Exclusives
Tonight’s “Ash vs Evil Dead” Did More Than Return to the ‘Evil Dead’ Cabin!
A spoiler warning for those who have yet to watch the episode, because this story is extra groovy.
Forget Evil Dead 4, this is even better. The second season of Starz’s “Ash vs Evil Dead” just rewarded us for all of our patience and has turned into a full blown prequel to Sam Raimi’s 1981 The Evil Dead and 1987’s Evil Dead II. Yes, the way you watch those movies will be forever changed after viewing tonight’s episode of “Ash vs Evil Dead”, which sets the stage for next Sunday’s season finale.
The promotional trailer for tonight episode, “Home Again”, revealed that Ash would be time traveling to stop himself from reading from the Necronomicon, but I was not expecting what would come next – and it’s the most fulfilling Evil Dead related story since Army of Darkness in 1992. Speaking of…
Before “Ash vs Evil Dead” turns into a prequel to The Evil Dead, there’s a delicious reference to Army of Darkness, which brings the series full circle and cements it in-canon. The references continue as this episode starts off as a heavy-handed homage to the slapstick comedy sequel, which isn’t allowed to be directly referenced (because of rights issues). What happens is that Ash again becomes possessed by a Deadite. Here, he teases the audience by threatening to lop off his leg (holy shit), but instead sucks out the demon venom, like with a snake bite. The madness continues when he realizes there’s a little demon brewing inside him, like in the insane Army of Darkness sequence with tiny Ashs playing a game of “Gulliver’s Travels” with the chainsaw-handed antihero. The nods continue as Ash swallows a tin of cinnamon, ingests a vile of hot sauce, and then helps it down with a heaping gulp of hot water. Out pops a demon that he smashes with a pan, but not before it can tell Ash to go fuck himself.
Here’s an exclusive online look!
This is when shit hits the fan, though, as Ash is forced back into the cellar that he knows only causes him pain. Deep in the cellar is the big reveal… Henrietta Knowby, the wife of Prof. Raymond Knowby, who brought the Necronomicon to the cabin, and the mother of Annie and (allegedly) Ruby (source). She’s chained to the wall and claims Raymond has gone crazy. Ash doesn’t believe her, joking that he’s onto the Deadite tricks. Before they can finish, they’re interrupted as Raymond returns to the cabin with a young girl, who is coming to help him decipher the Necronomicon. In the cellar, he traps her, forcing Ash to let Henrietta out of the shackles. This is when Raymond reveals his plan, to get the demon out of Henrietta and into this girl. Yes, Ash just fucked up again and hilarity ensues.
Ending on a cliffhanger (check out our exclusive clip below!), this sets the stage for the finale. But even if this were the end of Season 2 I would feel like I got everything I’ve ever dreamed of from it. While Season 1 felt like it was trying to find an identity, Season 2 has zeroed in on it and pushed it to the extreme. There’s fan service and then there’s this, a set up that could leave us Evil Dead fans drooling in ecstasy.
What did you guys think?!
Exclusives
Katharine Isabelle Battles Cosmic Horror in Exclusive ‘Junction Row’ Teaser Trailer [Fantasia 2026]
Among Fantasia 2026‘s massive final wave of programming this morning is Raven Banner’s Lovecraftian creature feature Junction Row, starring Canadian horror icon Katharine Isabelle, and we’re exclusively unveiling the teaser trailer.
Junction Row will celebrate its World Premiere at Fantasia on July 28.
Watch a housing compound fall under siege from Lovecraftian creatures more dangerous than drug dealers in the trailer below.
Junction Row follows “Juno, a recovering addict who leaves a fringe housing compound for a better life, leaving her beloved Ruby behind. When she learns that Ruby has gone missing, Juno returns, only to find Junction Row has become a hotbed of criminal activity, but she encounters much more than menacing drug dealers on her mission to find Ruby.”
Isabelle stars as Juno, with Natalie Brown (FX’s The Strain) as Ruby.
The creature feature marks the feature debut by director Ashlea Wessel, who has directed festival-favorite shorts like 2018’s “Tick” and 2020’s “Weirdo”.
Wessel co-writes Junction Row with Clown in a Cornfield author Adam Cesare and Matt Serafini.
Katharine Isabelle is coming off a brief appearance in Kane Parsons’ Backrooms, and more recently appeared in holiday horror It’s a Wonderful Knife. The horror icon is arguably best known for her turn as the eponymous werewolf in Ginger Snaps and for her roles in American Mary and Freddy vs Jason.
Fantasia teases that Junction Row tells “a story where the fear of the unknown isn’t confined to what lies above, but what waits beneath.”
Stay tuned for more from Fantasia as the festival gets underway later this month.
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