Is Evil Dead Rise based on a true story?

There’s a new Evil Dead movie hitting screens this week, so is Evil Dead Rise based on a true story?

Evil Dead Rise is the fifth film in the Evil Dead franchise. The first movie was released in 1981. Simple called The Evil Dead, the film’s extreme violence got it banned in the UK, but the splatter-fest quickly became a cult hit.

That was followed by the more comedic Evil Dead II, which is now considered one of the horror-comedy greats. Then Army of Darkness, which was set in the 1300s, and leaned into action. While 2013 reboot Evil Dead went back to basics by being fuelled by straightforward scares.

Now we’ve got Evil Dead Rise, which moves the prime location from a cabin in the woods to an apartment in the city – but is it based on a true story?

Is Evil Dead Rise based on a true story?

No, Evil Dead Rise is not based on a true story. The tale of cursed book unleashing demon Deadites who possess the living is entirely made up. The screenplay was written by the film’s director Lee Cronin, and inspired by the Evil Dead movies that came before.

Indeed, none of the Evil Dead films are based in fact. Director Sam Raimi, producer Rob Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell were looking for a way to make a movie that would make money. They saw potential in the cheap horror flicks that played to packed houses at drive-ins during the late 1970s. And so decided to make a scary movie.

The group had little in the way of resources or money, so decided to make the movie with a small cast, on a tiny budget, and shot it at a cabin in the woods, where they also lived.

And so The Evil Dead was born, with that film’s entirely fictional synopsis as follows: “Five friends travel to a remote cabin in the woods where they play a tape with incantations. This releases the demons which possess them in succession until only one is left fighting for survival.”

What is Evil Dead Rise about?

The official synopsis for Evil Dead Rise is as follows: “Moving the action out of the woods and into the city, Evil Dead Rise tells the twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.”

Writer-director Lee Cronin says that the idea to set it in a high-rise apartment rather than a cabin in the woods was due to a desire to move the franchise in a different direction.

“I’m a fan of the movies, but I had no interest in making another Evil Dead movie at the cabin because they’d done a reboot,” Cronin told IndieWire. “So I wasn’t gonna reboot a reboot. And if you’re gonna change it up, you may as well go to the other end of the spectrum. The top floor of an apartment in downtown LA is about as far as you can get from a cabin in the woods without leaving the planet.”

Evil Dead Rise is in cinemas now. For more on the movie, check out the following features…

Evil Dead Rise review | Runtime explained | Is the movie based on a true story? | Ranking the Evil Dead movies | Bruce Campbell cameo | Is Evil Dead Rise streaming? | Ending explained | Post-credit details | Evil Dead sequel plans