The Evil Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

The Evil Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

(Steel)book of the dead.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 2, 2026

A sleeper hit in its day and a dry run for its own "requel" (in star Bruce Campbell's own words), writer/director Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead might be one of the most widely-owned NC-17 films of all time. Darker in tone than that 1987 follow-up and just as relentlessly gory, it liberally borrows from the early films of Wes Craven, Brian De Palma, and of course Tobe Hooper, serving up a story loaded with popular horror tropes from that era while infusing its visuals with gushy practical effects and creative cinematography. Now celebrating its 45th anniversary, Sony celebrates with a near-perfect 4K/Blu-ray Steelbook combo pack that fully replaces the last domestic home video release: Lionsgate's 2018 4K/Blu-ray combo pack, which has since gone way out of print alongside these two collections.

That's a decently smooth segue to the long-established tradition that, alongside its celebrated follow-ups Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn and 1992's Army of Darkness, The Evil Dead is one of the most well-represented titles on home video to date. Its familiar story should thus be well-known by now... but if for whatever reason you're new to this 1981 film, two different synopses and appreciations can be found in Jeffrey Kauffman's above-linked 4K review as well as a 2010 Blu-ray enthusiastically covered by Martin Liebman. I lean towards Jeff's take on the film and consider The Evil Dead a solid genre classic; not so much for its baseline story, but for its outstanding atmosphere and commitment to intensity which are all expertly maintained on an ultra-low budget. Simply put, it does an awful lot with a little.

The Evil Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: These screenshots are sourced from the included Blu-ray copy of the film, which is based on the 4K master. Both discs also present The Evil Dead in its original, uncropped 1.33 aspect ratio, as God intended.

Though I don't have Lionsgate's 4K disc on-hand for a direct comparison and Sony's press materials were incredibly vague about technical specifics, this 2160p/HDR10/Dolby Vision transfer of The Evil Dead looks mighty good indeed. (Based on a few screenshots strewn around the Interwebs, it unsurprisingly shares a lot of similarities with that older release as well as this import.) That's another way of saying that looks to be extremely faithful to its 16mm roots with an abundance of natural grain and a stock-specific color palette that hasn't been manipulated in any perceivable way. Fine detail varies depending on the location and lighting levels, with certain close-ups looking suitably crisp and others running soft due to focus and other variables. Black levels run nice and deep, which is especially important given the location and subject matter, which features an abundance of heavy shadows and spooky surprises. Disc encoding looks to be solid too: it consistently runs at a high and supportive bit rate on this dual-layered disc, thanks of course to the film's short running time, and shows no obvious compression-related issues during even the densest fog.

The accompanying Blu-ray represents a relatively trouble-free downscale to 1080p/SDR; not surprisingly, most of the inherent limitations here are fully tied to the format, as the lack of HDR doesn't produce as flawless and smooth of an image where harsh gradients and color variables are concerned. Additionally, some of the more challenging conditions (fog, deep shadow) look a bit chunkier here with trace amounts of macro blocking, no doubt due to the film and all of its bonus features (listed below) being squeezed onto a 50GB disc. Even so, I doubt many are buying this for the Blu-ray, and even with those stray flaws in mind, this "backup disc" still produces a largely great-looking image.

The Evil Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The default option here is a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix that, on paper, sounds like it should be an identical port of Lionsgate's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, but apparently this release -- like the import linked above -- fixes a prevailing pitch issue that was never corrected. Otherwise, please see our review of that 2018 4K release for a general idea of what to expect here, which basically is a remixed version of the film's original mono audio. While that one-channel track still isn't included here, Sony has at least offered a slightly more accurate DTS-HD 2.0 Surround option, which obviously scales back several of the more egregious revisions to the theatrical experience (and perhaps even more so, if you disable ProLogic on your receiver) while still offering clear left-right channel separation as well as a few "sweetened" surround effects. I have to give this a 4.5/5 rating to match our earlier release even though it's technically better due to the secondary 2.0 option, because it could never get a 5/5 without the original mono mix.

A variety of foreign language tracks is also here -- one of them being German mono, which is a major buzzkill -- and optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are offered during the main feature and most extras listed below.

The Evil Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release arrives in a really slick matte-finish Steelbook with silvery reflective elements and red-tinted original poster artwork on the front cover. On the back is a full body shot of Ash bearing a rifle and axe in the group's makeshift graveyard, lit mostly by moonlight. The interior splash image merges the two, returning to the graveyard with the cover image bearing a more Earth-toned color palette. Both discs sit on overlapping hubs on the right side. This is a great design overall; it's very respectful of classic imagery, but stylish all the same.

As for the bonus features, Lionsgate's 2018 4K/Blu-ray combo pack famously jettisoned a massive variety of legacy supplements which, until now, were mostly confined to various DVD editions. The only thing it had was the below audio commentary, which here is only presented -- along with other returning extras - on the Blu-ray movie disc. Sony has done a decent job of gathering old, abandoned material in recent years and, while it's far from definitive due to rights issues (various featurettes, commentaries produced by other studios), there's still plenty to dig through here.

• Audio Commentary - This excellent legacy track features Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, and the only thing wrong with it is that it's not also available on the 4K disc. What gives?

• NEW? Picture-in-Picture: Join Us! The Undying Legacy of The Evil Dead - Another feature-length extra locked on Blu-ray, this one's a bit of a mystery. I couldn't find any evidence that this obviously recent extra was included on any previous domestic home video release, but it's not advertised as new on the packaging or press materials. In any case, brief interview snippets pop up during the film (along with text identifiers) that feature filmmaker Stuart Gordon, The Blair Witch Project's Dan Myrick, Scott "Fake Shemp" Spiegel, Alexandre Aja, and a few others gushing about The Evil Dead and its influence, and you can even chapter-skip between all of these 60-odd segments. But depending on your setup, you may have trouble with this one: my 4K player (ironically, a Sony) did not load the extra "layer" properly, but my LG Blu-ray player ran it just fine.

The below included features were covered in Martin Liebman's review of the 2010 Blu-ray.

• One by One We Will Take You: The Untold Saga of The Evil Dead (53:44)

• Treasure from the Cutting Room Floor (59:22)

• At the Drive-In (12:02)

• Discovering Evil Dead (13:04)

• Make-Up Test (1:06)

• Trailer and TV Spots (5 clips, 4:00 total)

The Evil Dead 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sony's new 4K/Blu-ray Steelbook combo pack of Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead is yet another home video release of this immortal low-budget horror classic. It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn close with a solidly satisfying A/V presentation (despite the continued lack of original mono audio) and a decently comprehensive set of bonus features, all wrapped up in slick packaging. I'll probably see you again in five years... but until then, this one's Highly Recommended.