Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, and Theresa Tilly. The movie followed five college students vacationing in an isolated cabin where they find an audiotape and a book which release a legion of demons and spirits, possessing all of them but one: Ash Williams (Campbell), the sole survivor of the chaos.
Six years later came the sequel, appropriately titled Evil Dead II (also known as Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn), in which the audience reunited with Ash right after the events of the first film – but the movie made some big changes to it, while also continuing Ash’s story. Evil Dead 2 was praised by critics, mostly for its sense of humor and Campbell’s performance, and while it has become a favorite among horror fans and has built a cult following, a big question remains: why did it retcon the original movie?
Evil Dead 2 opens with a “recap” of the events of Evil Dead, but with some big differences. Instead of Ash and friends arriving at the cabin, it’s just Ash and his girlfriend Linda, who go on a romantic trip. Just like in the first movie, they come across with the tape and book, unleashing an evil force that possesses Linda and turns her into a “deadite”. Ash is forced to decapitate her and buries her in the forest – after that, the “sequel” part of the movie begins, following Ash’s battle against the evil force. The reason for the retcon at the beginning of the movie was explained by Campbell in a clip from the special features of Evil Dead 2 (via Den of Geek), where he revealed that Raimi didn’t own the rights to his own movie, so they had to shoot a recap with different actors, which ended up becoming a different story. Campbell added that people thought Ash returned to the cabin with different people, but he’s not that dumb.
It’s in Evil Dead 2 where Ash gets his signature weapon: a chainsaw attached to his right arm, as he has to sever his hand after it becomes possessed by the evil force. At the end of the movie, the incantation ends up opening a whirling temporal vortex which takes the demon, Ash’s car, and Ash himself back to the year 1300 A.D., where he’s mistaken for a deadite by a group of knights. A real deadite appears and Ash shoots it, with the knights then hailing him as a hero. The third movie in the franchise, Army of Darkness, continues Ash’s struggles in the Middle Ages, with him finally returning to his time at the end – but he once more brings the evil force with him.
Evil Dead 2 retelling Evil Dead at the beginning confused fans for a long, long time, but the movie is now considered as three Evil Dead movies add to their essence of horror, comedy, and a bit of absurdity, as well as to Ash’s character, who became a fan favorite hero even though he’s quite incompetent, but always finds a way to survive.
