at a fan convention, signing a
VHS copy of
The Evil Dead.|thumb|right|upright While
The Evil Dead received favorable critical comment when it was initially released, it failed to establish Raimi's reputation. It was, however, a box-office success, which led to Campbell and Raimi teaming up again for the release of another movie.
Joel Coen and his brother
Ethan had collaborated as directors and released the film
Blood Simple, to critical acclaim. According to Campbell, Ethan, then an accountant, expressed surprise when the duo succeeded. The Coen brothers and Raimi collaborated on a screenplay, which was released shortly after
The Evil Dead. The film,
Crimewave, was a box-office failure. The film's production was a "disaster", according to Campbell, who stated that "missteps" like
Crimewave usually lead to the end of a director's career. Other people involved with the film expressed similar disappointment with the project. Fortunately, Raimi had the studio support to make a sequel to
The Evil Dead, which he initially decided to make out of desperation.
Sequels The Evil Dead was followed by a series of sequels. The franchise is noted from attracting attention for each sequel featuring more comedic qualities than the last, progressing into "weirder" territory with each film.
Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn was a
black comedy-horror film which released in 1987, and was a box-office success. It received general acclaim from critics, and is often considered to be superior to the first film. This was followed by
Army of Darkness, a
comedy fantasy-horror film released in 1992. At that time, Raimi had become a successful director, attracting Hollywood's interest. His
superhero film Darkman (1990) was another box-office success, which led to an increased budget for
Army of Darkness.
Army of Darkness had 22.8 times the budget of the original
Evil Dead, though it was not considered to be a box-office success like its two predecessors. It was met with mostly positive critical reception. After any additional installments suffered through
development hell, a
supernatural-horror soft reboot/
legacy sequel titled
Evil Dead was released in 2013, featuring
Jane Levy as the main character Mia Allen. Directed and co-written by
Fede Álvarez, the film was produced by Raimi and Campbell. The film, which was a departure from the humor of the previous two films, was a moderate box office success and was praised for its dark and bloody story. While various projects going through varying stages of development, a continuation was released as a television series titled,
Ash vs. Evil Dead. Created and executive produced by Sam Raimi, the series aired from 2015 to 2018. After further film installments once again remained in development hell for a number of years, a fifth feature film titled
Evil Dead Rise was announced to be in development. The project began filming in June 2021, with Irish filmmaker
Lee Cronin serving as writer/director. Though Campbell reprised his role as Ashley "Ash" J. Williams in each of the proceeding sequels, he did not appear in the film. The film was released theatrically on April 21, 2023, by
Warner Bros. Pictures.
Foreign market Unofficial sequels were made in Italy, where the film was known as
La Casa ("The House"). Produced by
Joe D'Amato's Filmirage, two mostly unrelated films were released and marketed as
sequels to Evil Dead II:
Umberto Lenzi's
La Casa 3: Ghosthouse and
La Casa 4: Witchery starring
Linda Blair and
David Hasselhoff. The final film was released in 1990 and titled,
La Casa 5: Beyond Darkness. The film
House II: The Second Story was reissued and retitled in Italy as
La Casa 6; followed by
The Horror Show which was released in Italy as
La Casa 7. In 2008, an unofficial remake was also produced in India under the title
Bach Ke Zara.
Legacy The original
Evil Dead trilogy of films has been recognized as one of the most successful
cult film series in history. David Lavery, in his book
The Essential Cult TV Reader, surmised that Campbell's "career is a practical guide to becoming a cult idol". The film launched the careers of Raimi and Campbell, who have since collaborated frequently. Raimi has worked with Campbell in virtually all of his films since, and Campbell has appeared in cameo roles in all three of Raimi's
Spider-Man films (as well as a very brief appearance at the end of
Darkman), which have become some of the highest-grossing films in history. Though it has often been considered an odd choice for Raimi, a director known for his violent horror films, to direct a family-friendly franchise, the hiring was mostly inspired by Raimi's passion for comic books as a child. Raimi returned to the horror-comedy genre in 2009 with
Drag Me to Hell. Critics have often compared Campbell's later performances to his role in
Evil Dead, which has been called his defining role. Campbell's performance as Ash has been compared to roles ranging from his performance of
Elvis Presley in the film
Bubba Ho-tep to the bigamous demon in
The X-Files episode "
Terms of Endearment". Campbell's fan base gradually developed after the release of
Evil Dead II and his short-lived series
The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.. He is a regular favorite at most fan conventions and often draws sold-out auditoriums at his public appearances.
The Evil Dead developed a substantial cult following throughout the years, and has often been cited as a defining cult classic.
The Evil Dead has spawned a media franchise. A video game adaptation
of the same name was released for the
Commodore 64 in 1984, as was a trilogy of survival horror games in the 1990s and early 2000s:
Evil Dead: Hail to the King,
Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick and
Evil Dead: Regeneration. Ted Raimi did voices for the trilogy, and Campbell returned as the voice of Ash. The character Ash became the main character of a
comic book franchise. Ash has fought both
Freddy Krueger and
Jason Voorhees in the
Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash series,
Herbert West in
Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator, zombie versions of the
Marvel Comics superheroes in
Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness, and has even saved the life of a
fictional Barack Obama in
Army of Darkness: Ash Saves Obama. In January 2008,
Dark Horse Comics began releasing a four-part monthly comic book
mini-series, written by
Mark Verheiden and drawn by
John Bolton, based on
The Evil Dead. The film has also inspired a
stage musical,
Evil Dead: The Musical, which was produced with the permission of Raimi and Campbell. The musical has run on and off since its inception in 2003. After the film was released, many people began to trespass onto the filming location in Morristown. In 1982, the cabin was burned down by the owners, who were tired of the attention. Although the cabin is now gone, the chimney remains, from which many people now take stones when they trespass onto the location. In 2022, a video game adaptation of the series called
Evil Dead: The Game was released. In 2021,
heavy metal band
Ice Nine Kills released a song titled "Ex-Mørtis" on their album
The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood, which is composed of songs each explicitly linked to specific horror media per the album's booklet of liner notes; "Ex-Mørtis" is stated to be inspired by
The Evil Dead. ==See also==