News
Here’s How YOU Can Help Make Sure “Ash vs. Evil Dead” Continues
This is about more than signing a petition. Which you should.
One of the things that makes the horror genre so special is that it’s essentially run by us, the fans. It’s our support that allows the movie franchises and television shows we love to continue, but it’s also our lack of support that can result in them dying premature deaths.
And for Starz’s “Ash vs. Evil Dead,“ well, the future isn’t so certain right now.
As we learned last week, the third season of “Ash vs. Evil Dead” will premiere on Sunday, February 25, 2018, likely bumped out of its usual October slot so that it can have some distance from an already crowded Fall; after all, these breezy months will be dominated by more widely popular shows like “The Walking Dead” and “Stranger Things.”
While we shouldn’t necessarily be alarmed that Starz has shifted their original plans for Season 3, the reality is that the forthcoming season (and how much support we do or don’t give it) is going to dictate the future of the series… or if it even gets to have one. Because not only has Starz not yet renewed the series for another season, but there are also new bosses in town.
At the tail end of last year, Lionsgate closed a deal to acquire Starz, which means that the “Ash vs. Evil Dead” bosses, well, they now have bosses of their own.
As reported by the website 1428 Elm, which has been doing a great job fighting the good fight on behalf of “Ash vs. Evil Dead,” Bruce Campbell was on hand at New York Comic Con this past weekend and he repeatedly made mention of the series not yet being renewed – while also repeatedly urging fans to show their support.
From what we gather, and based on what Campbell has recently been saying, the ratings aren’t quite high enough to make another renewal a sure thing, and the high level of piracy is further contributing to Starz, and now Lionsgate, getting cold feet about the future. Bottom line, there’s worry that the new bosses will pull the plug entirely.
“We’re one of the most illegally downloaded shows,” Campbell recently told Oregon Live. “What does that say about our fans? They’re a bunch of jerks — ‘We want it, we like it, we just don’t want to pay for it.’”
In that same interview, Campbell seemed to suggest that there’s so much concern about the future that the Season 3 team “made sure our storyline was wrapped up in a good way.”
How can you help? Campbell laid out a 4-step plan at NYCC, relayed by 1428 Elm:
- Download the Starz app. Do the 30-day free trial. Binge the show. Delete the app. Cost to you: $0.
- Purchase Starz through your local cable provider. Cost to you: Prices vary according to area and company.
- Purchase the show DVDs and Blu-rays. Merchandising is important. If you fork over the dough, you get the show. Cost to you: DVDs: Walmart $14.96 for Season 1. Walmart $23.82 for Season 2. Blu-rays: Walmart $14.96 for Season 1. Walmart $23.82 for Season 2.
- Start binge watching AVED if you have the app. Introduce friends to the show.
Of course, it’s equally important that you watch “Ash vs. Evil Dead” when it returns on February 25, 2018. Talk about it. Tell your friends. WATCH. IT. LEGALLY.
Signing a petition won’t get “Ash vs. Evil Dead” renewed. But our hardcore support, particularly our financial support, can and will make a difference in this fight.
You wanted it. You begged for it. You love it. Support it. #BringBackBoomstick
All of us here at Bloody Disgusting are deeply saddened to learn that George A. Romero Foundation Founder and President Suzanne Desrocher-Romero has passed away.
GARF shared in a statement on socials, “It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Suzanne Desrocher Romero. Suzanne passed away of natural causes on June 24 at her home in Toronto after a prolonged illness.”
The statement continues, “Suzanne was the fierce leader of the George A. Romero Estate and The George A. Romero Foundation. She worked tirelessly to preserve George’s legacy. Her work at the foundation will continue to inspire and live on for generations to come. The family asks for privacy at this time.”
Desrocher-Romero founded GARF in 2018, after her late husband’s passing in 2017, and has been a fierce advocate for his legacy and the arts. It was her mission to “strengthen horror as a serious field of global study,” and she was a tremendous fighter on behalf of Romero’s works and supporting new filmmakers inspired by his legacy.
It was Desrocher-Romero who spearheaded the recovery and restoration of The Amusement Park, and, as the person in charge of the George A. Romero estate, worked closely with author Daniel Kraus on completing unfinished novels like Pay the Piper and The Living Dead. She most recently celebrated the restoration of her favorite of Romero’s zombie films, Day of the Dead, and was hard at work producing the upcoming film Twilight of the Dead.
That passionate advocacy led to Suzanne Desrocher-Romero becoming family to Bloody Disgusting as well.
2023 marked the start of an ongoing partnership between Bloody FM and GARF on The Dead, a scripted audio series spanning multiple seasons that saw Desrocher-Romero working closely with the Bloody FM team and mentoring the series’s contributing writers with GARF. To say her loss will be felt internally is an understatement.
“Anytime George Romero is mentioned is good, because what we are doing is to provide a healthy legacy. We’re uplifting his legacy, we’re supporting the archive, and we’re also supporting the Horror Study Center. So, all of these three things are what the Foundation is striving to do. As far as I’m concerned, the more we say George Romero’s name, the better it is,” Desrocher-Romero recently told BD.
It’s the perfect encapsulation of her unwavering enthusiasm for supporting Romero’s legacy and the horror genre, and just a glimpse at how much she contributed to preserving it. She is, in short, an inspiration.
We send our deepest condolences to Suzanne Desrocher-Romero’s family, friends, and GARF.
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