Poll: What’s the Best Evil Dead Movie?

Chris

This weekend sees the release of Evil Dead Burn, the sixth movie in the Evil Dead franchise. What began as a micro-budget movie shot by Sam Raimi with a bunch of friends has turned into one of the longest-lasting horror franchises, and despite Burn‘s weaker-than-expected box office take, it’s still going strong, with Evil Dead Wrath due in 2028. Yesterday, we posted our rankings of the entire series, including the spin-off series Ash vs Evil Dead, but now we want to know what YOU think!

The Evil Dead was a true grassroots, word-of-mouth hit. Completed in 1981, what arguably made its reputation was that, in 1982, it was allowed to screen out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where none other than Stephen King happened to be in attendance. He loved it, and his enthusiastic review became a huge part of the film’s marketing when it hit theaters in 1983. Yet, its $2.4 million gross—which was still impressive for a movie that only cost $375,000—was relatively modest in the U.S. Overseas, however, it was an unexpected blockbuster, earning $27 million. While generally considered the better movie overall, the sequel, Evil Dead 2, made only a fraction of that amount, but it was seen by the right people, allowing Raimi to break through with mainstream films like Darkman. As such, his follow-up, Army of Darkness, had a healthy budget, although fans noticed it was more of a comedic adventure movie with horror elements than a full-on horror film. Yet, it was the movie that made Bruce Campbell’s Ash Williams an icon.

In the years since Army of Darkness came out in 1993, the franchise has gone through some interesting reinventions. The first film was remade in 2013, and it was surprisingly well received, but it didn’t become a franchise. Instead, the TV sequel Ash vs Evil Dead happened, allowing Campbell to reprise his classic role for three seasons. Then, Campbell and Raimi opted to produce an Evil Dead sequel—albeit one not featuring Ash—called Evil Dead Rise, which became a major hit and launched a whole new era for the franchise. But everyone has their favorites, so now it’s your turn to let us know yours. For me, I’d say it’s got to be Army of Darkness, but I have a feeling this poll will be pretty tight between the first two films.

Here’s the poll:

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