Ranking The Franchise: Evil Dead

My last two franchise rankings weren’t exactly pleasant ones.

Both the Alien franchise and the Scream series were full of movies that were, frankly, undesirable. They were franchises where the movies really did not deserve to continue after the first entry or two, and I was left judging movies to which I gave failing grades against each other. And then having to explain why I thought one bad movie was incrementally better than another.

What I needed was something different. Surely there was a franchise out there that has not had a bad movie yet! And also one who just released a new cinematic offering to weigh against its comrades!

Enter: The Evil Dead!

The worst of the six Evil Dead entries so far that have been released scores a 3.0 out of a 5 star scale for me. That’s great!

And with Evil Dead Burn having just released, it’s time to jump in and take a look at this batch of flicks and see how they compare…

6. Evil Dead (2013)

I’ll never get around to it, but I probably owe this Evil Dead a rewatch (even though I have seen it at least twice).

After having been such a fan of this franchise, I was very excited to see a new entry coming out in 2013. So I went, and I watched it, and I was lightly disappointed. Why wasn’t this FUNNY?

Evil Dead 2013 lacks the heart of the entries that came before it, I found. Is it a good horror movie? Indubitably. Frankly, it’s even VERY good at what it’s trying to achieve. But what it’s trying to achieve is not what I wanted from the franchise when it was making its comeback.

So there’s a part of me that always holds that against Evil Dead 2013, even as I have accepted what the new films are trying to accomplish. This may not be the worst of the franchise–even a very good series like this one–but it’s the one that most broke my heart when I saw it for the first time.

So yeah, I owe it to this movie to watch it again someday. But until then… from hell’s heart, I stab at thee, you unfunny Evil Dead movie!

5. Evil Dead Burn

Evil Dead Burn feels like the bog standard average Evil Dead movie for the new millennium. It’s violent, it’s brutal, it’s bloody, and it’s full of terrifying deadites. But I do worry that within a few months, I’ll have forgotten most of what happened in it.

Which is not to say it is even remotely bad–I gave it a 3.5 out of 5!–but it might be to say that it didn’t have any particular stand out moments. The whole was just greater than the sum of its parts. What was great about it in particular? I don’t know. But I sure enjoyed watching it!

That isn’t fair entirely about there not being anything I can point to as a plus. Souhelia Yacoub was an undeniable Up for this entry for me. The franchise has done excellent work top-to-bottom on delivering powerful protagonists, and she was an excellent addition to those annals. Her transition from victim to heroine was a potent one, and I dug her work.

Ultimately, the worst thing going for Burn is just how good its direct predecessor was. But we’ll get there in a minute.

4. The Evil Dead (1981)

I know movies are typically not filmed sequentially. I am learned enough to realize that fact. And yet, there’s something about The Evil Dead that, as I watch it, it feels like I am watching Sam Raimi grow as a talent before my eyes.

Virtually each scene is better looking and more professional than the one that preceded it. This is a movie that, in every way, gets better and better as it goes on. It gets scarier. It gets kookier. It gets crazier. And it’s ultimately quite a prize.

3. Evil Dead Rise

For my money, if we are discounting the Ash Vs The Evil Dead television show (and we are), Evil Dead Rise is easily the best of the new generation of Evil Dead film properties.

Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie is the greatest of the Evil Dead antagonists. Her role as the mommy Deadite was haunting and horrifying. Her mere existence, even when locked out of the apartment where our heroes are holed it, casts a pall over the movie, and you are just waiting for her next terrible act.

Couple Sutherland’s work with a great supporting cast–which actually included children this time, and they do excellent jobs–and a solid heroine in Ellie’s sister, and you’re cooking with gas. Everyone comes hard to play in this one.

There’s also a wonderfully gory and bloodthirsty finale here that sees a combined deadite family go up against the sheer power of a wood chipper.

Oh, and the title card? Magnificent!

2. Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn

This is where everything changed.

While The Evil Dead was a mostly serious movie that had a bit of goofiness (that some people chalk up as not-entirely-intentional), Evil Dead 2 ratchets up the fun severely by just throwing everything it can at its protagonist, Ash. Sure, there is HORROR here, but after a while, the horror is more campy than anything else.

Or maybe it’s just the way Bruce Campbell reacts to everything. Maybe he can’t help but find the joy in filming this flick. And his dedication to seeing it all through is infectious. You laugh at Evil Dead 2 because you can’t help yourself. Because the “hero” is such a buffoon that you have no choice.

Evil Dead 2 is one of the films that perfected the Horror-Comedy balance. If you want to be assailed by horror but smiling about it, you could certainly do worse than to look here first.

1. Army Of Darkness

Army of Darkness, meanwhile, says SCREW the Horror-Comedy balance. This outing is a straight comedy about horrific elements. And there’s something to be said for the way this series shifted so hard from its first film to its third.

Look: I’ve seen Army of Darkness… probably a dozen times. And it’s the only entry on this list I’ll GUARANTEE I will watch again in my life. It never gets old, it never gets boring, and it never stops being funny.

Eminently quotable, basically from beginning to end, this is the perfect marriage of script and an actor who revels in delivering it. Bruce Campbell is giving a top five comedic performance OF ALL TIME for my money here. He established himself as a cult actor for the ages with Army of Darkness.

Hail to the king, baby.

*******

We’ve got two years until we see another outing for this franchise, 2028’s Evil Dead Wrath. What is your anticipation level for that movie? Let me know in the comments!

And what is YOUR franchise ranking here? Give me that, too!

Until next time… take care!