Review Ash vs Evil Dead (2015)

[Doctor Omega]

Ash vs Evil Dead is an American comedy horror television series developed by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, and Tom Spezialy for the Starznetwork filmed in New Zealand. It is set in Raimi's Evil Dead universe, with Bruce Campbell reprising his role as Ash Williams, and acts as a sequel to the original trilogy.

Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, and Lucy Lawless also star. The series is executive produced by Campbell, Raimi, Craig DiGregorio, and Robert Tapert, who produced all four Evil Dead films.[3] The series premiered on October 31, 2015. Three days before the series' premiere, Starz renewed it for a second season, which premiered on October 2, 2016. On October 7, 2016, while at the New York Comic Con, Starz announced that the series had been renewed for a third season,[4] which premiered on February 25, 2018.[5] It was canceled on April 20, 2018.


Premise

The series is set approximately 30 years after the first three Evil Dead films, and serves as a sequel to that trilogy. Ash Williams works at the "Value Stop" as a simple stock boy. Also working at the store is his friend Pablo and the object of Pablo's affections, Kelly. Ash has seemingly done very little with his life since returning from 1300 AD at the end of Army of Darkness, and the beginning of the series sees him living in a trailer and drinking alone in bars. However, Ash must soon renounce his routine existence and become a hero once more by taking up arms and facing the titular Evil Dead. Pablo and Kelly decide to join him on his quest to save humanity.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Main cast

• Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams: Ash has changed in the 30 years since Army of Darkness. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Campbell stated, "Ash has survivor's guilt. You could have a heyday with his PTSD. He's a war vet. He doesn't want to talk about it, and he'll lie about that stump on his hand to impress the ladies. This is a guy who's got some issues. He's emotionally stunted. But, he's the guy you want in the foxhole next to you."[7] Over the course of season one, it is revealed that following the events of the film trilogy, Ash spent thirty years drifting from town to town, living in a mobile home trailer, with his pet lizard, Eli, and working a series of dead-end jobs at different branches of Value Stop. Ash has attempted to destroy the Necronomicon on multiple occasions. Unable to be rid of the book, he instead becomes its de facto caretaker. In season two, it is revealed that Ash had returned to his hometown of Elk Grove, Michigan, after the events of the films. The people of Elk Grove refused to believe his stories of Deadites, and instead accused him of murdering his friends and his sister in the cabin, shunned him, and dubbed him "Ashy Slashy".
• Ray Santiago as Pablo Simon Bolivar:[8] A co-worker who became Ash's loyal sidekick. Pablo believed that Ash is a true hero, and called him "El Jefe" ("The Boss") as a mark of respect. Santiago describes his character as an "El Jefe in-training". He was raised by his uncle, a shaman, who told him stories of an evil power which can only be defeated by "El Jefe". He fights valiantly alongside Ash and Kelly before being torn to ribbons by the demon Baal, but was resurrected thereafter.
• Dana DeLorenzo as Kelly Maxwell/Sorceress Kaya:[9] An occasionally moody and initially reluctant young woman, Kelly is dragged into the fight against evil with Ash and Pablo after she is orphaned. She and her family are Jewish, and she temporarily worked at the Value Stop with Ash and Pablo. Her mother died in a car accident some six months prior to the beginning of the series.
• Jill Marie Jones as Amanda Fisher (season 1)[10] A Michigan State Trooper who set out to find Ash following the death of her partner.
• Lucy Lawless as Ruby Knowby/Rebecca Prevett:[11] A mysterious figure who is on a quest to hunt down the source of the recent evil outbreaks. She claims to be the daughter of Professor Raymond Knowby and sister of Annie Knowby from Evil Dead II.[12] She is later revealed to be an immortal being who wrote the Necronomicon.
• Michelle Hurd as Linda Bates-Emery (season 2): Ash's high school girlfriend who is now married to Emery, the sheriff of Elk Grove, and has a daughter, Lacey. She is one of the few people in Elk Grove happy to see Ash return.
• Ted Raimi as Chet Kaminski (season 2) A hard-partying old childhood friend of Ash's who was secretly intimate with Ash's sister, Cheryl, thirty years prior, and pays the ultimate price for it.
• Pepi Sonuga as Lacey Emery (season 2) Thomas' and Linda's 17-year-old daughter who becomes possessed by Kandarian spirits and is killed by Kelly.
• Arielle Carver-O'Neill as Brandy Barr (season 3) Ash's long-lost daughter, a smart middle-class American high school senior whose life is upended when she finds herself caught up in violent demonic events that result in her mother's death.
• Lindsay Farris as Dalton (season 3) A member of the Knights of Sumeria, an ancient order dedicated to battling evil.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Recurring cast

• Samara Weaving as Heather (season 1) The sole survivor of a hiking group, she is rescued by Pablo and Kelly when they reach the cabin. She is later indirectly killed by Ruby when the evil is set loose.
• Hemky Madera as El Brujo (season 1, 3) Pablo's shaman uncle, Ash, Pablo and Kelly go to him for help against the Kandarian Demon. He is killed by the demon Eligos when he performs an exorcism on Kelly to release her from Eligos' thrall.
• Lee Majors as Brock Williams (season 2, 3) Ash's father, whom Ash has not seen in 30 or so years, since the events of Evil Dead.[13][14] It is from his father that Ash got his bad habits (debauchery, etc.), and it's hinted that he has stolen girls/women from Ash in the past (i.e. his son's old high school P.E. teacher, Lillian Pendergrast). His day job is as a hardware store owner; his slogan is "Brock Williams - has wood - call me." He blames Ash for the death of his daughter, Cheryl, but then, minutes before being killed by his son's possessed Oldsmobile 88, comes to realize that his boy was actually a hero.
• Stephen Lovatt as Sheriff Thomas Emery (season 2) The husband of Linda whom Ash used to pick on in highschool. He is now the strict sheriff of Elk Grove.
• Joel Tobeck as Baal (season 2) A diabolical demon and Ruby's ex-husband who wants the Necronomicon for his own nefarious purposes. His abilities include using lust to manipulate others, possessing human bodies and the ability to slow down time near a target where he can converse with or injure said target. When Baal is using this power nobody seems to be able to see him besides the person he is interacting with. Ruby has also mentioned that he is impervious to physical attacks and can only be harmed through mystic or spiritual means.
• Emilia Burns as Zoë (Season 3), a Knight of Sumeria who helps Ash in his crusade. She ends up being the sole survivor of her knight squadron.
• Katrina Hobbs as Candance Barr (Season 3), An ex-girlfriend of Ash's who is the mother of their daughter Brandy. Ash married in Las Vegas when they were drunk. She was later killed by a deadite before becoming one herself at her own funeral.
• Samantha Young as Natalie (Season 3), A woman who Ruby kidnaps and hold hostage be a sort-of babysitter for her spawn. She is later killed by the demonic baby.

Special guests[edit]

• Rebekkah Farrell as Linda (season 1)
• Ellen Sandweiss returning as Cheryl Williams (season 2) from the original Evil Dead movie.
• Nicholas Hope as Professor Raymond Knowby (season 2)
• Alison Quigan (normal form) and Ted Raimi (Deadite form) as Henrietta Knowby (season 2)
• Kelvin Taylor as an Orderly

 

[Doctor Omega]

Production

The series first started life as two competing ideas for a fourth Evil Dead film.[15] However at the time the Raimi brothers did not know how to get funding for the film and so it was instead written as a TV show. Writing for the medium presented new challenges for Sam as he had to make the series accessible to new viewers as well as create new characters to "bounce off of".[15] The project was first officially revealed by Raimi at a surprise appearance at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con[16] That November Starz announced that they officially put an order in for the series.[17] Campbell said the channel was the only network that would give them the ability to be unrated and unrestricted; Campbell has stated that Starz does not require the crew to create alternate, "wimpy" versions for television.[18]

The pilot episode of the series was written by Sam Raimi (who also directed), Ivan Raimi and Tom Spezialy.[19] In February 2015, original film series producer Robert Tapert returned to produce along with Raimi, Campbell and Craig DiGregorio. Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo were cast in the lead roles of Pablo Simon Bolivar and Kelly Maxwell, and Jill Marie Jones was cast as Amanda Fisher, a Michigan State Trooper.[19][10] In March 2015, Lucy Lawless was cast as Ruby, a mysterious figure who's on a quest to stop the evil outbreak and believes that Ash is the one who's the cause of it.[11] In April 2015, Starz released a new graphic teaser advertising the TV show is coming in the fall of 2015, along with a new poster for the series.[20] Filming commenced in Auckland, New Zealand later that month.[21]

Due to legal issues with Universal Pictures, the events from Army of Darkness could not specifically be mentioned in the first season.[22] In April 2015, the producers made it clear that they wanted to resolve the issue,[23][24][25] and in mid-2016, producer Robert Tapert stated that the rights issue had been solved and that references to Army of Darkness would appear from season two onward.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Music

Joseph LoDuca, a frequent Sam Raimi collaborator who composed the scores for the Evil Dead films, contributes the original music for Ash vs Evil Dead. The series also leverages excerpts from various 1970s and '80s popular songs, particularly featuring artists (e.g., Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent and Frijid Pink) from the greater Detroit area where Season One's action is based (and where Raimi, Campbell and Tapert grew up). In an interview, Sam Raimi states that the music selected for the series is based on the lack of growth the Ash character has progressed over the past 30–35 years, and that, "the music should reflect the last time he was engaged in society, and living".[59]

On November 11, 2015, it was announced that the Joseph LoDuca music score entitled Ash vs Evil Dead: Music from the STARZ Original Series would be released by Varèse Sarabande digitally on December 11, 2015 and via audio CD on December 18, 2015.[60][61] The following are the tracks that are on that album:[60]

Further more, in the season two finale, a marching band plays Victory for MSU, the official fight song of Michigan State University, where Raimi and Tapert attended college.

 

[Doctor Omega]

Reception

Critical

The first season of Ash vs Evil Dead has received critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the season a 98% "Certified Fresh" rating based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reading: "True to the movies that spawned it, Ash vs Evil Dead is a gory, hilarious, and audacious resurrection of Sam Raimi's beloved horror franchise."[62] Metacritic gave the season a rating of 75 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[63]

The second season has received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has a score of 100%, based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus currently reads, "Ash vs. Evil Dead's sophomore season proves the show is in command of its characters and tone, turning up the gore, fun, and energy to deliver even more grisly, action-packed thrills and laughs."[64] On Metacritic, the season has a rating of 82 out of 100, based on 5 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim."

 

[Doctor Omega]

Starz Cancels “Ash vs. Evil Dead” Series





Starz has officially cancelled “Ash vs. Evil Dead” with the show to wrap up with its third season finale next Sunday (April 29th).

The series saw Bruce Campbell reprise his “Evil Dead” role of Ash Williams, a chainsaw-wielding anti-hero tasked with saving the world from evil. Dana DeLorenzo, Ray Santiago, and Lucy Lawless co-starred.

The show has seen a steep fall off in its ratings during this season, plummeting to a mere 0.08 rating in adults 18-49 and 177,000 viewers per episode.

The cancellation comes as Starz has changed up much of its line-up in the past year with “Black Sails” ending and “Survivor’s Remorse” cancelled, while “Counterpart” recently launched with “Sweetbitter” and “Vida” on the way next month.