Last night, like all good horror fans, I sat down and I watched the premiere of the new Starz show, Ash vs. Evil Dead!
And it was groovy!
Okay, I’m sorry. I imagine that I am one of about 100,000 reviewers who started a review of Ash vs. Evil Dead by saying that it was groovy. That is probably the most obvious thing that I could have possibly said and, as someone who prides herself on being both an original and a contrarian, I should be deeply ashamed.
But I’m not. Because, seriously — groovy was the perfect description for this show. Even if it wasn’t the catch phrase of both Ash Williams and Bruce Campbell, it would still be just the right word to use. After all, when Ash vs. Evil Dead was first announced, I know that a lot of people were worried that the show would somehow fail to live up to the legacy of the Evil Dead. They were worried that Starz would attempt to unnecessarily update the concept or that they would go The Walking Dead route and come up with a dark drama about a grim-faced Ash Williams trying to survive in a world that has been overrun by Deadites.
Well, after seeing the premiere episode, the world does seem to be in danger of being overrun by Deadites but Ash Williams is anything but grim-faced. Perhaps he should be, since it’s all kind of his fault.
When the first episode of Ash vs. Evil Dead opened, we discovered that Ash was living in a trailer park and that actually seemed rather appropriate. We also discovered that Ash is no longer encouraging people to “Shop smart. Shop S-mart.” No, instead he’s working at Value Mart. His co-worker, Pablo (Ray Santiago) looks up to Ash even before Ash tells him about what happened during the first two Evil Dead films. His other co-worker, Kelly (Donna Delorenzo), is a lot less impressed by Ash but he certainly likes her.
What does Ash spend his time doing? Well, he likes to go down to the local bar and make up stories about why he has a “rosewood” hand. And, during the first few minutes of the episode, he keeps seeing people suddenly transformed into Deadites. Even when he’s at work, he ends up getting attacked by an apparently possessed doll, a scene that allows Bruce Campbell to show off his flair for physical comedy.
Why are the Deadites back? Simply put, they’re back because Ash fucked up. That shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone because that’s kind of what Ash does. (Fortunately, he’s played by Bruce Campbell so we love him anyway.) In this case, Ash was stoned and he decided to impress a one night stand by reading the Necronomicon Ex Mortis.
(If Ash actually learned from his mistakes, he just wouldn’t be Ash.)
One thing I liked about the first episode of Ash vs. Evil Dead is that it didn’t waste any time getting right to what everyone wanted to see. It opened with the assumption that, if you were watching, you already knew about the twisted history of Ash and the Deadites. This episode was directed by Sam Raimi and it was full of everything that you could possibly want — cray camera angles, insane tracking shots, slapstick comedy, and blood. And I do mean a lot of blood. Whenever the episode threatened to get too serious, Bruce Campbell popped up with another bit of physical comedy or a strangely inspired line reading. Whenever things threatened to get too silly, a Deadite would suddenly show up and start screaming. (The Deadites are always scary, regardless of how much comedy may be going on around them.) Raimi and Campbell struck a perfect balance between comedy and horror.
I imagine that, for many, the premiere’s big applause scene came when Ash and his chainsaw met in mid-air. It was a perfect moment and hopefully, the rest of the series will follow the premiere’s lead.
Because if it does, this show is going to be really …. groovy.
