Evil Dead
horror film franchise
Evil Dead is an American horror franchise created by Sam Raimi consisting of six feature films and a television series. The series follows various characters as they battle demonic forces unleashed by ancient grimoires.
The protagonist, Ashley Joanna "Ash" Williams (Bruce Campbell), appears in the original trilogy including The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), and Army of Darkness (1992), all written and directed by Raimi, produced by Rob Tapert and starring Campbell. The franchise has since expanded into other formats, including video games, comic books, and a musical.
The film franchise was resurrected in 2013 with Evil Dead, a standalone sequel directed by Fede Álvarez, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rodo Sayagues. It was produced by Raimi, Campbell and Tapert, featuring a new protagonist in Mia Allen (Jane Levy). A television series, Ash vs Evil Dead, premiered on cable network Starz in 2015, lasted for three seasons, and ended in 2018. It starred Bruce Campbell as Ash and was executive produced by Campbell, Raimi and Tapert. A fifth film in the franchise, titled Evil Dead Rise, was theatrically released on April 21, 2023, with Lee Cronin serving as writer and director, Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan starring as sisters Ellie and Beth Bixler, Tapert serving as a producer, and Raimi and Campbell both acting as executive producers. A sixth film in the franchise, titled Evil Dead Burn, was theatrically released on July 10, 2026, with Sébastien Vaniček serving as writer and director, Hunter Doohan, Luciane Buchanan, Souheila Yacoub, Tandi Wright, and George Pullar starring, Raimi and Tapert serving as producers, and Campbell acting as an executive producer.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Evil Dead” is horror film franchise. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Evil, Dead and horror, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “horror film franchise” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q921605. The first chronological checks are 1981, 1987, 1992 and 2013.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Evil Dead”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Evil Dead primary sources, Evil Dead archive and Evil research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Evil Dead”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Evil Dead” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.