Evil Dead: How To Build A Horror Franchise

gamerant.com:

One would think, in this age of IP-driven franchise media, that all the iconic horror movie franchises would be alive and well, regardless of quality. Yet despite a few spasms, most of the classics are long dead and showing no sign of rising again, with one notable exception.

Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street have both gone a decade or so without a new entry. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween have embarrassed themselves with their recent attempts. It seems like trends and forces move much faster in the world of horror than in other cinematic genres — but Ash Williams has no trouble sticking around.

Bruce Campbell Hosts New Evil Dead Gameplay Session

The Evil Dead dropped in 1981, the second film Sam Raimi ever wrote and directed. The tale of Raimi and his friends putting together Evil Dead is a legend of budget filmmaking at this point. It took begging family members and acquaintances to get the project funded. The production was a disaster at every turn, crew members and performers were injured regularly, and the entire film was pieced together on the fly. The film was the logical end-point of the years spent by Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and their friends making cheap indie movies in the woods, and it became a success against all odds. Partially thanks to a rave review by Stephen King, the film was recognized worldwide as a modern masterpiece of the genre. The sequel, Evil Dead II: Dead by Daylight, was ordered by the first film's producer and outperformed its predecessor by a leap.

By the time of Army of Darkness, Raimi had a blank check to do whatever he wanted, and what he wanted was apparently a stellar medieval comedy that still kept the tone of the franchise. The franchise now has an enormous presence