Yeah, but it is still closely connected. Just instead of having him blow the head of the flying deadite and become a hero, he gets captured and sentenced to death. So it wasn't like they started from scratch.

You could actually edit all three Evil Dead films together (I've considered doing this, but never got around to it), snip out a few redundant bits, and end up with one long movie in which the main character ages very rapidly. I'd like to see them keep that trend with ED IV, if it ever gets made.