4. Ash Cuts Off His Arm – Evil Dead II (1987)
When it comes to movie moments that changed their franchise and its future, there are few as clear cut as Evil Dead II‘s. After the admittedly genius but fairly straightforward horror of The Evil Dead, the sequel took a more comedic approach. This might have been the most obvious change, but there’s also a specific moment in the film that shapes everything still to come.
After tampering with powerful and evil supernatural forces (again), Ash Williams finds himself possessed by a demon. Even as chaos unfolds around him, he is forced to fight against the possession, but is attacked by his own hand. Seeing no other choice, Ash severs it with a chainsaw, then continues fighting.
The decision to cut off his own hand not only sets Ash Williams apart from most horror movie heroes, but it comes to define him. In subsequent titles, he cycles through various unlikely prosthetics, most notoriously attaching the chainsaw to his own bloodied stump. Though it might seem somewhat innocuous at first, it’s one of those moments that changed the franchise forever.