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Horror movies getting made into TV shows is a bit of a thing
now. It’s hard to say when exactly
this trend started though I’d probably point mostly to 2013, that was when Bates Motel and Hannibal both premiered to shocking levels of success. Prior to that you’d had some
literary-to-TV examples like NBC’s Dracula,
AMC’s Walking Dead, or the horror
hodgepodge Penny Dreadful but since
2013 we’ve also enjoyed an Omen show,
a Scream show, an Exorcist show in the work, and today’s
subject: Ash vs. the Evil Dead.
I am a huge fan of the Evil Dead mythos; I love the
original trilogy, the comics are a blast, and I’ve even enjoyed some of the
video games they’ve made so when I heard “Evil Dead TV show” I was there. And season 1 turned out to be pretty
good, maybe not excellent and with a little too much padding but I thoroughly
enjoyed it. Now the time has come
for season 2 and along with some interesting news we’ve got a trailer and it
promises to double down on all the stuff that worked about season 1 and then some.
If you’re unfamiliar with the first season or Evil Dead in
general here’s what you need to know.
Premiering in 1981, Evil Dead
was a low budget horror flick made by Sam Raimi and his friends out in the
woods near their hometown. Though
the format existed previously, Evil Dead
pretty much set the template of “teens go to cabin and are attacked by ____,”
blending together a grungy and low-budget sensibility with a great eye for FX,
gore, and mood. The film became a
cult classic, launching the careers of both its creator Sam Raimi and its star
Bruce Campbell.
The two reteamed for a quasi-remake in 1987, which many
feel to be the best film in the franchise. Personally, I’ve always preferred the dark fantasy/adventure
third installment Army of Darkness,
which launched series hero Ash Williams back to the 13th century to
fight the evil dead alongside King Arthur. The new TV show takes pace with Ash back in the present and
a new crop of evil dead, called deadites, emerging to be vanquished, with Ash
teaming up with new friends Pablo and Kelly.
Season 1 ended with Ash making a deal with Lucy Lawless’
“Dark One,” trading her the Necronomicon, an evil book of power, in exchange
for the chance to live happily in Jacksonville, Florida. A lot of folks had problems with that
ending but honestly I really liked it, it fits the doofy nature of Ash’s
character and the fact he’s supposed to be a shortsighted, self-centered
ass.
This new season picks up with Ash in Florida, living the
medium life with Kelly and Pablo.
I’m also pretty sure the later clips in the trailer of Sam Raimi as a
bartender are set in Jacksonville as well, which is a pretty fun cameo. Obviously, Ash’s hedonistic indulgence
can’t last and his party seems to be beset by deadites pretty quickly.
The first big revelation of this trailer is that Ash and
friends are headed to Elk Grove, Michigan. Michigan being the setting was always to be expected, the
Evil Dead series has always enjoyed the vast wilderness of Michigan as a core
setting, but Elk Grove is a new location for the series. Traditionally, the action of Evil Dead
has been confined to Dearborn, which I’m guessing Elk Grove’s name is a parody
of. Dropping Ash and pals back in
Michigan is nice but I like that the show is aiming to return Ash to his
hometown.
Even though Ash has a very definitive persona we really
don’t know much about him as a character outside of his experiences with the
evil dead. Diving into his past is
a good step towards affording him more definition and I really like the creepy,
abandoned look of Elk Grove in this trailer. Cheryl was the name of Ash’s sister in the first film who
was turned into a Deadite. I
really like the idea of bringing her back for this new season and focusing on
what happened in the aftermath of those first Deadite encounters.
I’m not totally sure what leads Ash and the gang to go Elk’s
Grove but we do see why it does, they were summoned there by Lucy Lawless’ Dark
One, who’s lost control of the evil forces she claimed as her own at the end of
season 1. After that revelation
the rest of the trailer is more or less a sizzle reel of cool or funny or gross
stuff to expect from the new season but there are some serious standouts. I really like that one scene of Ash in what
looks like an insane asylum with a puppet version of himself.
I suspect that clip is tied to the Elk’ Grove plot and the
idea that maybe Ash was blamed for the deaths of his friends at the cabin after
the first film; it’d certainly make sense. We also get a look at one of this season’s new characters, a
black woman who is presumably filling the role of Jill Jones’ Detective Amanda
Fisher from season 1. We also see
a brief scene of what looks to be an older version of Ash. I don’t know what that could be but
time travel is a part of the Evil Dead cosmology so, while it could be a vision
of the future, it could be an actual tomorrow Ash heads off to.
One thing I love about this trailer is the excess of blood,
gore, and tastelessly crass sexploitation. You’ve got zombie hotties, dismembered arms, tire to the
face, all kinds of hideous bile, and some serious chainsaw action there at the
end. Granted, this is a trailer
which means this stuff will probably end of splattered across the entire 10
episode season but it’s always cool seeing it all come together. Ash
vs. Evil Dead is very much an action show, with the real selling point
being the bloody disgusting monster smackdowns so putting that front and center
for nearly half the trailer was a good call, keep the fans involved.
The part that really stands out to me is among the final
clips, it’s one of Ash’s best friend Pablo seemingly being possessed or turning
demonic, it’s not entirely clear.
I have no idea what’s going on in this scene but that seems like a
really big twist and one I think would definitely benefit the show. If this season really does want to dive
into the shitty life experiences that’ve made Ash such a bastard like the death
of his sister or being locked-up for defeating the Deadites having Pablo become
possessed as the face of evil would be a really sharp way to bring that subtext
right into the text.
Over all Ash vs. Evil
Dead season 2 looks like much of the same as season 1 but with more gore
and more heart, which is pretty much exactly what it needs to be. I liked season 1 but I certainly admit
there’s room to improve, but that improvement doesn’t necessitate binning the
entire set-up. Regrounding the
series in the wooded backdrop of Michigan and just adding more gore is a solid
first step but the part that has me really excited is the presence of Ash’s
history in this trailer.
The big issue with season 1 was that the characters were
too thin to sustain the story beats that weren’t about fighting and monsters so
fleshing them out with actual origins is a good way to solve those issues. What’s more, I’ve always been partial
to tragic origins, especially rooted in small town Americana so Ash’s
back-story being tied to a creepy abandoned town in nowhere Michigan is tailor
made for me. The new season
allegedly has the rights to Army of
Darkness back so expect some references in the actual show but hopefully they
won’t dive too deep into that barrel.
Here’s hoping the new season adds up to something more than just this
really good trailer.
Ash vs. Evil Dead
season 2 premieres on October 2, 2016
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