A little over three years ago, I wrote an article on this site on the 10 villains to come out of the Evil Dead series and most of you throughly enjoyed it.

So with the release of Evil Dead Burns, it’s time to talk about those memorable good guys (and girls) who’ve manage to leave an indelible mark of the franchise.

Once again I’ll be focusing on those characters that have appeared on the big and small screen; Also spoiler alert if you’ve never seen the movies or the TV Show as I’ll be going into some important details…With that all out of the way, here’s my list of the 10 best Evil Dead Heroes.

Honorable Mentions

• Alice Price
• El Brujo
• Dalton
• Duke Henry The Red
• The Wiseman

#10. Kassie Bixler (Evil Dead Rises)

After single mother Ellie Bixler turns into a deadite, her youngest daughter Kassie soon becomes one of the survivors and manages to hold her own with the help of her Auntie Beth.

Played by actress Neil Fisher in her film debut, Kassie manages to endure the evil possessing her family by creating a weapon she calls “Staffanie” to temporarily take out her older sister and even helps her aunt in neutralizing her deadite family with a pair of scissors and later a wood chipper.

While it’s unclear what happened to Kassie following the events of the film, the fact she manage to escape with her life and helped in battling the deadites gets her a spot on this list.

#9. Annie Knowby (Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn)

As the daughter of Professor Raymond Knowby, Annie unsurprisingly grew up with an interest in archeology and by the events of Evil Dead 2 she and her male counterpart have returned from England after discovering some lost pages to the Necronomicon Ex Mortis.

Upon returning to her family’s cabin, she soon discovers her father’s obesession with the book has led to her own mother (Henrietta) becoming a deadite locked inside the cellar.

Once more and more people begin dying from the book’s evil, Annie reluctantly teams with Ash Williams in order to send away the darkness; While she and Ash are successful, Annie ends up getting stabbed in the back with the Kandarian Dagger thanks to Ash’s demonic severed hand.

#8. Amanda Fisher (Ash vs. Evil Dead)

When your introduction to the series sees you killing deadites (one of whom is you own partner) then it’s pretty safe to say you entered a whole new world of insanity.

As a Michigan police officer, Amanda Fisher spends the first few episodes looking for Ash Williams as she believe’s his connected to a series of murders occurring in the area. As her journey continues she encounters more Deadites, Ash’s dismembered hand and a middle aged woman by the name of Ruby Knowby before the latter is presumably to be killed.

Upon reaching her target Amanda proceeds to whoop Ash’s butt inside a diner bathroom before realizing he and his friends are trying to stop the evil rather than cause it.

Bizarrely an attraction begins to form between the two, but that is ultimately short lived as an evil version of Ash kills Amanda before returning as a deadite herself, sparking the real Ash Williams to dispatch his one time love interest by the season one finale.

#7. Brandy Barr (Ash vs. Evil Dead)

Imagine going to high school as a student one day and discovering the town’s resident laughingstock is also your estranged father and the same day you learn this, your mother and best friend are both killed as a result of your dad.

This was the reality that Brandy Barr experienced at the start of season three of Ash vs. Evil Dead, and needless to say their relationship is more than a little frosty given Williams’ nickname of ‘Ashy Slashy’ in the community.

As things progress however, Brandy slowy starts to warm up to her dad and refuses to kill him following a violent incident involving an Evil Ash murdering students at prom.

After being killed and later resurrected, Brandy soon embraces her father’s habit of killing deadites and even losing a part of her thumb during an encounter; Thanks to a excellent performance by Arielle Carver-O’Neill, Brandy ended up being a good addition to the team and an impressive ass kicker in her own right.

#6. Mia Allen (Evil Dead: 2013 Remake)

Introduced as a woman suffering from drug addiction as a result of her mother’s failing health and subsequent death, Mia attempts to try and get herself on the straight and narrow once more which leads to her brother and some friends planning a trip to an isolated cabin to kick her addiction.

When it appears that Mia is going into relapse and makes an escape from the cabin, she’s soon encounters a demonic version of herself before getting possessed and becomes the conduit for much the evil talking place in the movie.

She manages to return to her old self thanks to her brother and by the final act of the film she faces the lookalike demon from earlier in a gnarly but blood soaked battle which ends with Mia grabbing a chainsaw and slicing The Abomination in half.

While no follow up on the characters wherebys have been confirmed since the 2013 movie, Jane Levy’s performance as Mia was tremendous as the actress was able to convey: fear, sadism, and heroics all in convincing fashion…Here’s hoping she reappears in a future Evil Dead film.

#5. Beth Bixler (Evil Dead Rises)

Much like Mia Allen, Beth is the sister of another major character who manages reunite with their sibling due to personal reasons after an offscreen incident leads to one of them going away…In Beth’s case she discovers that she is pregnant and needs the help of her sister Ellie who knows a thing or two about raising children as she has three of them.

Things go off the rails when Ellie turns into a deadite and before long two of her kids and some neighbors join her, which leds to Beth and her niece Kassie having to kill their possessed loved ones while also protecting Beth’s unborn child.

Similar to Kassie, Beth’s fate after the events of the Evil Dead Rise remain ambiguous but if the events of the most recent film in the franchise is any indication, we might be seeing the both of them back for a future sequel.

#4. Pablo Bolivar (Ash vs. Evil Dead)

It’s fair to say that Pablo’s journey throughout the three seasons of Ash vs. Evil Dead is behind insane; From plucking Valuestop employee to birthing demons kids out of his mouth to becoming a magic user thanks to his uncle and the fact he dies and gets resurrected at one point…Yeah I said he has gone through some crap alright.

Played wonderfully by actor Ray Santiago, Pablo’s growth in confidence makes it all the more wonderful when he is able to put down the deadites at various points in the show with arguably his biggest moment seeing him ‘temporarily’ destroy the demon Baal whilst reciting incantations in season two.

On top of this, his loyalty to his friends and his awkwardness when trying to ask out Kelly, helps to make Pablo all the more loveable every time his on screen.

#3. David Allen (Evil Dead: 2013 Remake)

The half brother of Mia Allen, David left his sister and mother behind to pursue a job in a different state which kept him out of the loop when it came to his mom’s worsening condition or his sister’s spiral into drub abuse.

When he returns to help with Mia’s road to recovery, he like so many others in the cabin are thrusted into the madness when his sister gets possessed by the Necronomicon.

Despite his hesistance at first, David not only fights back but also manages to save Mia by burying and resurrecting her before going down with the deadites inside the cabin after blasting a gas tank with a shotgun.

Thanks to Shiloh Fernandez’s acting and the writing for this film, David comes off feeling like the main protagonist of the movie, so when his suddenly killed before the final act it makes it all the more gutwrenching.

#2. Kelly Maxwell (Ash vs. Evil Dead)

When we first see Kelly in the TV Series, she is the disinterested eye of affection for Ash Williams who soon gets involved in his crazy world of deadite killing after her resurrected mother kills her Kelly’s father and leads her on a path of vengeance.

Often acting as the more serious member of the group, Kelly on more than one occasion demonstrated her qualities as a badass whether it’s dealing with the undead or the living with a host of weapons like deli slicers to guns to demonic daggers.

In fact at one point the makings of Ash vs. Evil Dead proposed the idea of Kelly being revealed to be Ash’s daughter but those plans were nixxed and instead it was Brandy who became the Ash Williams’ kid by the final season.

It’s probably for the best Kelly didn’t turn out to be Ash’s child, as that meant she became her own character and one who could’ve continued on in a stand alone show of her own.

#1. Ash Williams (The Evil Dead Franchise)

Obvious pick…Yes, but honestly how could it not be

The protagonist of the first three films and the spin-off TV Series, Ash Williams went being a feckless character for much of the first film before ending it covered in blood and more than a little tramatized by the experience.

By the second film onwards Ash’s ability to battle the undead is only matched his delivery of one-liners and physical comedy; While yes the events of the films and TV Show can be traced back to Ash’s short sightedness, many (myself included) can’t help but enjoy the over the top nature of how manages to dispatch the deadites and somehow come out on top…before unintentionally starting the whole thing back up again.

And of course Bruce Campbell’s performance throughout the series has helped to make Ash Williams one of the best characters in the horror movie genre while also making the Evil Dead one of the best franchises of all time…Whether you call him Ash, Ashley, El Jefe or ‘Ashy Slashy’, there is no denying that this chainsaw and boomstrick wielding enthusiast had to be number one.

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