If you’re like me, you just wanted your Halloween parties to end so you could go home and watch “Ash vs Evil Dead.” Now that you’ve (hopefully) nursed your hangover and washed the grease paint off your body, let’s talk!
Coming in hot here…did you love it or hate it? Did you just kind of like it? Are you pretending to love it because it’s super in vogue right now?
I loved it. And also I just kind of liked it. But mostly I loved it. Despite how it sounds, there’s nothing complicated about my feelings for last night’s premier of “Ash vs” I loved it because I truly love the Evil Dead franchise. I loved the throwbacks, the call backs, the references, and Bruce Campbell. I love deadites. I think they are truly one of the coolest evil forces in all of horror. And I really, really love Ray Santiago. But the episode definitely had a few misfortunes and I don’t think it should be excused of those simply because the franchise has been aged into the Hall of Cult Classics. For example, the tone shifted an alarming amount of times and so drastically it was almost uncomfortable. The scenes without Ash felt much more reminiscent of Fede Alvarez’s 2013 “Evil Dead,” which is not a bad thing in my opinion (I really liked that film for what it was), but the tonal shifts didn’t sit well with me. To directly quote MrDisgusting from his review of the first two episodes: No matter, Ash is back and I don’t want to appear ungrateful. So I’ll stop there. But how about you? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Need to chew on it a bit?
Does “Ash vs” work as a stand-alone television series or do you need to be a fan of/familiar with the franchise to enjoy it?
I can’t speak to this. Because I am such a huge fan of the franchise. But I’m dying to know…legitimately would love to hear from any of you who are not fans of or familiar with the franchise…does this show stand tall on its own merits or is it dependent on the former films? And if the answer is “yes,” is that a bad thing?
As MrDisgusting pointed out, the show is incredibly unapologetic. It’s going to do its thing whether you like it or not—awesomely campy CGI and one-liners included. So does that work for you?
It worked for me. But I needed that. I needed it to be campy. Or else it would have just been another Alvarez-type take on the concept.
Were you as sad as I was that S-Mart didn’t make an appearance?
While it makes total sense that a department store from 30 years ago would no longer exist, it bummed me out. S-Mart has become iconic in horror. Plus I was truly hoping Ash would revive his catchphrase that comes with the name of his fictional employer of old. But alas, no S-Mart. So, Shop Smart. Shop…ValueStop.
But here’s my honest truth: when Ash pulled back the curtain in his trailer to reveal the silhouette of his chainsaw, when he fought with a deadite to see who could get to it first, or when he plugged in his dentures and gave the world his classic doofy Ash grin, everything fell into place and the atmosphere just felt…right. So even though I said the show’s mishaps shouldn’t be excused because of the franchise’s cult status? Whatever, man.
So what did you think?
I’ll be starting weekly reviews next week. So tune in and circle back to let me know what you thought.