43
to make his official return, chainsaw, boomstick and all. With Hannibal, The Walking Dead and American Horror Story taking the small screen by gory storm, television feels like the most natural place in the world for The Evil Dead. Even then, you’d be forgiven for expecting a TV series to pick up from where the recent remake left off, or start somewhere anew (fresh kids in the same cabin maybe) or... even worse, take its cues from the awful From Dusk Till Dawn, padding the story out with telly level actors and acting. We’ve read the news, we’ve seen the poster and we’ve watched the trailer – but it’s still so hard to believe that we’re getting a Bruce Campbell-led Evil Dead TV show. Ash vs. Evil Dead will consist of ten episodes, running at 30 minutes each. Too short? Undoubtedly, but we should be grateful that we’re getting it at all – plenty of coming seasons (hopefully) to work on a lengthier deal. The series is being produced by US channel Starz and premieres this Halloween. Sadly, no UK broadcaster or date has been announced as of yet. Fingers crossed for Netflix as the short episode lengths may hurt a lot less when binged. Executive produced by Raimi, Campbell and Rob Tapert, it’s in the best of hands. Even better, Raimi will be directing the first episode, in addition to writing the rest with his brother Ivan and Campbell. The whole gang’s back, then. All we need is a cameo from Ted Raimi to complete the set. Described as a ‘horror sitcom’, it’ll veer closer to the tone of Army of Darkness and Evil Dead 2 than the first movie – especially if the gag-heavy trailer is anything to go by. Campbell is returning as Ash, but he does so accompanied by a pair of sidekicks – Ray Santiago as Pablo Simon Bolivar, and Jill Marie Jones as State Trooper Amanda Fisher. While the first half of Evil Dead 2 proved that we could quite happily sit and watch Bruce by himself in a cabin for the best part of an hour, this
will at least give him someone to run his trademark mouth off at, and presumably take some of the physical abuse that the 57-year-old is getting too old to handle himself. That’s not all though – Lucy Lawless is also set to appear, playing the enigmatic Ruby, a mysterious figure on her own quest to stop the Necronomicon outbreak Ash finds himself at the centre of. That’ll give good cheer to Xena: Warrior Princess fans, then – a reunion for Xena and Autolycus. Again, get Ted Raimi in there and we can have a little Joxer action too. However, let’s not cause further headaches by bringing up the Army of Darkness vs. Xena comic book crossover from a few years back. The plot sees Ash emerge from retirement (Deadite killing retirement, that is – he still appears to be an S-Mart employee) to battle a new Necronomicon-based threat as it unexpectedly arises years after his last battle. We find Ash living in a trailer (like the man himself in My Name is Bruce) and wearing a girdle. Deadites attack, Ash and his new friend(s) fend them off; and so Ash vs. Evil Dead is born. With its emphasis on comedy, plenty of gore on display (see poor Pablo’s broken bottle) and reverence to the past, it’s not hard to see why fans of the franchise might be salivating. Indeed, there’s the blue shirt and brown slacks, and the most recent poster sees Ash standing on the hood of (or beside of, depending on whether you’re viewing in portrait or landscape) the beloved Oldsmobile. We’re so resisting the urge to use the word ‘groovy’ right now… Where the series will take us beyond that is unclear. Will we find out which ending of Army of Darkness reigned true for Ash (one guesses the less favoured version, in which he manages to get his way back to modernity)? Will there be a return to the cabin in Ash’s future (undoubtedly)? And will Sam Raimi ever make The Evil Dead 4? Goddammit! You were told to stop asking that!