The Boomstick is back!
By Matt Fowler
This Halloween, after more than 20 years (and one notably gory reboot), Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell are back in the saddle again, continuing the bumbling, violent adventures of ruggedly dense hero Ash Williams and his war against dastardly Deadites from beyond. With the franchise now cozily in bed with Starz (which allows for maximum blood spillage) for 10 episodes of Ash vs Evil Dead, dreams have come true for many Evil Dead franchise fans around the globe who’ve been clamoring for a new movie (or a new something) for years and years.
We want to hear it.
And it’s freakin’ great. Now, keep in mind, it’s not going to feel the same. As with most miraculously resurrected nostalgia properties, you’re not going to be able to throw a lasso around all those old feelings and have the stars line up just right. This is twenty plus years later and you’ll be – and it’s funny to say this – watching Ash exist for the first time out of any Deadite context. At least for the first third of this pilot, “El Jefe.”
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We all love Ash, but other than the fact that he once loved a girl named Linda, can take a beating, and has a talent for quippy quotables, we don’t really know him. So Ash vs Evil Dead almost, in a way, introduces us to Ash. You know, shows us how he actually interacts with neighbors, co-workers, and drunken hookups, and not just shrieking demons and/or medieval citizens scared of his boomstick.
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Speaking of Army of Darkness, it’s sort of left out of the equation here. I mean, it’s easy for the viewer to imagine that Ash’s awkward and amazing adventures through time still occurred, it just can’t be brought up (or shown in flashback) here due to some pesky studio rights issues. But the spirit of Army of Darkness is certainly present. Because Ash vs Evil Dead basically combines the slight tonal differences that exist within the franchise. This Ash here, on the show, is the Ash from Army of Darkness. But the gore and more intimate real-world backwoods dangers are from Evil Dead II.
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That being said, this is also a much more out-there and raunchy version of Evil Dead than you’ve ever seen. I’m not talking guts and blood. I’m talking Ash screaming out “F************ck!” after he realizes the Deadites are back (under very funny, totally Ash-type circumstances). I’m talking actually watching Ash in the throes of pumping passion (if that’s a polite enough term for banging a stranger in a bathroom). So even hardcore Evil Dead fans may need to adjust a bit. Though I don’t think any of this could actually be considered unwanted additions to the content.
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The story here is as simple and plain as you could want. Ash is now an aging twit in a trailer park who, when not slacking off as an employee of ValueStop (sorry S-Mart shoppers), is hitting pubs right at closing time to pray on ladies at their most inebriated. Joining him in the bloody fight against the evils that are once again plaguing mankind are Ray Santiago’s “born to be a sidekick” Pablo and Dana Delorenzo’s “born to be Pablo’s object of desire” Kelly. Both co-workers of Ash. One worshiping him, the other barely tolerating him (I’ll let you guess who’s who here).
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In a side story that will probably take a few episodes to merge with Ash’s arc, Jill Marie Jones plays a Michigan State Trooper who runs afoul of some Deadites and begins to track the demon angle from a different end. It’s in her story where we briefly see Lucy Lawless’ character, Ruby, though this episode doesn’t have much to say about who she is yet exactly.
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Much of this first screamingly awesome first episode — which is directed by Sam Raimi — deals with Ash’s refusal to combat the monsters he’s responsible for unleashing. It’s the “reluctant hero” path and it works very well considering how increasingly selfish Ash became throughout the previous movies. Ash vs Evil Dead is a crowd pleaser, designed to provide full-throttle goofiness and thrills along with moments that fans both old and new will love.
We want to hear it.
If there’s one thing that may take getting used to, however, more than other adjustments made for 2015, it’s the use of CGI. Evil Dead is notable for practical, on-set gore and grodiness and here there are times when big splatter moments are left to computer effects. Some moments work fine, but others – most notably some scenes involving a killer doll – feel out of place.
Ash vs Evil Dead works to update (and even mature) the beloved goofy horror franchise while embracing Bruce Campbell’s wicked ability to play a lovable loser besieged on all sides by darkness and demons. Ferocious Halloween fun.
Ash vs Evil Dead premieres Saturday, October 31st on Starz.
