I have a bookcase that is just horror movies. Now this doesn’t include foreign movies, those have a special shelf on a different bookcase. Or two. I haven’t counted lately, but the solo bookcase of horror movies is probably about 300+ movies. As I have been doing this editorial series, I have been grabbing from this shelf. 300+ movies, that’s plenty of source material. Right?

Well it seems the letter E is a bit of a blank spot in my collection. I literally have Evil Dead (Necronomicon edition), Evil Dead bluray, Evil Dead 2 Tin, Evil Dead (reboot), Evil Dead Rise, and something called Ed Gein (wonder what that one is about, and is Bruce Campbell in it?) But that’s it. E isn’t so much a letter here as it is a spot for Evil Dead to live (Army of Darkness isn’t allowed to mingle with them because there’s no evil inherent in that movie.)

I may have spoiled the intent of this post with my title.

Does anyone really not know about the Evil Dead series? DirtySciFiBuddha, surely you have seen it. If not the original, then the reboot (holy cow, 10 plus years ago!)

The original starts with a group of friends going away to a small cabin in the woods. A cabin that surely is from Gallifrey, because it is much bigger on the inside than the outside. It even has a full basement. Several rooms down there, including a room with some artifacts. The kind of things you shouldn’t mess with, because it may summon unspeakable evil into the world. Well, it’s an incantation that summons them, so not really unspeakable, by definition it was exactly spokable. (I’m a writer, I’m allowed to make up words.)

Words were said. Spirits were summoned. People were possessed. Someone was stabbed with a pencil. Someone died. Blood and gore was dumped on Bruce Campbell (Ash.) Someone got locked in the basement. More gunk dumped on Ash. More people die. Ash lives. We find out that Fahrenheit 451 works for evil demonic spellbooks bound in human flesh.

And then there was a sequel. Or a remake. Somewhere between the two, because Ash would be an idiot to go back to the cabin. Wait, that can’t be ruled out. But this time, Ash cuts off his own hand and replaces it with a chainsaw. I mean, who wouldn’t do that if the option was there? Someone died. More gunk on Ash. Woodshed (if you don’t know, you should. Shame on you. Shame on me too, because I keep thinking it was in the first movie.) Ash lives. But wait. He is also sucked into a portal taking him to medieval times.

And then there was the threequel that isn’t part of the series even though it picks up the story with Ash in the past. And the story focuses on humor quite a bit more. People die (but they aren’t Ash’s friends, so we don’t care as much.) Blood and gore get dumped on Ash’s face again. Often. Skeletons! Yay. Quite a nice Harryhausen-esque aspect to this movie, and I love it.

And then Peter Parker is bit by a radioactive spider. Wait. Sam Raimi deviated from the franchise for some mainstream stuff for a bit there. And Bruce Campbell was allowed to be in some movies without blood and gore splashed on his face.

It’s a remake. Or a reboot. The story is pretty close to the original (or number two, take your pick.) Not a ton to say about that aspect. Good movie though. And in the end credits we have a special appearance by Bruce… err, Ash. So wait. It isn’t a reboot or a remake then since an older Ash is shown in continuity. Maybe. Hmmm….

But then Bruce is back baby!!

Starz did 3 seasons of a series called Ash vs Evil Dead. Leaning a bit more into the camp and comedy like Army of Darkness did. A fun series, and I will always lean heavily into the enjoyment a series offers. Getting 10 hour long episodes (hey, it’s an American series, for us 40 plus minutes is an hour show. Commercials ya know. Yeah, yeah, it was a cable show without commercials. Doesn’t mean we can’t still call it an hour. If you wanna debate that, let’s start with inches vs metric!) is the sort of thing that makes my heart sing. For three seasons! That’s 30 episodes. At this point we could almost spend two full days watching Evil Dead goodness.

But wait, there’s more.

More you say?

Yes. I wrote it right there. Up two lines. Sheesh, pay attention people.

Evil Dead Rises brings us back to launching Deadites at humanity. This time we leave the safety of small cabins in the woods for the scary locale of an apartment complex. And this time we have Evil Dead with kids.

And 2024 has been a big year for the franchise, with two different movies being announced. Not sure the current status of either. It is safe to say though that Bruce Campbell will not grace the screens with his chin again for an Evil Dead project.

Gotcha. Not his face, but his voice is groovy. There is also an animated series being worked on and Bruce will voice Ash for that. Also not sure the current status of that project.

Since we deviated from movies into series and animation, I would be remiss not to mention that there have been a veritable treasure trove of comic books made within the world of the Evil Dead. Including a 4 issue series written by my friend Cullen Bunn where Ash winds up aboard the ISS in orbit trying to stop the Deadite infection from being broadcast to the entire planet!

In case you couldn’t tell, I am a fan of the series.

Going to throw two wholly unsubstantiated items into this. I recall years ago hearing that there was a connection between someone who worked on the original film with the animated series Davey and Goliath. I can’t find anything about it now. Also I was at a They Might Be Giants show in the 90’s and got to talk to some band members and the drummer at the time said that he had involvement with the original Evil Dead. Now both of these have lived in my head for 30 plus years, and I make no assertions that they are accurate and true, only that they are things I have “known” and believed for approximately as long as Taylor Swift has been alive.

With 35 things mentioned here, I don’t really want to get into ratings. Let’s just leave it at… Is good.