Movies
[SDCC ’12] NECA Exclusives: Sky Ash & Cloaked City Hunter Predator!
NECA announced a limited edition “Ash” action figure for this July’s San Diego Comic Con: “Hard to believe, but it’s been 25 years since director Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead 2 was released. One of the best cult horror films of all time, it introduced us to the Deadites, the Necronomicon, and most of all, to Bruce Campbell’s character, Ash, the wise-crackin’ S-Mart employee who saws off his own hand and replaces it with a chainsaw. He’s one of our all-time favorite cinematic heroes. How could he not be? Who wouldn’t love that face?
Hero from the Sky Ash captures the young Mr. Campbell as he was at the end of the film. Bloodied, haggard, confused, having killed his girlfriend and a Deadite version of himself, terrified and mysteriously transported through time, Ash emerged in what would become the setting for Army of Darkness and was faced with a whole new round of Deadites to re-kill.
We’ve done Ash before in a series of Evil Dead 2 7″ action figures, but Hero from the Sky Ash — aside from being SDCC exclusive — perfectly captures one of the most important moments in Evil Dead 2. A sepia-toned paint job brings out not just nostalgia for the 25th Anniversary of Evil Dead 2 but also the desert Ash found himself (and his car, oddly enough) transported to. Just look at the surprise on that face.
But Ash here is more than just a great chin! Check out our Hero from the Sky’s full articulation below!” There’s also info on another SDCC exclusive, the “Cloaked City Hunter Predator“.
Sky Ash Articulation.
Ball Jointed Neck
Ball Jointed Shoulders
Insert Molded Ball Hinged Elbows
Ball Jointed Wrists
Ball Jointed Chest
Ball Jointed Waist
V-Crotch
Mid-Thigh Swivels
Insert Molded Ball Hinged Knees
Ball Jointed Ankles
Chainsaw Swivels
Shotgun Stores in Holster on Figure’s Back
But there’s more – Hero from the Sky Ash comes in clamshell packaging with an exclusive unique display base. Let’s get groovy!
NECA also announced the Cloaked City Hunter Predator.
As seen in 1990′s Predator 2, the City Hunter (aka the Ghost Predator) is a leaner, meaner kind of killer, perfectly suited to the drug-filled streets of fictional 1997 Los Angeles, in which Colombian and Jamaican cartels are at war with the police. Set to a 7″ scale, our Cloaked City Hunter is an answer to the first-ever City Hunter figure, which was included in Predators Series 4 late last year. UNLIKE the regular City Hunter, this Cloaked version is totally exclusive to SDCC and has the sticker to prove it. If you can’t make it to San Diego this year, though, don’t worry; we’ll have some news on special opportunities forthcoming after the Con.
Like it’s much-less-invisible brethren, the Cloaked City Hunter is immaculately detailed and accurate to the look and feel of Predator 2. It features over 25 points of articulation, including ball joints in the hips and double-knee joints — because, let’s face it, when you’re chasing down and beheading deadly drug lords in a bizarre future city while Danny Glover tries to track you down and kill you, you want to be as flexible as possible.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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