This editorial contains spoilers for the Evil Dead franchise.
Please note the following if you’ve never seen The Evil Dead series. The series revolves around a man named Ash that finds a book called “The Necronomicon”. When read from, demons come to life, kill people, and cause mayhem.
Many say that the TV show, Ash vs Evil Dead, is a perfect, direct sequel to the third Evil Dead movie, Army of Darkness. There are problems that could be solved with a fourth film. If the director of the movies, Sam Raimi, makes the much discussed “Army of Darkness 2”, these problems could be solved.
When Army of Darkness was being made, two endings were filmed; the ending the producers wanted and the ending Sam Raimi wanted. Ultimately, the producers won at getting their ending used for cinemas, leaving Raimi’s to international releases, as well as a director’s cut. The TV show appears to hold the producer’s/theatrical ending as canon. In the producers’ ending, Ash successfully goes from the Medieval age to modern times. In the director’s cut, he goes to the far, distant future which is post-apocalyptic. The movie then ends. Presumably, this cliffhanger would be picked up in a fourth movie that was ultimately never made. The TV show, released twenty-three years after Army of Darkness, is the fourth installment of the series. While the show is really good, there are some continuity errors that a fourth film could solve.
In Evil Dead 2, the Necronomicon is lost. In Army of Darkness, Ash goes back in time and finds the book, which he does not keep. In Ash vs Evil Dead, he just has it. It’s implied that he found the book in between those events. How? After getting home in Army of Darkness, he lives a simple life and wants nothing to do with evil, so why and how would he have the book? This is made especially confusing since he had various notes, translations, and phonetic pronunciations written in by himself. Once again, why? What if in this hypothetical fourth movie, in the post-apocalyptic future, someone finds the book and ruins the world? Ash must obtain the book, go back in time, add in notes that he can use to understand the various incantations, save the day, and decide to keep it so it doesn’t fall in the wrong hands. That’s a relatively simple way of explaining these issues away. In Evil Dead 2, Ash loses his hand, in part 3, he makes a new one out of spare parts. While the hand isn’t great, it works well enough. How come in Ash vs Evil Dead, he has a wooden hand? It does look prettier, but it can’t move or hold things. Maybe he loses his hand from Army of Darkness in Army of Darkness 2?
Most of what I say only makes sense if we assume Sam Raimi’s ending is what actually happened. If the producer’s ending is canon, it still doesn’t make sense without the hypothetical #4. In The Evil Dead, Ash’s girlfriend, Linda, dies. In the producer’s Army of Darkness, she is alive. Ash vs Evil Dead refers to Linda’s death. It is implied that the Necronomicon is asleep and not a problem unless someone reads its text, which happens in Ash vs Evil Dead. However, in the producer’s ending, one demon randomly appears and is killed by Ash. It is implied that the demon problem is solved. There’s no logical reason for there to be any demons at that point as they’ve been killed by Ash. This whole piece makes the assumption that Army of Darkness 2 wouldn’t take place during the TV show’s time span, which would be a bad idea. The TV show has its own tone and style and such an installment is better spent beforehand.
The Filme Diary 