Ash vs Evil Dead: The Complete First Season
Created by: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Tom Spezialy
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
At long last the long talked about next sequel to the Evil Dead movies has come out. Sort of. Thanks to the explosion of horror on TV, someone (Starz) was willing to take a chance of this fan favorite I.P., even if, in all honesty, it only ever had a cult fan base. Yeah, sorry Ash-holes (and I do count myself among you) that’s the facts. Furthermore, it had been 24 years since the last movie, and the butt-kicking, smartass star of the show was now a stately 58. Could Bruce Campbell still pull off the awesomeness that was Ash? Would anyone still care enough (other than the aforementioned cult of fans) to justify bringing this show out? Well grab your copy of the Necronomicon, your chainsaw hand, and your favorite boom stick and let’s get groovy. Oh, and find out.
Even though more than two decades had passed, you wouldn’t know it when the first episode of this season began. Besides being a bit older, grayer, and fatter (hey, they make more than one joke about all three of those, so don’t hate on me), Ash is pretty much still Ash. A lovable (when not being a selfish, cowardly jerk) loser with a dead-end job and very small dreams. In typical Ash fashion, thanks to alcohol, drugs, and the lure of easy women, he reads from the Necronomicon and BOOM!, the deadites are back in business. Now it is up to Ash and a couple of his coworkers to save the day. Added to this mix is a lady cop out for answers, a Mexican shaman with real mojo, a mysterious woman on the hunt, and more deadites and demons than you can shake a shotgun at.
What sells this show and makes it mandatory viewing is, first and foremost, the comedic ham that is Bruce Campbell. There is a reason he, and this character, is so beloved by the fans. Although the man has some more mileage on him since last he slipped on the old chainsaw, he doesn’t miss a beat here. Campbell nails this performance from the first episode to the last. Then there is the glorious amounts of gore splattered all over, which is bloody to a ridiculous degree. Think more Evil Dead 2 than Army of Darkness, and you’ll have the right idea. Now there is some CGI used here and there (boo, hiss) but by and large the splatstick is practical. The humor is on point, the costars and secondary characters all deliver, and with each episode only being about a half hour long, nothing ever feels padded, overlong, or out stays its welcome. The direction is all top notch, too, with Sam Raimi himself directing the pilot, and the rest all living up to that high standard.
Speaking of standards, let’s see how the extras on this new 2-disc Blu-ray set from Anchor Bay and Starz stack up. Each episode has its own commentary track, with a revolving cast of commentators. Sam Raimi and his brother, Ivan, are in for the first episode, the one Sam directed. Longtime producer Robert Tapert is in for two. Lucy Lawless is likewise in for two and actress Jill Marie is on three. Star Bruce Campbell is in a respectable eight episode commentaries, that’s well over half, and costars Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo are the most game, being in all but one of the commentary tracks. There are also three featurettes: “Ash: Inside the World” is a 16 minute look at all the episodes of the first season; “How to Kill a Deadite” is a two and a half minute look on all the ways Ash and Co have to deal with the titular Evil Dead; and “Best of Ash” is a minute and a half round up of some of the best one-liners delivered by Bruce Campbell during this show.
Honestly, there’s not much I can complain about when it comes to this new series. If you are a fan of the Evil Dead movies, Bruce Campbell, or just over-the-top silly, gory goodness, you’ll get a kick out of Ash vs Evil Dead. A second season is about to come out, but before that happens, make sure you get this and either catch up, or relive Ash’s big, triumphant, 24-years-in-the-making return. Consider Ash vs Evil Dead highly recommended.
