From Starz, creator Sam Raimi and showrunner Craig DiGregorio comes the Ash Vs. Evil Dead TV series. It stars Bruce Campbell, Lucy Lawless, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, Lee Majors and Ted Raimi. The TV series follows the iconic Ash as he comes out of retirement to battle the deadites once more. Season three returns October, 2017.
Ash has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead until a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind and Ash becomes mankind’s only hope.
Television’s craziest horror series just delivered one of the most bonkers all-out-gore soaked laugh riots of 2016. Ash Vs Evil Dead season 2 picks up after Ash’s absurd deal with the devilish Ruby is broken when her demon spawn turn against her and try to have the book of the dead for themselves. Ruby can’t fight them on her own so she needs to enlist Ash, Kelly and Pablo. The foursome head back to Ash’s hometown of Elk Grove to confront the demonic deadites and a plethora of new enemies along the way.
Series showrunner Craig DiGregorio announced ahead of the finale that this would be his final season working on the show, which is a damn shame. He will wind up replaced with Battlestar Galactica and Daredevil producer Mark Verheiden for season 3. Apparently since the beginning of the show, producer Rob Tapert disagreed with most of DiGregorio’s creative ideas, continuously calling them “Not Evil Dead enough” etc. That criticism included the masterful morgue scene where Ash wears a goddamn dead body as a colon hat and fights with a fanged ass monster in what is hands down the most vile and funniest scene in franchise history. Not sure what the hell Tapert is trying to accomplish by denying such genius like that, but he wound up getting his way in the finale which saw the series move into darker territory and stay at the cabin once again (a repeat in some ways of the season one two-part finale).
Bruce Campbell was put through the ringer this season, getting sprayed with shit, blood and even deadite breast milk. It was a depraved rollercoaster chalk full of human remains and I have to believe that Campbell got that garbage in his mouth more than a few times… What Campbell has done to himself for the fans in Ash Vs Evil Dead is nothing short of spectacular, because he has suffered more disgusting blood-drenched shitshows than any other performer in all of television.
I quite enjoyed the return to Elk Grove this season, as we get to see Ash’s father, played by the Million Dollar Man himself Lee Majors. It was an aspect of the franchise we have yet to explore – to see what the town thinks of Ash after the events of the first two Evil Dead films. Because all that anyone really knows, is that Ash likely murdered his sister and all of those other people at the cabin but got off charges due to inconclusive evidence. Who would believe him that demons possessed these people? Right? It was a very interesting angle to see Ash being shamed in his hometown as “Ashy Slashy” the serial killer. PS: When Ash’s father finally accepts his son and the truth about what really happened only for “that” thing to happen? I laughed my ass off for a good 20 minutes over that twist. Genius writing – man oh man I hope the new guy can do as good of a job as DiGregorio and his team.
The stakes have been raised significantly this season, with more over-the-top violence and insane practical effects, with plenty of laughs along the way. Ash Vs Evil Dead is a gift from the B-Movie heavens and a show that was made FOR THE FANS, in every aspect. I love this show and I wish it all the best even with the creative differences which you can tell impacted the finale and potentially the course of the series going ahead. I’m not interested in a darker, more grim Evil Dead sequel – I love that the vibe so far is more Evil Dead 2 than Evil Dead 1…. So here’s hoping they don’t stray from the winning formula that has made the series a showstopper thus far.
Rating: [star rating=”4″]