getting groovy in sam raimi’s evil dead trilogy

It is likely that when you think of horror, you think of a hockey mask, a man with knives for fingers, or perhaps a killer doll. This was all rooted in the mass-marketed era of horror in the 1980s. This time was littered with copy-and-paste sequels of horror’s greatest villains. The Friday the 13th franchise spawned eight movies within ten years, combatting the idea of quality over quantity. Despite its rushed productions, it spawned the genre’s most memorable antagonists: Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Chucky, etc. Now famous director Sam Raimi decided to take a different approach. The first The Evil Dead emerged in 1981 as a low-budget supernatural horror film with unique and bloody practical effects. It had immense success that Raimi utilized to reinvent the film in its 1987 sequel/remake, Evil Dead 2. The sequel reached even greater stardom as one of the few arguably better sequels than the original. Gaining a fanbase, Raimi finished the trilogy with Army of Darkness, a 1992 sequel that continued right where the second film left off.

Original Evil Dead (1981) poster

These three films are remarkable because although they follow the same protagonist facing the same type of evil, each film adds another horror subgenre. Evil Dead 2 is a horror comedy that focuses on giving the goriest moments a punchline. It’s witty one-liners and comical antagonists evoke humor more often than fear. Army of Darkness dives deep into fantasy, emanating a Monty Python-like world with raunchy comedy. The same villains remain but have lost their terrifying design from the original film. Instead, they are comical in nature and often evoke cartoon-like mannerisms. All three films in Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy are thought-out scripts that shy away from the 80’s idea of taking great ideas from prior films and exploiting them for quick cash. Instead, Raimi dedicates his time and resources to creating a unique universe where each film can individually stand as its own interpretation of the original concept and provides different flavors of the genre so that everyone can enjoy it. The ever-changing genre of Evil Dead showed that horror has no limitations, and Raimi encapsulates the idea that fear can follow you anywhere you go.

Evil Dead (1981) still

Despite its low budget, Sam Raimi started the infamous trilogy with an immediate hit that earned over 29 million dollars at the box office worldwide. The Evil Dead brought new gore and villains to the horror mainstage. It captivated genre fans by using stop-motion effects to decompose bodies. On top of that, Raimi lingered on the goriest moments and ensured that those watching saw every detail of the havoc he wreaked on the screen. Whether it was a pencil getting stabbed through an ankle or a Deadite disintegrating, The Evil Dead promises a bloody time from start to finish. critics Carl and Diana Royer remind us that, “One of the key elements to the Evil Dead trilogy is the subjective treatment of space and perspective, representing interior states of being through cinematic terms” (Royer 42). The main location of the films, Ash’s cabin, appears small and unimpressive from the exterior, but when the characters are inside it feels much larger. This concept carries through to the second film as well, and Rami’s framing of such key components made the story more intriguing. Raimi’s trilogy, as well as the recent TV series Ash Vs. The Evil Dead, features a chainsaw-wielding protagonist Ash Williams (always portrayed by Bruce Campbell), and his daunting wooden cabin. Ash starts in the first film but is visibly quieter than he is in the later adaptations. The first film introduces the lore behind the villains – who appear as zombie-like creatures called Deadites. These Deadites are summoned after Ash and his friends unknowingly play a recording of someone reading pages from the Necronomicon (aka The Book of the Dead). The readings in this book slowly transform Ash’s friends into Deadites one by one, resulting in him having to face off against those he cares about most. For a reason currently unknown to the audience, Ash is never affected by the book and survives the onslaught of ravaging creatures.

Evil Dead 2 (1987) still

When Evil Dead 2 hit the big screens, people flocked to see how Raimi could top the grisly first film. It was a shock when everyone realized that Raimi’s sequel was both a remake of the first film and a sequel all in one. It reintroduced Ash and the Necronomicon from the very beginning, replacing his group of friends with one woman (Ash’s girlfriend). The movie’s first ten minutes is a shortened version of the first film, showing the refinding of the Necronomicon and the transformation of Ash’s girlfriend into a Deadite. He ultimately ‘kills’ her, and exits the cabin in the same fashion he did in the conclusion of The Evil Dead. From there, the second film instantly becomes a comedy as Ash gets blasted away into the air by the unseen force of evil. The rest of the film maintains the unique effects of the first, even bringing back stop motion for the Deadites. However, it leans heavily into the comedy subgenre of horror. One of the more iconic moments in the film is when Ash’s hand is bitten by a Deadite, causing it to become infected. His own hand begins to attack him (punching him, smashing plates onto his head, and even attempting to stab him). Campbell’s performance as Ash becomes iconic in the moment when he rediscovers the chainsaw and uses it to cut off his hand. This pivotal moment of the story became a symbolic image of the film. It managed to combine comedy with a very disturbing scenario. Ash Williams became a pop culture icon due to his seemingly effortless combo of comedy and grit within that scene and many others. Again, the protagonist proves he can survive whatever is thrown at him, but he still makes sure he has his chainsaw or shotgun handy. This second film introduces the idea that Ash has some sort of protection against becoming a Deadite. He is briefly ‘infected’ for short periods of time, but it never entirely takes over his body. Additionally, Ash gains an unusually great skill in killing his assailants. It seems as though he gains the upper hand on them until the ‘evil’ sucks him into a portal transporting him to an unknown land.

Army of Darkness (1992) still

Transitioning to the third film, Army of Darkness is a horror comedy like Evil Dead 2 but also a fantasy film. In the aftermath of the second movie’s conclusion, it is revealed that Ash was transported back in time to the Dark Ages. This movie contains all of the stereotypical components that fantasy films in the ’80s had: magic, quests, a damsel in distress, a fat king, and much more. Despite the new territory, Ash remained facing the same evil with the same chainsaw he had before. Army of Darkness is far removed from the first film, so much so that if one were to watch The Evil Dead and then Army of Darkness, it would likely feel like two separate films with little to do with one another. This film features Ash at his funniest, as this film relies heavily on witty one-liners which manage to make the audience laugh despite their very unserious nature. One of his infamous lines is as follows, “Good? Bad? I’m the guy with the gun.” The movie does not take itself seriously but still became a fan favorite for those who adore Campbell’s character within the movies. Army of Darkness lets Campbell shine, focusing most of the film on him being an ‘everyday man’ and a remarkable hero. Returning to “The Spectacle of Isolation in Horror Horror Films”, they describe the changing atmospheres as follows, “Raimi’s narrative disjunctions from film to film provide a conditional revision of what came before, further dislocating ordinary reality in a playful, ad hoc manner” (Royer 46). Army of Darkness is an opposite in contrast to Rami’s original The Evil Dead, but his execution of transporting the same concepts into an alternate genre go over smoothly for the viewers, allowing them to immerse themselves into a new part of the Evil Dead universe.

Ash williams as a new character in the popular horror video game, dead by daylight

Numerous Evil Dead fans are interviewed in a 2020 fan documentary titled Hail to the Deadites. It was almost an even split between which film was the overall favorite. Sam Raimi’s trilogy created three films that were equally beloved by horror fans. The same can not be said for major franchises such as Halloween or Friday the 13th, where many of those films often miss the mark. In just three movies that took over a decade to make, it left the same mark on horror fans that overutilized franchises at the time did. Raimi proved that the horror genre is not bound by any rules that constrict it to fit into a specific mold. It can evolve over time, and it is essential that the necessary time and effort is placed into these movies so that they can be remembered and studied for years to follow after their release. Genre is bendable, and often, the ideas that are slightly out of the ordinary leave such lasting impressions on viewers.

Works cited: Royer, Carl, et al. The Spectacle of Isolation in Horror Films: Dark Parades, Taylor & Francis Group, 2005.