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TV REVIEW
BRIAN LOWRY
Ash vs.
Evil Dead
SERIES: Starz, Sat. Oct. 31, 9 p.m.
WRITERS: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Tom Spezialy
STARRING: Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago
With apologies to “Jerry
Maguire,” in the
case of “Ash vs. Evil
Dead,” Starz probably
had the intended
audience at hello. The simple kick of
seeing Bruce Campbell back in zombieslayer
mode, hip-deep in buckets of gore,
is tasty enough that the particular merits
of this revival are almost beside the point.
Wisely packaged in half-hour intervals
after a slightly longer premiere, the series
exhibits a kind of numbing repetition
(forget binge viewing) but should bring in
viewers who aren’t watching “Outlander.”
In terms of Starz vs. Waffling Subscribers,
that sounds like a victory.
Yes, it really has been 34 years since
director Sam Raimi, producer Robert
Tapert and Campbell (an exec producer
too) teamed up on the original movie,
which spawned sequels and helped guide
everyone toward bigger and better things.
So there’s an initial thrill in Campbell
‘DEAD’ REBORN
Bruce Campbell
and Dana
DeLorenzo star
in “Ash vs.
Evil Dead.”
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reinhabiting the character of Ash, now
billed as the world’s oldest one-handed
box boy, who has spent three decades
seeking to avoid the storm he unleashed
by opening the wrong book in the woods.
Naturally, Ash’s stupidity and
questionable judgment lead to his
potential undoing. Drunk and stoned,
he reads from the Book of the Dead to
impress a woman, allowing the monsters
he’s successfully evaded all these years
to zero in on him. With the Deadites
back, he receives assistance from his
understandably dazed co-workers
Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana
DeLorenzo), with some interpersonal
tension coming from Pablo’s unrequited
crush on Kelly.
As a parallel plot, there’s also Det.
Amanda Fisher (Jill Marie Jones), whose
encounter with the Evil Dead leaves her
on shaky ground professionally, and on
a likely collision course with Ash and
his pals. And just to make the show
— directed by Raimi, who wrote the
premiere with his brother Ivan and Tom
Spezialy — even more of a family affair,
Tapert’s wife and onetime “Xena” star,
Lucy Lawless, appears as a mysterious
woman who seems to know more than
she’s letting on.
Granted, there are a lot of guts strewn
about in cable these days, but few TV
programs dabble in gore quite so gleefully,
leaving characters drenched in cartoonish
sprays of blood, much of it oozing out of
creatures that scale walls like a big spider.
Campbell, meanwhile, saunters through it
all with his trademark swagger, and when
Pablo complains about being soaked in
muck, Ash helpfully hands him a small,
packaged towelette.
Admittedly, the series is basically an
extended one-note joke, which makes the
half-hour format particularly welcome,
inching the story along as Ash — armed
with a snap-on chainsaw and traveling
via motor home — tries to overcome the
forces pursuing him and lay the Dead to
rest, once and for all.
With our hero having already sacrificed
a hand to the cause, nobody should be
surprised if the series doesn’t possess
long legs. But as a short-term lark, it’s
goofy, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and
certainly feels well calibrated to a very
particular appetite that’s uniquely suited
to pay cable. So for now, Ash, his rather
motley crew and anyone who dares sit too
close to the TV would be well advised to
keep those moist towelettes handy.
CREDITS: Filmed in New
Zealand by Renaissance
Pictures. EXECUTIVE
PRODUCERS, Robert
Tapert, Sam Raimi, Bruce
Campbell, Craig DiGregorio;
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS,
Rob Wright, Ivan Raimi;
PRODUCERS, Chloe Smith,
Aaron Lam, Rick Jacobson,
Sean Clements, Dominic
Dierkes; DIRECTOR, Sam
Raimi; WRITERS, Sam Raimi,
Ivan Raimi, Tom Spezialy;
CAMERA, Dave Garbett;
PRODUCTION DESIGNER,
Nick Bassett; EDITOR, Bob
Murawski; CASTING, Lauren
Grey. 40 MIN.
CAST: Bruce Campbell, Ray
Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo,
Jill Marie Jones, Lucy Lawless
114 Final Cut