How to Watch the Evil Dead Movies in Order (October 2026)

Short answer to how to watch the Evil Dead movies in order: The Evil Dead (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), Army of Darkness (1992), Evil Dead (2013), Army of the Dead (2021), then Evil Dead Rise (2023). Release order is the safe route here because the franchise splits into two branches that share lore but not continuity, so nothing you watch spoils a film further down the list.

Content note: these are horror films with graphic practical gore, dismemberment and body horror. The 1981 original and Evil Dead II are the roughest.

How to Watch the Evil Dead Movies in Order: Quick Guide

Order	Film	Year	Director	Branch
1	The Evil Dead	1981	Sam Raimi	Ash saga
2	Evil Dead II	1987	Sam Raimi	Ash saga
3	Army of Darkness	1992	Sam Raimi	Ash saga
4	Evil Dead	2013	Fede Álvarez	Modern reboot
5	Army of the Dead	2021	Zack Snyder	Spin-off
6	Evil Dead Rise	2023	Lee Cronin	Modern reboot

Two films share the same title, so always add the year when you write or search for Evil Dead (1981) or Evil Dead (2013). Army of Darkness opened in limited release in 1992 and went wide in 1993; either dating puts it third.

The Core Viewing Order

The simplest route is 1 through 6 in the table above, in one sitting if you can. The 1981 film, its 1987 follow-up and Army of Darkness form Sam Raimi’s Ash saga, and Ash Williams is the character holding them together. The 2013 film restarts with a new cast and a new set, Evil Dead Rise continues that line four years later, and the 2021 zombie comedy branches off entirely.

Most ordering guides get one thing wrong: the franchise is not one timeline, so “release order equals chronological order” is only half true. Release order is the default because nothing spoils anything else, not because every film happens after the one before it.

How to watch the Evil Dead movies in order if you only care about Ash

Watch The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, then jump straight to Ash vs Evil Dead on television. That three-film path is complete on its own, and plenty of fans never watch the 2013 film or anything after it without missing a storyline beat.

Do you have to watch them in order at all?

No. Each of the six films is a self-contained horror movie with its own cast and its own problem to solve. Watch Evil Dead Rise first if you want a modern splatter flick with no homework, then go back and start the list properly.

How to Watch the Evil Dead Movies in Order: The Original Trilogy

These three films were made over eleven years and the trilogy only improves if you go in order. Sam Raimi directed all of them on budgets that would embarrass a phone commercial, which is exactly why they look the way they do.

The Evil Dead (1981)

Ash Williams, his girlfriend Linda and a few friends take a remote cabin in Tennessee to read the Naturom Demonto, a book of pages bound in human skin. Ash is the only one who reads it aloud, and that is the whole mistake. The book summons Kandarian demons, the dead rise as Deadites, and the rest is one night of screaming, a cellar door and a chainsaw.

It is short, roughly 86 minutes, and relentlessly physical. Raimi shot in wide angles and used the lens to make the cabin feel like a set the characters are trapped inside of. A quick bit of history: UK distributors cut graphic shots and released the film on video in 1984, and it went on the BBFC’s video nasty list that same year, which is why so many British fans met the film as a heavily edited cut rather than Raimi’s original.

Evil Dead II (1987)

This one is a sequel and a remake at the same time. It opens by retelling the end of the 1981 film with different casting and a different structure, then picks up with Ash alone in the cabin facing the Deadites again. Ash is possessed by a Kandarian demon and spends the second half duelling it inside himself while trying not to die.

Remake or sequel matters less in practice than the order does. Watch the 1981 original first and the opening retell lands as a variation on something you know, which is far more fun than arriving cold.

Army of Darkness (1992)

Ash gets thrown back to 1300 AD, fights an army of skeletons for a week and then has to figure out how to get home using a Necronomicon and a bucket of dirt. It is the most quotable and most comic of the three, and it is also the one fans argue about most.

The film has multiple endings depending on how it was cut. The theatrical US version is the one where Ash is held back in his own tomb, the director’s cut ends on a happy note with a future jump, and there is an original television edit that shops for an S-Mart. None of this changes the watch order, and all three are bonus material rather than homework.

How to Watch the Evil Dead Movies in Order: The Modern Films

The 2013 film starts over with new characters, a new cast and the same book. It is a reimagining of the 1981 original rather than a sequel to Army of Darkness, so you can watch it without remembering Ash, though a few callbacks land harder if you do.

Evil Dead (2013)

Two sisters, Jessica and Lucy, plus their friend Pete, David and Mei take the same cabin as a drug rehabilitation retreat while the previous group is still missing. Fede Álvarez directed, and the film is shot in close, tight framing with almost no daylight, which turns a familiar location into a claustrophobic one. It is the most faithful remake of the 1981 plot and the least funny.

Army of the Dead (2021)

This is the odd one out, and the order matters less than knowing what you are watching. Zack Snyder made a heist comedy about a crew raiding a Las Vegas vault to retrieve the Necronomicon, with a documentarian and an unhinged scientist along for the ride. It borrows the name and the book and shares neither plot nor cast with the other five, so it slots in the list for completeness rather than continuity. Watch it for the joke if you enjoy that kind of thing; skip it and nothing else changes.

Evil Dead Rise (2023)

Lee Cronin moved the story to a Los Angeles apartment building where Ellie and her children live above a recently evicted group that has been reading the Necronomicon in the basement. Most of the film is a siege, and it is the most modern entry: bigger kills, a much larger cast and about an hour of sustained violence once the Deadites reach the stairs.

Nothing in the plot requires the Ash trilogy. It does reward noticing the same book showing up again.

Are Evil Dead (2013) and Evil Dead Rise connected?

Connected through the book, not the characters. Army of Darkness establishes that three copies of the Necronomicon exist, called the Red, Green and Black tomes, and Evil Dead Rise uses the same framing. Bruce Campbell and Lee Cronin have both talked on record about those books being the thread tying the modern films to the trilogy, which explains why the reboot can feel familiar without contradicting Raimi’s story.

That is a creator explanation, not a settled rule. Plenty of fans keep the two branches strictly separate, and you will not lose plot by doing the same.

What About the TV Series and the Franchise Timeline?

Ash vs Evil Dead ran for three seasons between 2015 and 2018, with Bruce Campbell returning as Ash. It picks up after Army of Darkness and continues the Ash saga directly, so it belongs at the end of the trilogy and not inside the movie order. Watch the three films first; the show assumes you remember the Hand of Death and the S-Mart.

The wider franchise also includes animated entries and documentary specials, plus Army of the Dead in the list above, which is a spin-off rather than a chapter in either main storyline. Nothing there is required for the movie order, and a first-time viewer who wants the story can pass on all of it.

Should You Watch the Originals or the Remakes First?

They are different products, so pick by what you actually want. Raimi’s trilogy is practical gore, physical comedy and a hero who talks too much; the modern films are longer, meaner and scored louder.

• Want the complete experience: start at 1981 and go to 1992, then decide about the reboot.
• Want the newer cast and effects: begin with Evil Dead Rise, then go back and start the list.
• Want a lighter entry point: Army of Darkness is funniest on its own, though the reveals in it expect the first two.
• Want to compare the franchise’s ideas: watch the 1981 original and the 2013 film back to back, since they share a plot almost scene for scene.

On timing: the six theatrical films run roughly 11 hours in total, so a weekend marathon is realistic. Add the three seasons of Ash vs Evil Dead and you are looking at closer to 20 hours. Availability shifts region by region, so check what is actually streaming near you before you plan the marathon, and go to the studio home-video releases for the uncut 1981 film and the Army of Darkness endings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where to Start: The Short Version

Start tonight with The Evil Dead (1981), continue into Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, then move to Evil Dead (2013) when you are ready for the modern branch, with Army of the Dead and Evil Dead Rise after it. If Ash is not your thing, watch the first three, add Ash vs Evil Dead and skip the rest without missing anything that matters.