Very few of us expected the Evil Dead franchise to be still alive and kicking 45 years after the first movie burst onto screens, but Sam Raimi’s cult classic The Evil Dead has now spawned five more movies with another on the way, not to mention a TV show following the ongoing Deadite-plagued adventures of the original trilogy’s main character, Ash Williams.
We thought it was about time to look back at the Evil Dead series and rank all the movies so far, but of course, this list is subjective. Some Evil Dead fans prefer the more comedic movies in the franchise; others prefer the gnarlier ones. A core group will also say they never got any better than the original trilogy. Yet today, we have to pick a side. That’s part of the fun and the anguish of ranking them.
If you disagree with this ranking, feel free to leave your own in the comments. Perhaps we can at least agree that none of them is actually bad, they’re all just different colors in the Evil Dead rainbow!
6. Army of Darkness
While The Evil Dead is pretty much a straight-up horror movie and Evil Dead II masterfully blends horror and comedy, Army of Darkness is fully hilarious and brings us Ash Williams at his most entertaining.
Sam Raimi’s trilogy-capper leaves the claustrophobia of the cabin-in-the-woods setting behind and musters all the action that can possibly be thrown at Bruce Campbell on triple the second movie’s budget as he forces him into medieval castles and battles with entire armies, pushing the story into more of a fantasy vibe that some people really appreciated, while also fleshing out Ash and giving Campbell’s natural charisma more room to shine as he embraces his character’s innate arrogance and penchant for one-liners.
But since we’re ranking the movies today, we would say that Army of Darkness is far too goofy for some, and in this case, “some” includes us. We do prefer the scarier entries over Army’s strong slapstick approach, and though we appreciate Raimi’s attempt at broader comedy and Ash as a goofy action hero here, a more grounded Ash is a better Ash, in our humble opinion.
5. Evil Dead Burn
Mainstream audiences still aren’t ready for New French Extremity horror, even in the rather watered-down approach of Sébastien Vaniček and Florent Bernard’s Evil Dead Burn. 2026’s franchise entry was immediately labeled meaner, nastier, and more brutal than the other Evil Dead movies, but after the horrors of Evil Dead and Evil Dead Rise, we would say that’s quite an accomplishment, really.
Out of all the Evil Dead movies to date, Burn arguably pushed the horror envelope the farthest, and while that absolutely delighted the sickos amongst us (including your writer), many fans simply just did not care for the colder, more European approach in this one, which finds a woman on the verge of a divorce also having to deal with her husband’s possessed family after he’s transformed into a Deadite. One particular scene, in which a loyal family dog is stabbed repeatedly in the face at the dinner table, even created a point of no return for some who walked out of the theater in disgust.
Burn may find more fans over time, but right now, it’s the nastiest cousin in the Evil Dead bloodline (with some of the worst CGI vs. its impressive practical effects) and may remain confined to cult status for years to come.
4. The Evil Dead
Sam Raimi proved himself one of the wildest and most interesting American filmmakers in 1981 with his debut feature film, The Evil Dead, using a tiny budget to innovate and draw curious viewers into the world of Ash and the Deadites. The Evil Dead didn’t make much of a splash at first, but it later became a sleeper hit, mostly thanks to overseas audiences who seemed far more interested in its chaotic gore and thin yet delightfully supernatural story.
Those who prefer the more comedic bent of later Evil Dead films and say the franchise has drifted off course towards pure nastiness may have forgotten that the first film featured a scene where a woman is raped by demonically possessed trees, and that there is also an attempted rape on Ash by his headless girlfriend, Linda. It wasn’t all Kandarian demon shenanigans!
Still, the film was a success and also served as a “proof of concept” for Raimi that he was capable of doing great things in the future, and after the flop Crimewave, he returned to Ash and the evil Deadites that hunted him for a sequel that also kind of acted as a remake of The Evil Dead to show just how far he’d come as a filmmaker in the years since its release. As such, The Evil Dead has dated somewhat in its effects and approach but remains a good first effort for the franchise, just not as good as later instalments. The original, but not the best!
3. Evil Dead
The absurd, slapstick comedy cherished by fans of Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness fades right into the background in 2013’s Evil Dead, but director Fede Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues don’t leave the spooky cabin-in-the-woods setting that was so effective in the first two movies behind. Instead, they make their Raimi and Campbell-produced reboot film as bleak as possible, following Mia (Jane Levy), who returns to her family’s cabin where the powerful Deadite force is unleashed and spreads throughout her friend group.
The gore and practical effects in Evil Dead are undeniably good, creating some of the series’ most memorable and brutal kills, and the dark, claustrophobic atmosphere makes the film consistently intense. Levy also hits it out of the park as Mia, with her final confrontation becoming instantly iconic. Unfortunately, her friends are underdeveloped, so we’re much less bothered by what happens to them than we should be.
Evil Dead looked good and proved there was still life in the horror franchise beyond Raimi and Campbell, but it was still a little too familiar, which is probably why the action moved away from spooky cabins in the next two movies in the series.
2. Evil Dead Rise
It’s hard to argue that Evil Dead Rise doesn’t deliver, especially if you want a lot of gore for your buck. Alyssa Sutherland is also fantastic as Ellie, a struggling single mom who immediately turns on her kids and estranged sister after her son finds and plays a record of the dreaded incantation that summons the Deadites. During Rise’s well-paced 96-minute rollercoaster ride, Sutherland contorts her body in a whole bunch of horrifying ways after being possessed, tapping into the pure nightmare fuel of a suddenly evil parent.
This all goes down in the appealingly fresh setting of an L.A. apartment complex, with plenty of opportunities to unleash hell in cramped, confined spaces. Lee Cronin does a hell of a job building tension for jump scares while delivering wince-inducing body horror as the story plays out, retaining a fair amount of the Evil Dead mythology yet modernizing the formula.
For those who prefer the Ash and Raimi entries, Rise is probably less appealing, as it’s much closer to the franchise’s 2013 soft reboot in tone, but Cronin’s effort still has spectacular gore, neat practical effects, and a really creepy and tense atmosphere in its win column.
1. Evil Dead II
Was there ever any doubt that Evil Dead II would be number one on our ranking? Probably not; it’s one of the greatest horror movies ever!
If you’ve already seen Evil Dead II (and we can’t imagine you haven’t if you’re reading this!), you already know it takes the original movie’s basic setup and turns everything up to 11, with the isolated cabin transforming into a wild playground for Raimi’s unique creativity. The sequence where Ash’s possessed hand attacks him, culminating in him cutting it off and replacing it with a chainsaw, is an iconic example of the filmmaker’s ability to turn the grotesque into physical comedy without making it feel cheap, but all the practical effects in play here, including the stop-motion work, make for a super fun time for horror-comedy fans pretty much everywhere.
Campbell is also a major reason the film works so well. He understood the assignment and threw his whole ass into it. Ash’s journey from terrified survivor to chainsaw-wielding Deadite fighter gives the film a surprisingly satisfying character arc, while his exaggerated physical performance makes even relatively simple moments hilarious.
Of course, the film’s short runtime, relentless escalation and increasingly ridiculous climax give it fantastic momentum, yet it also feels like the point where the Evil Dead formula was fully refined: you’ve got a memorable protagonist, some truly inventive gore, ace practical effects, visual experimentation, horror and comedy all working together, perfectly balanced. The end result is simply sublime, and no one’s been able to top it.
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