Article first published as ASH VS EVIL DEAD Review on Seat42F.
Starz’s newest series, which premiered
last night, is sure to make fans of one horror franchise happy. In ASH
VS EVIL DEAD, viewers catch up with Ashley “Ash” J. Williams (Bruce
Campbell) thirty years after the events of the original movies. The Evil
Dead have left him alone for a long time, but now they’re coming back
for him and for others. Is Ash the ‘El Jefe’ foretold to stop this
wicked force?
I have to admit up front that I don’t
like the Evil Dead films. They are way too gory for me. I’m not a fan of
the horror genre in general, but can handle those with a very good
story and not too many body insides on display. The Walking Dead is my
favorite show, but I watch it because of the truly excellent character
development, not because of the zombies. In anticipation of this show
premiering, I attempted to watch the movies in the series, but could not
get very far in them, the effects of the violence far too outrageous
for me to handle.
That being said, I enjoyed the pilot of
ASH VS EVIL DEAD a lot. Not enough to get past the exploding heads and
spurting necks (how does a little bullet explode a head?), so I won’t be
giving it a second try, but the parts of the hour without that stuff, I
found very entertaining. So for those of you not bothered by the gross
element, or who may even celebrate the campiness of it, I think this
will be a show worth watching.
Campbell is terrific as Ash, arguably
the defining character of his career. He’s a lazy, manipulative moocher
who is too full of himself. Yet, Campbell still makes him sympathetic
and likeable, and not just when he goes into heroic action. Ash is a
character fans will want to see stay alive, and root for him as he does
the bad ass stuff that he does.
Ash’s missing hand, an event that
occurred in a big screen installment, is a minor issue for the
production. The Walking Dead (SPOILER ALERT) television series purposely
chose not to have The Governor cut off Rick’s hand as he does in the
comics because it provided a significant challenge to impart on their
show’s lead. ASH VS EVIL DEAD uses the stump mostly effectively, giving
Ash a way to lock a weapon on it and pick up girls by lying about it,
but there are still times where it kind of gets in the way. I swear I
saw the fingers move when Ash closes a car door with it in the opening
sequence.
Of course, as charming as Campbell is,
he can’t carry a whole TV show himself. Others have to get involved,
too, if for no other reason than to provide cannon fodder. I doubt they
will kill off Ash’s friends quite as quickly in this new incarnation,
given that TV shows typically have at least a few main players, but
eventually, some or all of them will have to die and Ash will have to
replace them.
His initial team includes Pablo Simon
Bolivar (Ray Santiago, Touch, Raising Hope) and Kelly Maxwell (Dana
DeLorenzo, Impress Me, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson),
co-workers of Ash’s at the retail store in which he works. Both are
considerably younger, which makes sense, given the audience Starz is
hoping to attract. Pablo is comic relief and Kelly is a possible love
interest. A triangle between the three could make things messy later,
but I have the feeling ASH VS EVIL DEAD thrives on messiness. Neither
sidekick is much more than a typical archetype, but that could change
over time, if they live long enough.
Elsewhere, we are introduced to two
other women. Amanda Fisher (Jill Marie Jones, Sleepy Hollow,
Girlfriends) is a cop who has her own run-in with the evilness. Ruby
(Lucy Lawless, Xena: Warrior Princess, Battlestar Galactica, Parks &
Recreation) is a mysterious lady who seems to know something about
what’s going on, but who is barely glimpsed in the first installment.
Amanda is a relatively familiar type of personality, but Ruby is
intriguing, especially in the hands of Lawless, a brilliant performer. I
look forward to seeing how the two tie into Ash’s journey, the latter
more than the former. It occurs to me, though nothing in the pilot
supports this, that Ruby could make a more age appropriate love interest
for Ash, freeing up Kelly for Pablo.
Overall, while I don’t appreciate the
gore, I think most of the target audience will. ASH VS EVIL DEAD seems
more fun than the bits of the movies I glimpsed, and should make for an
enjoyable romp, giving the television landscape something it doesn’t
quite have currently.
ASH VS EVIL DEAD airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. on Starz.
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