That’s what I thought, anyway—until I watched the latest release in the Evil Dead series, Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise, which hit theaters April 21. I’d been creeped out by previous entries, sure, but ...

So far, the Evil Dead franchise includes 1981’s The Evil Dead, 1987’s Evil Dead II, 1993’s Army of Darkness, 2013’s Evil Dead, and 2023’s Evil Dead Rise.

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Sony PicturesAlways with the cabin, these kids. The woods. The evil book. The geysers of blood. The Evil Dead movies have the feel of a dark ...