The Evil Dead movies and shows in order span decades of supernatural horror, beginning with Sam Raimi’s low-budget cabin nightmare The Evil Dead and expanding into sequels, television, and standalone stories about new encounters with the Deadites. The original run follows Ash Williams through The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness, gradually shifting from relentless horror toward increasingly outrageous horror-comedy and fantasy. More than two decades later, Evil Dead returned with the darker 2013 film, while Ash vs Evil Dead brought Bruce Campbell’s character back for a three-season television continuation. For a first-time viewing, release order is the recommended Evil Dead watch order because it introduces the mythology, characters, tonal changes, and reinventions in the same sequence audiences originally experienced them.
The franchise later widened its focus beyond Ash. Evil Dead Rise moved the action from an isolated cabin to a Los Angeles apartment building and centered on a new family confronting the Book of the Dead, while Evil Dead Burn continued the anthology-like direction with another standalone group of characters. Evil Dead Wrath is another feature entry, set for 2028 and developed as a prequel story set in 1972. Although individual installments contain timeline connections, remade events, callbacks, and separate groups of characters, the franchise does not operate as one perfectly linear continuity. Watching the Evil Dead movies and shows in release order therefore provides the clearest progression from Raimi’s original films through Ash’s television return and the newer standalone era. The list below keeps the major feature films and the substantial live-action television series together while excluding shorts, documentaries, promotional material, and other peripheral releases.
Release Order
Release order is the most practical way to experience the Evil Dead franchise because it preserves the introduction of Ash Williams, the evolving Deadite mythology, and the series’ dramatic shifts in tone. The early movies move from raw supernatural horror into slapstick-heavy horror-comedy and fantasy, while the 2013 film returns to a harsher horror style. Ash vs Evil Dead then continues Ash’s story before newer films broaden the franchise around different characters and settings. This order also avoids forcing several loosely connected continuities into a single timeline. Watch the qualifying Evil Dead movies and shows from oldest to newest by their original release.
Chronological Order
There is no clean franchise-wide chronological order that improves on release order. The original Ash films form their own progression, and Ash vs Evil Dead continues that version of the story decades later, while several newer movies function as standalone or loosely connected branches. Evil Dead Wrath is set in 1972, making it chronologically earlier than the original film, but placing it first would not create a consistent timeline for the entire franchise. Because the movies sometimes revisit ideas, reshape continuity, or follow unrelated groups of characters, release order remains the most useful practical timeline order and preserves how the mythology develops for viewers.
