The recent release of the Evil Dead game and the upcoming Evil Dead Rise sequel have everyone talking about the franchise. While horror franchises have heroes like Tommy Jarvis and Laurie Strode, Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead series took things to another level by creating a horror protagonist far more famous than the Deadites he fights: Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams.
A character that spouts quips as often as he's covered in blood and guts, Williams is one of the best characters horror cinema has to offer, but not every film of his, nor the remake, is created equal, and Rotten Tomatoes has them all rated.
Evil Dead (2013) — 63%
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Fede Álvarez's Evil Dead may be the least critically-admired entry in the franchise, but it still holds a "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The reimagining benefits from two major factors: the revised purpose of the cabin, and Jane Levy's commanding lead performance as Mia Allen, one of the Evil Dead franchise's most likable characters.
Allen's friends have brought her out to the isolated cabin in order for her to detox, and this is just as rational a reasoning as the original film's partying kids. But the purpose of the characters' isolation also raises the already-upped stakes and goes hand in hand with making Allen a protagonist arguably more objectively interesting than Ash.
Army Of Darkness (1992) — 73%
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Ash Williams may have tied on his iconic horror movie weapon—his arm chainsaw—in Evil Dead II, but he became a horror-action legend in Raimi's trilogy-capper: Army of Darkness.
Regardless, the third installment is seen as the weakest of the trilogy, even if it does have its devout fans. Army of Darkness is suitably wacky, but it goes for laughs too often and goes for genuine scares very rarely, creating an uncomfortably one-sided balance that doesn't work as well as the horror-driven The Evil Dead or the perfectly-balanced Evil Dead II. The setting change to Medievil times is interesting and helps to expand the trilogy's scope, but it's also incredibly jarring in a series that had already embraced the thin line between real and Deadite illusion.
Evil Dead II (1987) — 95%
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Evil Dead II wears several hats and pulls them all off. On the one hand, it's the definitive example of a live-action, Looney Tunes-type screwball comedy. On the other, it doesn't go for visceral scares quite as intently as the original film.
Regardless, Evil Dead II goes for gross-out value and succeeds as well as the original film, but the sequel ups the ante to the nth degree, yet the impressive practical effects never cross the line over into alienating territory for those who are not horror aficionados. Evil Dead II is a classic, and every bit as powerful as the original film, even if it's tackling the same narrative just with a tongue in its cheek.
The Evil Dead (1981) — 95%
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Arguably the most classic tourist on a vacation horror movie, The Evil Dead remains one of the most impressive films ever made if only for how young the cast and crew were. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness director Sam Raimi was only 21 when he shot the film, and while it does feel like a particularly excellent student project, that air works entirely in its favor.
There's never a dull moment in The Evil Dead, as the gruesome true nature of the film shows its head early on, and never lets up once Ash's sister, Cheryl, is taken over. And, while critics were never against Raimi's film the way they were Friday the 13th, the film's sterling reputation has only shone brighter over time. Along with making the most of its minuscule budget, Raimi and company crafted a film with impressive pacing, impressively nasty imagery, and the foundation of a horror cinema hero.
Ash Vs. Evil Dead (2015-2018) — 99%
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Bruce Campbell's final turn as Ash, with the exception of the video game, is also the most well-reviewed chapter on Rotten Tomatoes. The Starz series ran for three seasons, with each one proving just as entertaining and fan-satisfying as the one that preceded it, if not more so.
Campbell runs away with the plentiful screentime, and the series manages to be both the most in-depth exploration of Ash thus far as well as a fitting send-off. The series is also blessed with an outstanding lead cast, as Kelly Maxwell (Dana DeLorenzo), Pablo Simone (Ray Santiago), and Ruby (Lucy Lawless) all share a comparable amount of screentime with Ash and never fail to feel anything less than wholly organic to the franchise and its earlier films.