Interviews
[Interview] Bruce Campbell Talks ‘Ash vs Evil Dead,’ Hanging Up the Chainsaw and the Franchise’s Future
The third and final season of Ash vs Evil Dead arrives on Blu-ray this Tuesday, August 21, and with it the final bow from Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. The actor has portrayed the reluctant hero for nearly 40 years, taking Ash from innocuous bystander to wisecracking deadite slayer to finally a man with a deadite fighting family of his own. For thirty episodes, Starz let Campbell and team loose on screen, unleashing torrents of blood, gore, humor, and heart, culminating in one epic finale that serves as Ash’s swan song. Or is it?
Ahead of the season three Blu-ray release, we chatted with Campbell about Ash vs Evil Dead, the future, and his retirement of one of horror’s most beloved characters, Ash Williams.
The final two episodes of Ash vs Evil Dead proved to be the biggest and the most divisive of the series. Written and directed by Rick Jacobson, Ash finally steps up to embrace and fulfill his prophesied role in one epic battle with the largest deadite the series had seen yet. It also brought the series full circle, with Jacobson tying up loose ends from the beginning of season one while also incorporating the entire franchise’s larger mythology. For major fans, the homages and level of detail are gratifying.
Of the ending and Jacobson’s work, Campbell explains, “Not all directors think like that. And he’s a very story thinking director, and he wrote the last two. He’s like, ‘You know what? Screw this, give me that script,’ and we let him do it because he was so possessed with how this should have ended. And we all agreed. We were in total agreement with what should happen, how we should wrap this up. Because you know, TV business is a fickle business. We didn’t know if we’re going to be canceled or not. So, we wanted to not leave fans in the lurch. If we got picked up, could we continue it? Yeah, of course. But we wanted to be ready, and we were.”
Despite closure for all the characters, the final moments have become a point of contention for some fans. To those bothered by it, Campbell responds, “Some people are pissed. They’re like, ‘Oh, you can’t leave us like that.’ It is an ending though. Ash’s destiny has been fulfilled. He’s not just a guy who lives in a trailer home with a lot of bad habits. There’s something else to the guy, and you know what? Let him go on his next great adventure.”
Though Army of Darkness was released in theaters in 1993, principal photography took place two years prior, which meant a much longer length of time passed before Campbell donned the chainsaw again. Coming back into the role, with the creative leeway granted by Starz, meant exploring Ash in new, unexpected ways that Campbell looks on fondly.
“That’s the beauty of coming back 25 years later. I hadn’t played Ash since 1991. That’s a long time. So, I’ve actually had two decades of experience of acting that I could finally go, ‘Okay, let’s take that cookie cutter character, and try and-‘ because we tried to evolve him. He was just sort of innocuous in the first one, tried to become a rogue in the second one, was the ugly American in the third one, sort of getting his Ash sea legs, and then now we can just let him loose.”
It wasn’t just the evolution of Ash from middle-aged loser to caring father and team player that Campbell enjoyed exploring, but the creativity of the series as well. When asked if he had any favorite episodes, he cites season 2 episode 7, “The loony bin is my favorite of that season for sure. I could pick one, probably. The pilot from the first one, from the first season, because Sam Raimi set the bar,” then adds, “and the finale, the two-parter from season three.”
But along with the heartfelt evolution of Ash’s character also came the gory splatstick moments that fans loved so much. As great as they are on screen to watch, they’re difficult for the actors to endure. This season’s newcomer, Arielle Carver-O’Neill as Ash’s daughter Brandy, discovered what fellow actors Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo had already learned about the Evil Dead universe; it’s physically tough work. Campbell shares of the first time Carver-O’Neill felt the force of the blood cannon, “When she got her first blast of blood, we’re all there to watch because it’s important to watch them being initiated. To see the look on her face, the reaction was not acting. Her reaction was, ‘Oh my God.’ And it was cold, because we’re in those warehouses in the middle of the New Zealand winter. “
That physical aspect, and the gory nature of the series, leads into why Campbell decided to retire the character. “These are long, tedious [shoots] … you’re lying on cellar floors, in the cold damp floor, covered in blood.” He explains, “It’s part of the reason too, for hanging up the chain saw. There’s physical stuff that you have to do that I don’t really either feel like doing anymore, or I can’t do anymore. Or I shouldn’t do, anymore because I’ve actually escaped from these movies relatively unscathed. Beside a hamstring this, and a stubbed toe here, not too bad. But that’s part of the reason.”
In terms of reprising the beloved antihero on screen, Campbell says of the season three Blu-ray release, “This is it. After this drops, you’ve got the full package. This is all. It’s on the table. This is it. This Ash’s life story right here.”
Though Campbell has retired the character, that retirement doesn’t extend to the entire universe of Evil Dead, or certain iterations of the character. As previously reported, Campbell will be voicing Ash in an upcoming VR game. Moreover, Campbell is very interested in continuing the stories of Pablo (Ray Santiago), Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo), and especially that of Mia (Jane Levy),
“I would. Oh my God. In two seconds I would continue the Mia story, because she’s a badass now. I would continue the Ghost Beaters, because Kelly and Pablo are badasses now. Pablo is a shaman, so those were his super spy skills. She’s just a pissed off revenge filled hussy. So, I think it’d be great. I would love it, you know, and I don’t even care if bring in a new Ash character. Let’s go.“
As excited as he is to get Levy and director Fede Alvarez back on board for a follow up to 2013’s Evil Dead, nothing has clicked into place yet. Of Alvarez, in particular, Campbell shares, “Fede, his best is yet to come. This guy is going to be like Guillermo del Toro kind of big. I think he’s just immensely talented. So, hey, if we can get him back, great.” It’s clear that there’s still a lot of creative spark in the franchise, though maybe without Campbell on screen. When asked what’s next, Campbell simply says, “We’re just gonna wait and see what happens. This [series] is what we had focused all of our attention on, and now that this is over, now we’ll see what else comes down the pike.“
Whatever incarnation of Ash or the Evil Dead universe comes up next, at least Starz gave us three great seasons of Ash vs Evil Dead. Grab season 3 on Blu-ray on August 21.
Of all the places to find a coven of witches, the attic above a Christian youth camp is probably the last place you’d think to look. But that’s just what we find in Camp, a surrealist nightmare of feminist empowerment from Canadian filmmaker Avalon Fast.
Emily (Zola Grimmer) is still reckoning with her involvement in a horrific tragedy when she accidentally contributes to the death of her best friend, Charlie (Giselle Morison). Unable to move on, the traumatized teen takes a job at a rural summer camp, hoping to forget her own sorrows by looking after at-risk kids. She quickly connects with a counselor named Clara (Alice Wordsworth) and finds comfort in her close-knit group of female friends. But a mysterious whisper from deep in the woods warns that they may be leading her down a darker path.
Fast burst onto the scene in 2022 with Honeycomb, a psychological horror film that follows a burgeoning matriarchy. Known for their focus on “Girl Horror” stories, the talented young filmmaker tackles similar themes in Camp as Emily leaves the modern world behind to embrace a dark vision of self-discovery through magic.
Ahead of the film’s U.S. release on June 26, Bloody Disgusting sat down with Fast to chat about the nebulous nature of good vs. evil and the intoxicating power of female-driven horror.
Bloody Disgusting: What inspired this unique story? Did you go to religious summer camps when you were young?
Avalon Fast: I did. I went to lots of different summer camps, but all of them were primarily Bible camps. The memory I have of camp is kind of strange. I was very homesick as a kid, and I didn’t necessarily enjoy all my time there. I definitely remember meeting some interesting girls at camp and having that presence of religion hovering around the whole experience.
BD: I really love the film’s gorgeous natural setting. Camp is the kind of surrealist nightmare that you don’t just watch. You feel it too. How did you approach creating this world?
AF: Well, a huge part of it was working with my cinematographer Eily Sprungman, who’s a very close friend. We spent years prepping, shot listing, storyboarding, and mood boarding. She’d had a similar experience to mine. We grew up around the same place, and so we understood each other’s visions from the get-go. But there are so many other pieces that came together. The costuming, the art, and the animated sequences were done by Sofiya Iurkevych. One of our producers, Taylor Nodrick, was obsessed with shooting on Super 8 film. I’ve always wanted to as well, so all the memory sequences were shot on Super 8. It was just a lot of people with an understanding and a vision for what this project was. I’m really happy with the way it turned out.
To the extent that you’re comfortable sharing, what’s your relationship to witchcraft, and what does Camp have to say about modern witches?
Well, that’s the question of Camp. It’s not that I don’t resonate with any of these things, but I specifically wanted Camp to be a little bit ambiguous around what witchcraft looks like. Is this witchcraft? Are these girls witches? Emily explicitly asks if that’s what’s happening here, and the answer isn’t yes. The film isn’t going to answer that question for you. My relationship to magic and witchcraft? It’s tough. I feel like there’s so much magic, connection, and spirituality that comes from these friendships, the closeness of these women, and what’s happening around them. A lot of what Camp is trying to say or show is just that magic can come out of friendship.
I loved watching these female friendships develop. And you’re right. No one ever says the word “coven,” but you can feel that connection, and you can see a change in Emily as those relationships grow. I’m also really fascinated with the way Camp plays with the idea of good and evil. At one point, Clara says, “Maybe God drew us to the devil,” which stopped me in my tracks. How do you view witchcraft or the magic these girls are experiencing in regard to good and evil?
That was such a huge part of the script’s construction. The story is really trying to keep a balance between those two things. I like asking people if they think these girls are good or bad, because I feel like a lot of people come out of the film thinking one or the other. They’ll say things like “thank God Emily found her people” or “God, I really wish she’d gone home.” I just don’t think there’s ever an answer. I wanted to explore the idea of going down the wrong path, especially coming out of grief. What makes you a bad person, and does healing mean you’re looking to become a better person? I don’t have an answer, but I do feel like that’s a huge part of what Camp is asking. What is good? What is bad? Why did God bring me to the devil?
Yes, because this is all happening at “God camp” in Emily’s words. So how can both of those things exist at the same time? Along those lines, I’m also fascinated by the voice Emily hears in the woods. Without spoiling too much, what is this voice asking, and what is required in return?
Emily comes to camp with a shout into the void, asking can anyone hear me? Does anyone want to? And it’s answered so clearly by these girls, specifically responding only with love, care, support, and trust. It’s like her prayers were answered. It doesn’t mean that everything is going to be alright, but Emily is looking for peace. She’s looking for a moment where she feels pure good. And I think, even at its surface level, she does get that experience.
Personally, I don’t really think people are good or bad. I think we all exist somewhere in the middle. Camp centers traditionally villainized characters, but that’s where Emily seems to find her peace, however you choose to define it.
I also wanted to show the experience of having decided that you are a bad person, you’ve made mistakes, and you feel cursed. Then when you meet other people who have done things that you would consider worse, you can actually feel good in their presence. You feel like less of a bad person. I think that’s a huge part of the story as well. Emily’s finding her version of other fucked up people, and she feels less fucked up around them. I’ve found that in my own life. It’s a cool thing. I don’t think it’s bad.
I don’t think it’s bad either. It’s finding your home, your people. We meet Emily in the aftermath of unthinkable trauma. Is this a story about mental health and healing?
Witnessing it myself. witnessing other people experience tragedy and then move through grief, you hear a lot of talk about healing or coming out the other side. There’s so much conversation around what that looks like, with self-care and showing up for yourself. I always felt really averse to it. It annoyed me. I think the beginning of the film speaks to that. The therapeutic version of what getting help looks like is obviously very different from what Camp is showing. And again, I don’t have an answer for what you’re supposed to do. But I think that’s another question I was asking: how do you heal? Do you heal at all? Is that the end goal, or are we just trying to get better? It’s something I experienced in my own grief. And the answer, for me, at least now, is just that I’m not looking to get better. So I felt like I hadn’t. I found it hard to find people to have those conversations with. And I think that’s what I ultimately wanted to make a film about.
I love that unanswered question. In my own experience, I’ve had to reframe what healing actually looks like. There’s not really an endpoint. It’s just finding a way to keep going. There’s also an element of sacrifice in this story, particularly regarding another counselor named Jo (Sophie Bawks-Smith). What role does she play in Emily’s journey?
For me, Jo is this human embodiment of Charlie, Emily’s friend. As Jo, she had a life at this camp before meeting Emily, and then was kind of taken over by Charlie’s spirit. I think a lot of people view Emily’s final choice as horrendous and tragic. In a way it is, but for me, if Jo becomes her angel, it’s almost like a self-sacrifice. Jo knows that by sacrificing herself, she’ll be giving Emily power to move forward. In the original script, the girls were supposed to bring out another counselor, JB (Aidan Laudersmith), and burn his body. But I just thought, there’s no way sacrificing this guy could give the girls enough power. There’s just no way, right? Logically, that just didn’t line up for me.
I’m glad you mentioned JB, because he has his own tragic arc. How do men factor into the world of Camp?
The way men factor into my world is so bizarre. I have such little respect for them in my films, which is something I’ve been called on. I think I have to challenge myself in the future to make a movie about a boy because, these boys … It’s not that the men in my films aren’t redeemable, but there’s no depth to these characters. They’re just treated with such disrespect. I don’t know why I do that, actually. That’s something for me to look into. It was the same with Honeycomb. They’re just such peripheral characters. I’ve had people ask about Kayne (Henri Gillespi), the scary guy at the fire, what happens to him? I just think, I don’t know. I don’t care. That’s not the point of the story.
Well, I can say after a lifetime of watching women on the periphery of the story, the course correction feels nice. In a similar vein, I’m in love with your homepage, avalonfast.com. There’s an image of girls on a film set and then a still from Honeycomb in which a blood-covered girl is screaming at the sky. And in the middle, it just says Girl Horror. It’s a really powerful statement that gives me chills. How do you define Girl Horror, and what draws you to these types of stories?
I was obsessed with the term when I started making my movies. It was something I’d come up with to kind of brand myself and describe what I was doing. Then I went through a period where I felt like it was a bit gender exclusive and didn’t interest me as much. But now I’ve come full circle on the term. I think it’s a bit of a commentary on youth and the horror of growing up female. But I think everybody can relate to that experience. I don’t want it to feel like this exclusive thing, that I make movies exclusively for girls, because I don’t think I do. I’m interested in exploring what Girl Horror means. Originally, it was just a title, something I came up with, and now it’s become something that resonates with people. You said it gave you chills. That’s cool for me to hear because there’s obviously some depth there.
Are you working on anything new?
Yes. I am actually making a movie about a boy. That’s the next thing.
That’s exciting! The more I think about feminism, the more I end up coming back to men and boys, because they have a place in the world of Girl Horror too.
Absolutely. It’s all just part of being human.
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