Evil Dead Rise is the fifth film in the Evil Dead franchise. How many of the previous films do you need to have watched before delving into the latest? This is a guide to what you need to watch before Evil Dead Rise.
The bare minimum that you need to watch before Evil Dead Rise
The short answer is none. Evil Dead Rise is a standalone movie with a new cast and few links to previous entries. There are a few references to previous movies – but the movie explains itself well. If you’re dying to see this movie today and haven’t yet seen any Evil Dead movies, you can go ahead and have a great time. I wouldn’t recommend this, as you’d be skipping out on some great movies, but you can always come back to them.
There’s nothing essential that you need to know. As I’ve mentioned, the film explains everything that happens. However, you should expect some audience reaction upon seeing certain series staples – such as chainsaws or certain flesh-bound books.
What to watch if you’re short on time
If you want to catch-up on the Evil Dead series before Evil Dead Rise, but don’t necessarily have time to watch five movies – you have a few options.
I would definitely suggest watching the initial The Evil Dead (1981) to get familiar with the concepts. If a low-budget horror movie is a bit off-putting to you, then the 2013 remake “Evil Dead” tells mostly the same story, but with a bigger budget. They’re different movies stylistically, but both do it very well.
What to watch for the full Evil Dead Rise experience
For the full Evil Dead Rise experience, I would recommend watching all of the original Evil Dead trilogy and Evil Dead (2013). As mentioned previously, there’s no essential information to extract from these movies but they set the tone for what to expect out of the fifth entry in the series.
Equally, there are plenty of call-backs which will make this a much more satisfying watch than if you had went in completely blind.
There’s also an Ash vs. Evil Dead TV series, which isn’t really relevant to this movie, but if you can’t get enough Evil Dead – this is an excellent dessert.