Welcome to Horror Press’s Horror 101, a series of articles where we explain horror movie legends and their lore. For beginners, the confused, or just those who need a refresher, these articles are for you.

In preparation for Evil Dead Rise releasing in April, today we delve into the Evil Dead franchise’s most iconic villains, explaining their origins, powers, and continuity. So, let’s begin with a question many viewers might ask…

WHAT IS THE KANDARIAN DEMON?

Simply put, the Kandarian Demon is THE big bad of most of the Evil Dead series. Best known for torturing Ash Williams and company through three films, a television series, and numerous games of dubious canonicity, it doesn’t seem to have many goals outside of causing The Chosen One (and any human it can get its non-existent hands-on) as much suffering as possible.

Though it is usually an invisible, incorporeal force, it can manifest as a living dust storm. It can take on a physical form as seen in Evil Dead 2, where it makes a body for itself out of the trees surrounding Knowby Cabin.

The Kandarian Demon is no slouch, even without its body. It has considerable telekinetic abilities, uprooting entire trees and moving at incredible speeds, as seen in the series’ signature point-of-view shots. Chief among its powers is its infamous ability to create possessed humans (sometimes live, sometimes dead, always grody) known as Deadites. More on this later.

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

Due to the wishy-washy nature of the film’s canon and timelines…this is harder to explain. First, we need to talk about the iconic Necronomicon Ex Mortis, the demon’s only method of being summoned.

The Necronomicon, or Naturom Demonto, was written by the Dark Ones, an order of demons who first penned the tome to control other demons and open passage to dark worlds beyond. When the Dark One who would come to be known as Ruby, lost the book, it would later be unearthed by archaeology professor Raymond Knowby and end up at Knowby Cabin. But from here, it gets more complicated.

The Kandarian Demon’s first technical appearance is when Ash accidentally summoned it during Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, beginning the demon’s obsession with killing and possessing him. In Evil Dead 2, Annie Knowby uses the Necronomicon and launches both Ash and the Kandarian Demon into the past in an effort to destroy the demon. This only succeeded in landing them in England, where it would get its namesake from Castle Kandar, home of King Arthur.

Following the events of Army of Darkness, the Necronomicon would then be sealed in Castle Kandar following Ash’s victory…only to be discovered by Raymond Knowby in the present day, which in turn causes the events of Evil Dead& Evil Dead 2 to occur, starting the time loop all over.

It’s a very, “Which came first, the chicken or the chainsaw hand?” situation.

All that really is to say the Kandarian Demon, like the Necronomicon itself, is seemingly beyond time and space and possibly has multiple iterations of itself, unlike the Necronomicon’s uncertain number of copies.

…SO, WHAT’S A DEADITE THEN?

Deadites are the undead, monstrous servants of the Kandarian Demon. Created when a human is violated by the demon (through both traditional and more violent means of possession), the dark spirits corrupt humans to their very core. A Deadite is a demonic force of nature hellbent on torturing its victims and consuming their souls.

Though on a surface level, they resemble your typical zombies with rotten-looking flesh, sunken features, and pure white eyes, they are far from your average shambling undead. Deadites exhibit enhanced strength, invulnerability to pain, and superhuman durability. They can move at high speeds and on occasion, levitate. Even after being dismembered, Deadites can control their severed limbs.

It’s never explained fully whether each Deadite is an individual spirit, though Deadites occasionally use “we” in reference to the actions of an individual, suggesting a hivemind consciousness working in service of the Kandarian Demon. All that matters is their unified goal: desecrating human life in as many ways as it can.

HOW ARE THEY MADE?

While the Kandarian Demon can make Deadites with little effort by assaulting someone in its incorporeal form, Deadites can also create more of themselves by attacking other humans. While the most notable instance of this is the viral bite that forced Ash to sever his hand and replace it with that sweet, sweet chainsaw, any attack that breaks the skin or kills its victim should also suffice.

HOW DO YOU KILL THEM?

Simple! Have a magic knife.

The Kandarian Dagger, another of Raymond Knowby’s discoveries, is the most potent weapon against most if not all, demons. Carved from bone, the artifact cuts through the demon’s many invulnerabilities.

Barring that? Deadites are dispatched most commonly through dismemberment, capped off by destroying the head. Sunlight also causes the Kandarian Demon to retreat and reverses Ash’s possession in the second film, but most Deadites seem to have shed this particularly weakness by the time of Ash Versus Evil Dead.

Whether Ash will ever actually finish off the Kandarian Demon and its forces, however, is uncertain…

AND IN THE EVIL DEAD REBOOT?

Though Deadites retained their most important qualities (except for those pure white eyes), the main villain of the remake is a different beast altogether. The entity in the Fede Alvarez masterpiece Evil Dead (2013) is not the Kandarian Demon but is a being known as the Taker of Souls. Still, it’s not that big of a stretch to assume they’re of the same or a similar species, given their comparable levels of power and similar means of operation.

Whether the upcoming Evil Dead Rise will show us the Kandarian Demon’s return, the Taker of Souls next attempt at taking form, or a new beast altogether hasn’t been confirmed.

…IS JASON A DEADITE?

No.

The answer is no.

I will personally fight Adam Marcus on this.

No.

And that will be it for today’s Horror History 101 lesson. See you in the next class, and stay tuned for more content concerning horror movies, television, and everything in between!