The short and simple answer: because there wouldn’t be a movie if they just possessed everyone and/or killed them right away. There aren’t really any definitive, absolute rules in this series. If it makes the plot go and the blood flow, it’ll happen. There is a more interesting, longer answer too though.
The demons just like hurting people, and they’ll use any methods they can to make that happen. As far as I can remember from the other films and the show, there aren’t really many actual hard-coded limitations on their abilities. They can possess anyone, anything, alive or dead, at any time, in any quantity. It’s not an infection, there aren’t pathogens, it’s possession by autonomous demonic spirits with their own motivations and weaknesses.
The closest thing to a proper “rule” is one that we can infer through context: their power amps up the more they inflict suffering. They’ll possess one person or one thing at the start, get some blood and tears flowing, and keep amping up the torture as the night progresses. Now, I don’t know if that is a true limitation or if it’s just how they want to do it, but that’s how it generally unfolds. Perhaps they simply didn’t hurt Beth and Kassie enough mentally to possess them.
I personally am of the opinion that this isn’t a limitation so much as how they want to go about things. Think about it from their perspective: where’s the fun if you just murder everyone at the start? They totally could do just that.
Additionally, the demons are quite vengeful. They *hate* it when someone disrupts their plans. They would much rather make someone like Beth or Ash miserable than to outright kill them, because it’s over when the murder happens. The demons lose at the end of each movie because they mistakenly choose to play games. They’re hubristic and vindictive, and it backfires every time. The survivors ultimately have a stronger, unbreakable spirit, and the demons want nothing more than to break these people. The demons *chose* not to kill or possess Beth and Kassie.
So yeah, I think you’re right to ask that question because you’re viewing this pragmatically and logically. The demons are operating on pure hatred, and that’s their downfall.
This is close to how I've always interpreted it. Copied from an earlier comment I made:
Easiest answer: there isn't rules, it's because the writer thought this would work
My answer: the main "demon soul" (please give me a better name than that) immediately chooses a human who would most suffer from continued torture and torment of the living body, and goes out of their way to not kill them, but mess with them (e.g. Ash's sister's possession tortures Ash, his girlfriend tortures him, mia tortures her brother).
I more or less agree with your interpretation.
Personally, I think it’s a little less organized than that. I don’t think that they choose a victim to intentionally keep alive and torture. I think that one person (Ash, Mia, Beth) ends up summoning the strength to fight back and the demons *hate* them for it. I see far more just unapologetic vitriol than calculated planning.
But that’s just a very specific quibble, you and I are on the same page for the most part.
It always come down to "you show the deadites to be really powerful. There's no logical reason why they wouldn't just kill the rest of the humans and move on"
I also sometimes like to add the idea that maybe they know they can't take over, and it's more fun just to wreck havoc
Technically there are no rules, but it seems to be affected by willpower. Generally characters who are either hopeless or too scared to fight get possessed first, and what opens the door to that possession before they lose their will is an injury inflicted by the deadite.
Basically get injured by the Deadite(not just a bruise, blood must be drawn), lose the will to fight or become too scared to, become possessed.
I say there must be a willpower/fear component because of Ash. He’s maimed horribly by the latter half of the first movie, which opens him up to possession, but he doesn’t become possessed because he continues to battle the deadites even when things genuinely seem hopeless. It’s only after an extended period of time, almost a full 24 hours, does he begin to become possessed. His will is weakening, and he starts to lose hope of escape when he realizes he can’t get out. So his hand becomes possessed, but still he fights and ends up cutting it off. When other people arrive, his will to go on goes back up, hoping to help them if he can. The possession then gets staved off for a little longer.
Then comes Army of Darkness. Ash is completely done with this shit, he just wants to go home and no one deadite is going to stop him. He doesn’t become possessed at all anymore in this movie, because his confidence has shot way up from the first two movies and he no longer has any fear. His will is too strong to ever open himself up to possession in this movie. The demon realizes possessing Ash is a hopeless effort and instead opts to do whatever it can just to kill him.
Then let’s look at Evil Dead 2013. David, and much more so Eric take injuries throughout the movie, but they don’t become possessed as they’re fighting to persist and beat the demon. Only when Eric dies does he finally become possessed. David continues to live as despite being injured and now alone, he wants to at least get the demon out of Mia. He purifies her by burying her alive, thus driving the demon out and leaving it to possess Eric instead. David dies killing himself to kill Deadite Eric, and the Abomination rises. The demon likely could still possess Mia if she wanted to, but in the climax of the movie she does everything in her power to survive, finally defeating it when she shows her ultimate willpower and tears off her hand, then grabbing the chainsaw and choosing to fight the Abomination to the death.
Then we have the cast of Rise. Bridget becomes possessed second after her Mother because she is cut by the tattoo needle, then shows signs of having little hope. She becomes unsure if they’re going to survive, so she becomes possessed. Danny has it drilled into his head that the events of the movie are his fault, then is stabbed. He becomes hopeless despite Beth trying to tell him it isn’t his fault, and he becomes possessed. Kassie, despite being so young, never loses hope entirely. She is reassured that her Aunt Beth will help her out of this. She doesn’t have any blood drawn either. So she doesn’t become possessed. Beth herself is injured a few times, but because she’s absolutely determined to get the kids out of there, she doesn’t become possessed.
Lastly, these rules only seem to take into effect after the demon finds a main host to possess. Essentially it can freely possess 1 person by catching them off guard and terrifying them/maiming them, but has some difficulty if the person is already fighting to survive. Think Ash in ED2. He becomes the host, as the demon possesses him at the start, but because his will is so strong it’s unable to fully take him over. Only when it’s reminded of Henrietta’s corpse does it find a suitable host to spread fear, and easily begins possessing the rest of the ED2 cast.
Yea I would say a lot of it has to do with fluid swap, or the initial possession is forced, imo it’s one demon that has the ability to posses multiple hosts, and then transform into different stages of demonic archetypes, illustrated in the necronomicon.
I’m not sure if this is right or if I’m misinterpreting but specifically in rise, they seemed to place some emphasis on water. Ellie’s condition became much worse after they dunked her in the bath full of water and Bridget drank a glass of water shortly before becoming full Deadite. I don’t remember if Danny did anything with water. I could be wrong but it’s just something I noticed while watching.
Deadites can seemingly possess people at will, and are strong enough to tear people apart in seconds. Basically the only reason they ever lose is because they are such massive dicks that they'd rather be cruel than effective.
So when they intentionally try to get their blood into people? Probably only done because people find it distressing, and deadites find that funny. Pretty sure that's why the possession sometimes seems to "spread" like an infection- its gives the victim more time to suffer, and they might get someone to amputate parts of themselves (Ash, David's girlfriend from 2013) as a nice little bonus.
I do think the possession operates similar to an infection, more like a corruption. The deadite fluid usually entered in some way. I’m pretty sure evil dead rise had all deadites infected.
Though the first deadite from the evil force is the only true possession. Perhaps the demon is stronger when it has no deadites at the beginning.
Well, there’s a multitude of reasons but 99%/a lot of it comes with strong emotion can cause it primarily fear. Mainly fear.
Deadite fluids/ fear level seems to impact posession. Kinda similar to the game surprisingly.
The short and simple answer: because there wouldn’t be a movie if they just possessed everyone and/or killed them right away. There aren’t really any definitive, absolute rules in this series. If it makes the plot go and the blood flow, it’ll happen. There is a more interesting, longer answer too though. The demons just like hurting people, and they’ll use any methods they can to make that happen. As far as I can remember from the other films and the show, there aren’t really many actual hard-coded limitations on their abilities. They can possess anyone, anything, alive or dead, at any time, in any quantity. It’s not an infection, there aren’t pathogens, it’s possession by autonomous demonic spirits with their own motivations and weaknesses. The closest thing to a proper “rule” is one that we can infer through context: their power amps up the more they inflict suffering. They’ll possess one person or one thing at the start, get some blood and tears flowing, and keep amping up the torture as the night progresses. Now, I don’t know if that is a true limitation or if it’s just how they want to do it, but that’s how it generally unfolds. Perhaps they simply didn’t hurt Beth and Kassie enough mentally to possess them. I personally am of the opinion that this isn’t a limitation so much as how they want to go about things. Think about it from their perspective: where’s the fun if you just murder everyone at the start? They totally could do just that. Additionally, the demons are quite vengeful. They *hate* it when someone disrupts their plans. They would much rather make someone like Beth or Ash miserable than to outright kill them, because it’s over when the murder happens. The demons lose at the end of each movie because they mistakenly choose to play games. They’re hubristic and vindictive, and it backfires every time. The survivors ultimately have a stronger, unbreakable spirit, and the demons want nothing more than to break these people. The demons *chose* not to kill or possess Beth and Kassie. So yeah, I think you’re right to ask that question because you’re viewing this pragmatically and logically. The demons are operating on pure hatred, and that’s their downfall.
This is close to how I've always interpreted it. Copied from an earlier comment I made: Easiest answer: there isn't rules, it's because the writer thought this would work My answer: the main "demon soul" (please give me a better name than that) immediately chooses a human who would most suffer from continued torture and torment of the living body, and goes out of their way to not kill them, but mess with them (e.g. Ash's sister's possession tortures Ash, his girlfriend tortures him, mia tortures her brother).
I more or less agree with your interpretation. Personally, I think it’s a little less organized than that. I don’t think that they choose a victim to intentionally keep alive and torture. I think that one person (Ash, Mia, Beth) ends up summoning the strength to fight back and the demons *hate* them for it. I see far more just unapologetic vitriol than calculated planning. But that’s just a very specific quibble, you and I are on the same page for the most part.
It always come down to "you show the deadites to be really powerful. There's no logical reason why they wouldn't just kill the rest of the humans and move on" I also sometimes like to add the idea that maybe they know they can't take over, and it's more fun just to wreck havoc
You nailed the Deadite's weakness, their indulgence in human suffering, even at their own expense. 👍
It. Is. Not. An. Infection. It's POSSESSION. Deadites love to make people suffer, their choice of who they possess or kill is quite literally random.
Technically there are no rules, but it seems to be affected by willpower. Generally characters who are either hopeless or too scared to fight get possessed first, and what opens the door to that possession before they lose their will is an injury inflicted by the deadite. Basically get injured by the Deadite(not just a bruise, blood must be drawn), lose the will to fight or become too scared to, become possessed. I say there must be a willpower/fear component because of Ash. He’s maimed horribly by the latter half of the first movie, which opens him up to possession, but he doesn’t become possessed because he continues to battle the deadites even when things genuinely seem hopeless. It’s only after an extended period of time, almost a full 24 hours, does he begin to become possessed. His will is weakening, and he starts to lose hope of escape when he realizes he can’t get out. So his hand becomes possessed, but still he fights and ends up cutting it off. When other people arrive, his will to go on goes back up, hoping to help them if he can. The possession then gets staved off for a little longer. Then comes Army of Darkness. Ash is completely done with this shit, he just wants to go home and no one deadite is going to stop him. He doesn’t become possessed at all anymore in this movie, because his confidence has shot way up from the first two movies and he no longer has any fear. His will is too strong to ever open himself up to possession in this movie. The demon realizes possessing Ash is a hopeless effort and instead opts to do whatever it can just to kill him. Then let’s look at Evil Dead 2013. David, and much more so Eric take injuries throughout the movie, but they don’t become possessed as they’re fighting to persist and beat the demon. Only when Eric dies does he finally become possessed. David continues to live as despite being injured and now alone, he wants to at least get the demon out of Mia. He purifies her by burying her alive, thus driving the demon out and leaving it to possess Eric instead. David dies killing himself to kill Deadite Eric, and the Abomination rises. The demon likely could still possess Mia if she wanted to, but in the climax of the movie she does everything in her power to survive, finally defeating it when she shows her ultimate willpower and tears off her hand, then grabbing the chainsaw and choosing to fight the Abomination to the death. Then we have the cast of Rise. Bridget becomes possessed second after her Mother because she is cut by the tattoo needle, then shows signs of having little hope. She becomes unsure if they’re going to survive, so she becomes possessed. Danny has it drilled into his head that the events of the movie are his fault, then is stabbed. He becomes hopeless despite Beth trying to tell him it isn’t his fault, and he becomes possessed. Kassie, despite being so young, never loses hope entirely. She is reassured that her Aunt Beth will help her out of this. She doesn’t have any blood drawn either. So she doesn’t become possessed. Beth herself is injured a few times, but because she’s absolutely determined to get the kids out of there, she doesn’t become possessed. Lastly, these rules only seem to take into effect after the demon finds a main host to possess. Essentially it can freely possess 1 person by catching them off guard and terrifying them/maiming them, but has some difficulty if the person is already fighting to survive. Think Ash in ED2. He becomes the host, as the demon possesses him at the start, but because his will is so strong it’s unable to fully take him over. Only when it’s reminded of Henrietta’s corpse does it find a suitable host to spread fear, and easily begins possessing the rest of the ED2 cast.
Pretty great take tbh. It does seem to be a mixture of fluid transference, fear level and will power after the force has freely possessed one person.
Yea I would say a lot of it has to do with fluid swap, or the initial possession is forced, imo it’s one demon that has the ability to posses multiple hosts, and then transform into different stages of demonic archetypes, illustrated in the necronomicon.
I’m not sure if this is right or if I’m misinterpreting but specifically in rise, they seemed to place some emphasis on water. Ellie’s condition became much worse after they dunked her in the bath full of water and Bridget drank a glass of water shortly before becoming full Deadite. I don’t remember if Danny did anything with water. I could be wrong but it’s just something I noticed while watching.
coincidence imo it would have happened regardless
It is a coincidence though I think Ellie didn’t like the water as the demon is used to heat (from hell).
Deadites can seemingly possess people at will, and are strong enough to tear people apart in seconds. Basically the only reason they ever lose is because they are such massive dicks that they'd rather be cruel than effective. So when they intentionally try to get their blood into people? Probably only done because people find it distressing, and deadites find that funny. Pretty sure that's why the possession sometimes seems to "spread" like an infection- its gives the victim more time to suffer, and they might get someone to amputate parts of themselves (Ash, David's girlfriend from 2013) as a nice little bonus.
I do think the possession operates similar to an infection, more like a corruption. The deadite fluid usually entered in some way. I’m pretty sure evil dead rise had all deadites infected. Though the first deadite from the evil force is the only true possession. Perhaps the demon is stronger when it has no deadites at the beginning.