The Evil Dead Trilogy Continuity Cut

I recently purchased and watched, for the first time, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II and Army Of Darkness all in the same day. I really loved The Evil Dead and was curious to find out how Raimi was going to continue the story after what happened to Ash in the final scene. When I popped in Evil Dead II, to my dismay, key details from the original seemed to be disregarded (I know Raimi couldn’t use footage from the original but still). After initially being taken out of the movie, I accepted the fact that it was a quasi-remake and had a blast with it. I loved the ending and because I vaguely knew Army Of Darkness took place in the same setting I thought for sure the two would fit together quite nicely. When I popped in Army Of Darkness, to my dismay, the ending of Ash taking out the flying demon and the soldiers worshipping him in Evil Dead II was completely dropped. After the initial minor disappointment, I got over it and thought it was extremely groovy. Now I know what some of you might say to my reactions, “They’re just campy horror flicks, continuity be damned!” and I can understand that, to a certain extent, and I do love them just as they are now however the trilogy’s continuity incompatibilities have inspired me to want to re-edit Evil Dead II and Army Of Darkness in order for all three in the series to fit together as much as possible. Even Bruce Campbell himself mentioned to Raimi the potential for a re-edit of the series on the Army Of Darkness commentary.

So, here are some preliminary editing ideas I’ve had so far. The Evil Dead ends with that cool shot through the cabin and ends when the camera collides with Ash. The retelling of the awakening of the deadites in Evil Dead II can be completely cut out as well as the recreated cabin shot. The film can now begin with Ash flying through the forest and crashing into a tree. Everything plays as normal until Ash encounters the evil house. Cut out Ash trying to leave in his car because from the original, he already knows that the bridge is out. The shot of Ash saying something like “Get a hold of yourself.” in the bridge sequence with forest behind him can be used next (you don't actually see the bridge in the shot) as well as the following shot of the sun going down though it should be cut before we see the car in the shot. Cut out Ash trying to rush back in his car. Use the shot of the evil force crashing through Ash’s car (you can see smoke near the front of the car in that shot because in the original cut he crashed but other such smoke is seen in the woods so it can be written off as fog). Use footage of Ash running briefly and then cut to the tail end of the shot of Ash crashing into the tree (originally because he was ejected from his car but in this cut it can double as him tripping into the tree). Let the rest of the movie play as normal until the ending. Ash gets sucked into the portal like normal but the movie ends with the flash before Ash falls from the sky in the past.

Cut out the intro of Army Of Darkness and begin the movie with the flash and Ash falling to the ground with his car. Let the rest of the movie play as normal until the ending. Use the international/original ending of Ash isolating himself from the world in the cave and taking the sleeping drops. Show the transitions of time and his increasing beard but this time cut to the US theatrical ending in the S-Mart. Once he kisses the girl have him awake from his slumber in the cave (it was only a dream). Continue with the rest of the future ending. What do you think?