October begins and it’s the month of Halloween, so what
better time than now to highlight a horror series that recently made its way to
disc. Fans of EVIL DEAD 1 & 2 and ARMY OF DARKNESS have thrilled to the
horrific and yet humorous adventures of Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) since the
first film arrived way back in 1981. Praised by Stephen King, loved by fans and
a nominee on nearly every list of favorite horror films, the original played
for scares while the two sequels more for laughs. They launched the career of
Sam Raimi to the point he directed 3 Spider-man films. And now Ash has made his
way to series and a disc set.
A basis overview of the original: Ash and friends discover
an ancient book bound in flesh that when read aloud unleashed a demonic evil
that kills his friends. Ash ends up having to cut off his own hand and take on
the demon alone, even going back in time to do so. A quick summation but all
you need.
In the Starz series ASH VS EVIL DEAD the story picks up
years later. Ash remains one handed, still works a low level job in retail and
retains possession of the Necronomicon or Book of the Dead. He’s still the same
goofy character we came to love years ago, smart mouthed, subtle as a shovel to
the head and more inclined to look for a party than trouble. Unfortunately one
drunken hookup has Ash bragging and showing off the book to his conquest of the
night and then reading from it. Of course this show off stunt unleashes the
Deadites (Evil dead bad guys/demons) again.
Various Deadite occurrences follow. One involves police
detective Amanda Fisher (Jill Marie Jones) and her partner investigating a dark
house. Her partner is killed and then possessed by a Deadite forcing her to
shoot him to defend herself. Put on leave she begins to look into any and all
clues on her own time to find out just what’s going on, eventually leading her
to Ash.
But Ash has his own problems when Deadites attack the store
where he works. With the help of co-worker Pablo (Ray Santiago) who worships
Ash and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) they escape to his trailer where he hopes to
find a way of destroying the book. At that trailer they are attacked and the
two youngsters get to see Ash in action as he grabs his “boomstick” aka shotgun
to take out one Deadite and straps on his chainsaw to the stump where his hand
once was to take down another. Yes, that may sound crazy but it works.
And like that the threesome is destined to take the path of
trying to save the world. With a few stops along the way like checking on
Kelly’s family and a visit to Pablo’s shaman uncle. Each 30 minute episode
takes us down the road they’re traveling and offers us more clues as to what is
going on and how to stop it. The end result is that Ash must face the
responsibility he’s been trying to avoid all these years and become the hero he
was meant to be, albite a tarnished one at best.
The show takes the best parts of the original trilogy and
multiplies them to a point where they work marvelously well. The character of
Ash is a hoot, with a ton of humor on the surface and a hero buried underneath
it all that just needs brought out. Pablo is a fantastic sidekick, wanting to
join the good fight for the wrong reason (to get closer to Kelly) but willing
to follow Ash anywhere. And Kelly offers that tough girl exterior who has a
soft spot as well, who thinks of Pablo as a brother but who may change
eventually. While Ash doesn’t want their help initially he eventually knows
he’ll need it.
Every actor in this series is well suited for their parts.
Let me say up front as a fan of Campbell he once again brings Ash to life, and
I mean that in a good way. He offers the broad strokes when needed and the
subtle ones when called for. Ash is the reluctant hero, a man whose crass ways
lead him to make mistakes but someone you’d want in your corner once he gets
there. Santiago and DeLorenzo are fresh faces to me and handle their roles well
enough to keep up with Campbell, growing into them with each episode.
The first season now on disc only lasts 10 episodes which is
a shame. When it was over I found myself wanting more. Season 2 has just
started on Starz but I can wait for the season to make its way to disc. That
means I can take the time to savor each episode. I can also enjoy the fact that
they’ve announced Lee Majors to portray Ash’ father! In the meantime I think
I’ll find myself watching this one more than once, just like I did the original
movies. Maybe a weekend of EVIL DEAD with all three films and this series is in
order. That might make a fun filled Halloween weekend. This is one not to rent
but to add to your shelf. The combination of horror, extreme gore and laughs
make it just that good.
Click here to order.
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