Something that “Evil Dead Rise” does that will no doubt cause discussion among fans is following up on a loose plot thread from 1992’s “Army of Darkness.” We found out for sure that there is not just one Necronomicon, but at least three. What this means is that, in theory, every entry in the “Evil Dead” franchise, which had a pretty bad timeline due to its distribution issues, can exist in the same timeline. Perhaps one of those books was the one that tortured Ash throughout those first three movies and maybe even “Ash vs Evil Dead,” while another was the one that was discovered in the booth of the 2013 reimagining.
“Evil Dead Rise” returning to the idea of multiple Necronomicons is a very clever idea that allows the franchise to move forward with loosely connected entries. This is exemplified by the further confirmation that each Book of the Dead follows different rules. For example, we hear one of the meddlesome priests in “Evil Dead Rise” say that Deadites cannot be exorcised via live burial, which was seen in the 2013 movie as the only true cure for possession of that. book.