The ‘Evil Dead’ saga is celebrating with the arrival of ‘Infernal Possession: Awakening’ (2023), but in reality it has never ceased to be present, with many sequels, series and remakes that have come from the immortal classic that turned a young Sam Raimi into one of the essential names to understand today’s Hollywood.
From shooting with friends in a cabin to defining the current superhero blockbuster with ‘Spider-Man’, Raimi has turned his saga into something special, which has set the temperature of the genre at different times, influencing many filmmakers. We review all the installments of a saga that has also had games and comics.
Within the Woods (1978)
Directed by: Sam Rami. Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Scott Spiegel, Mary Valenti.
A microversion of the first ‘Infernal Possession’ that instead of a necronomicon had a cursed Indian land. Bruce Campbell was the one who turned into a zombie, taking possession of him in the second part, beginning to attack his friends in this amateur sketch that already had some key camera movements, the subjective vision of demons and the chants of “join us”. Very elementary, but entertaining by itself and worthy of entering the canon.
‘Infernal Possession: The Awakening’ (2023)
Directed by: Lee Cronin. Cast: Alyssa Sutherland, Lily Sullivan, Morgan Davies, Nell Fisher, Gabrielle Echols, Jayden Daniels, Billy Reynolds-McCarthy.
Destined for the streaming market and saved by enthusiastic test passes, this sequel has a syndrome similar to that of ‘Predator: the prey’, Let us see that it is an operation to take his saga to a field of direct sequels for video with fewer resources and recycling of ideas that do not seek to contribute anything new. There is a recital of rivets and greatest hits of the saga resurrected without different contributions and although it is very well directed, it puts the saga in horror conventions.
It brings the typical possessions of the saga closer to the tropes of Christian exorcism, winks at other horror films that don’t fit the spirit of the saga and steals some key moments from ‘Hereditary’. It complies, it is very fun and bloody, but it commits the unprecedented sin in the saga of taking time to start. ‘Raimi’s Indonesian and Italian students from ‘Que el diablo te lelve 2’ or ‘Demons 2’ pass him on the right.
Criticism in Espinof, by Víctor López
Infernal Possession (Evil Dead) (2013)
Address: Fede Alvarez. Cast: Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Elizabeth Blackmore, Jessica Lucas, Phoenix Connolly, Jim McLarty, Sian Davis.
An Evil Dead for a time that came out of torture porn. Great discovery by Fede Álvarez, whose direction is spectacular, for a remake that decides to keep the most rabid and terrifying part of the original, and turns your gory scenes into realistic and painful body horror. His stinginess fails him with the set of paranormal phenomena that accompanied the possessions and he focuses only on these, but the 10 years since its premiere have done him great and for an entire generation it is a classic on its own merits.
Criticism in Espinof, by Juan Luis Caviaro
Available in Movistar+
‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ (2016-2019)
Creator: Sam Rami. Ivan Raimi, Tom Spezialy. Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, Lucy Lawless, Jill Marie Jones, Michelle Hurd, Ted Raimi, Stephen Lovatt, Joel Tobeck, Lee Majors.
There was a good chance that a series derived from ‘Infernal Possession’ would come out so-so but it represents the best that has happened to the Sam Raimi saga in the 21st century; Bruce Campbell’s farewell to the character he gave us 30 glorious episodes full of gore and demons torn apart. The last two episodes of season 1 are better than the last two official movies, a recital by Samara Weaving earning the title of Scream Queen by decibels and a visual language at the service of tone. Blessed series bubble that allowed this madness.
Criticism in Espinof, by Mikel Zorrilla
‘The army of darkness’ (Army of Darkness, 1992)
Directed by: Sam Rami. Cast: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie, Richard Grove.
The third part of the Ash Williams trilogy He was already showing the Sam Raimi of Doctor Strange, because he put the hero of the chainsaw to travel between dimensions. A dark fantasy horror adventure with cursed books, armies of skeletons, matinee humor, a bubblegum-faced rubber protagonist, and mythical catchphrases at every turn. Remembered by many, and rightly so, marked a turning point in the director’s career and elevated Bruce Cambell as the only horror movie king of his time.
Criticism in Espinof, by Adrián Massanet
Available in Filmin
‘Infernal Possession’ (Evil Dead, 1981)
Directed by: Sam Rami. Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Richard DeManincor, Theresa Tilly.
Stephen King elevated it as the “fierceest and most original I have ever seen” and got everyone to look at her, a change of perspective in terror that managed to unite slapstick and terror in an unprecedented way.Recovering the independent spirit among friends of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ turned the diabolical possession of ‘El exorcist’ in a game of blows and blood, although it is much more terrifying than what is remembered, with scenes like the one of the violation of the trees that today impact in another way.
Criticism in Espinof, by Sergio Benítez
Available in Filmin
‘Terrifyingly dead’ (Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn, 1987)
Directed by: Sam Rami. Cast: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley DePaiva, John Peakes.
The sequel to ‘Infernal Possession’ is the pinnacle of terror splatter from the 80s, a remake with a little more money that increased the humor, improved special effects and added gore, creatures, and liters of blood thrown at the camera. It established Ash Williams as the absolute hero of horror movies that he had never had before the gender. Raimi’s style burst lenses with zooms, cameras that crash, frenzy in editing and a fetishism for aberrational shots. A masterpiece.
Available in Filmin
In Espinof | The 31 Best Horror Movies of the Decade (2010-2019)