The Evil Dead franchise is not one that is known for having a methodically planned canon. Evil Dead II is partially a remake of The Evil Dead and changes a lot of details, the end of Evil Dead II doesn’t really line up with the opening of Army Of Darkness, and the television series Ash vs. Evil Dead didn’t actually have the rights to reference that third film. Add in the fact that director Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead from 2013 doesn’t specifically tie into the other films and you fully understand the messiness of the big picture continuity – but that didn’t stop writer/director Lee Cronin from trying to make a bit of sense of it all in the making of Evil Dead Rise, specifically with new lore surrounding the Necronomicon.
In the upcoming 2023 movie, a recording found with the notorious Book Of The Dead reveals that the tome in Evil Dead Rise is one of three different volumes, and that detail fascinated me so much that I had to ask Cronin about it during the movie’s virtual press day earlier this month. The filmmaker explained that it was something that he specifically discussed with Evil Dead co-creator Sam Raimi, and noted that it was his effort to naturally link the latest chapter of the series to the others. Said Cronin,
I think what I wanted to do was kind of slightly define the lore in that moment. And it was something I'd said to Sam Raimi early on in the process. I'd said, 'Look, there are three books established in Army of Darkness, and you've had one book in that world, and Fede has had one book, and I want to take the other book and kind of own it.' But that way, it opens up multiple avenues for where Evil Dead can kind of go.
Lee Cronin is referencing the second act scene in Army Of Darkness where Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) is on a medieval mission to find the Necronomicon so that it can be used to send him back to the 20th century and stop the rise of the evil Deadites. Instead of just finding one book, however, he finds three. There is a suggestion that two of them are decoys/traps, as attempting to open them results in scary/funny consequences, but the Evil Dead Rise writer/director is saying that all three books are legitimate.
And not only are all three volumes legitimate, but we’ve seen them each represented in the three branches of the franchise. One volume is the book that Ash Williams has in The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Ash vs. Evil Dead; the second volume is the one that Mia Allen (Jane Levy) and her friends find during her detox weekend in the woods in Evil Dead; and now the third volume is in Evil Dead Rise – discovered buried beneath a Los Angeles apartment building.
In the making of the new film, Lee Cronin knew that he wanted it to link to the other films and TV show, but it would have been a sincere if not impossible challenge for him to explain how the previously depicted Necronomicons ended up in Los Angeles. Army Of Darkness gave him the answer he needed. He continued:
It also gave me the creative freedom to justifiably bring that book into a new place, 'cause nobody, since Ash was back in ye olde times in Army of Darkness, nobody knows where that third book has been. And I've uncovered where, or at least I've showcased where it's ended up in the here and now.
Obviously we can only hope at this point that what Lee Cronin is saying here opens the door up for an epic Evil Dead crossover event and hero team-up.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, Evil Dead fans can rejoice this weekend as Evil Dead Rise is hitting theaters everywhere on Friday – featuring a cast that includes Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Gabrielle Echols, Morgan Davies, and Nell Fisher. The film has been getting rave reviews since its premiere at the 2023 SXSW Film Festival, so get excited. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more from my interviews with Lee Cronin and the film’s stars, as well as more fun articles like our breakdown of the Evil Dead Rise easter eggs.
To learn about all of the scary films set to be released in the coming months, check out our Upcoming Horror Movies guide.
