The Evil Dead franchise features a lot of death and dismemberment, prompting many viewers to wonder how the movies rank when their body counts are stacked up against each other. The Evil Dead series began in 1981 with director Sam Raimi’s original low-budget sleeper hit. Although The Evil Dead was an infamously cheap, ramshackle production that relied on amateur actors and improvised filmmaking tricks, the relentless horror movie still managed to earn a glowing review from Stephen King. This translated into massive success at the box office and The Evil Dead soon kick-started the Hollywood careers of its director and the movie’s leading man, Bruce Campbell.
Campbell reprised the role of Evil Dead franchise hero Ash Williams in two sequels, 1987’s Evil Dead II and 1993’s Army of Darkness. Where the original movie was a hardcore horror with few moments of levity, Evil Dead II was a goofier, more cartoony affair altogether. Army of Darkness took Campbell’s franchise hero back to the Medieval era for an even lighter sequel that traded in serious scares for Ray Harryhausen-inspired fantasy shenanigans. The franchise was then dormant for two decades, but anyone familiar with Deadites knew that the series wouldn’t stay dead for long. 2013’s Evil Dead remake returned with a brutal endurance test.
5 Evil Dead – 8 Deaths (Maybe 9)
The 2023 reboot, Evil Dead Rise, brought back a little bit of the second movie’s humor but mostly stuck to grim, gruesome shocks. Despite this, none of the subsequent Evil Dead sequels have been quite as unsettling as the original movie. Evil Dead Rise’s homage to the original movie proved just how influential Raimi’s indie hit was (although The Evil Dead’s intensity didn’t translate to a high body count). Ironically, despite its terrifying tone, The Evil Dead has the lowest body count in the entire series. Only four people (or five, at most) and four Deadites are killed in The Evil Dead.
Thus, The Evil Dead’s body count comes to a total of eight or maybe nine characters. Cheryl, Linda, and Shelly are killed via demonic possession while Scotty is killed by one of the forest’s haunted trees. Deadite Linda has her head cut off by Ash, Cheryl and Scotty disintegrate when Ash burns the Necronomicon, and Deadite Shelly is chopped up by Scotty’s axe. However, whether Ash is killed or not in The Evil Dead’s closing moments is open to debate. He is definitely beset by the spirit of the forest, but he could potentially survive this possession. Since Evil Dead II effectively reboots the timeline, it is tough to tell.
4 Evil Dead II – 10 Deaths
1987’s Evil Dead II didn’t hold on to the original movie’s self-serious tone for long. Within the first few minutes of this bigger budget sequel, it became obvious that Raimi revisited his most famous movie so that he could stage some ambitiously wacky, surreal comedy-horror set-pieces. Despite this goofier tone, Evil Dead II still has a respectable body count. Six people are killed in the sequel, although this does admittedly include Henrietta (who dies offscreen before proceedings begin). Meanwhile, four Deadites are dispatched meaning Evil Dead II claimed ten of the franchise’s victims.
3 Evil Dead (2013) – 12 Deaths
2013’s Evil Dead remake featured a silly Necronomicon scene, but that was about the only moment of levity in this vicious bloodbath. Inspired by New French Extremity, director Fede Alvarez did not hold back with this dark re-imagining. All told, seven people are killed in Evil Dead‘s 2013 remake (including Deadite Mia, who is later revived as a human), and five Deadites bit the dust by the time the credits rolled. This got Evil Dead’s reboot to a respectable death toll of twelve victims.
Olivia and Natalie are killed by demonic possession, while their Deadites are dispatched via a cistern to the skull and numerous gunshot wounds respectively. The Deadite girl from the opening scene is set on fire and shot, Mia is possessed and buried alive, Eric slowly bleeds to death, and Deadite Eric and David are both burned alive in the cabin’s eventual explosion. Finally, in a gory coup de grâce, the Abomination is split in two by Mia using the iconic chainsaw of the Evil Dead franchise. While they may have high body counts, none of the franchise’s other movies put their characters through this much punishment.
2 Evil Dead Rise – 13 Deaths
2023’s Evil Dead Rise was not quite as committed to boundary-pushing gore gags as 2013’s earlier loose remake, but it was still a memorably nasty thrill ride. While the remake featured less lingering focus on its death, Evil Dead Rise did ramp up the body count with a total of ten people and three Deadites meeting their maker in this one (giving a total of 13 people). Despite Evil Dead Rise’s many unanswered questions, there is no denying that the movie delivered when it came to pure brutality.
Ellie is the first human victim of Evil Dead Rise as she succumbs to demonic possession while trapped in an elevator. Soon, she dispatches Jake via choking (on an eyeball, no less), Gabriel via gory facial trauma, and Mr. Fonda with a stomach slit. Once inside her apartment, Ellie possessed Bridget via a tattoo gun, leading Deadite Bridget to then stab Danny to death. Deadite Bridget, Deadite Danny, and Deadite Ellie all became the Marauder, which the resourceful Beth fed to a wood chipper. As if this weren’t enough, in the opening scene, Jessica was possessed by Deadites, leading her to rip her boyfriend’s head off and scalp her friend.
1 Army of Darkness – 125 Deaths
While Army of Darkness might be a lot lighter and sillier than the rest of the Evil Dead franchise, this does not mean that the sequel is short on kills. If anything, Army of Darkness has many more deaths precisely because it is a funnier, more playful movie. Great swathes of Army of Darkness are taken up by Ash battling skeletons and Deadites with a Medieval army, resulting in large-scale destruction rather than intimate terror. In the melee, forty-three human soldiers, seventy-eight sentient skeletons, and four Deadites are killed. Thus, the Evil Dead franchise’s third movie boasts its highest body count by a wide margin.
