, a sense of isolation, ace sound design, buckets of gore—to crowd-pleasingly freaky effect. The film also ratchets up the terror by adding character depth and mostly eschewing the series’ trademark black comedy.

• The Evil Dead (1981)
• Evil Dead 2 (1987)
• Army of Darkness (1992)

• Evil Dead (2013)
• Hail to the Deadites (2020 documentary)
• Evil Dead Rise (2023)