Reviews: Ash vs Evil Dead - Season One Episode One

Our beloved Ash finally returns to battle the deadites. It's been a long time coming.

"Remember me?"

Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up! Ash is back and we love it. Got a problem with it? Blow.

The dedicated hordes of die hard Evil Dead fans have been waiting since 1992 to see a theatrical sequel to Sam Raimi's horror comedy masterpieces. Over the years we've heard rumblings of a new Ash movie and had even heard word that the deadite slayer would be in an Ash vs Freddy vs Jason flick. Patiently, we waited just hoping that Raimi and Campbell would align with the stars and give us just one more chance to see Bruce destroying evil with a wink, a smile, some smart ass quips, and a handy dandy chainsaw. The best we got was a so-so quasi-reboot with a female star that fell short of the camp humor and excellence of the originals. Fast forward to Halloween 2015. Ash Williams is back, finally giving us exactly what we waited for.

To call this first episode anything but brilliant would be a straight up insult to what Raimi has created here. The writing is sharp. The story fits right into the real world we left off with at the beginning of Army of Darkness. And to gloat a little, Michigan native Bruce Campbell hasn't lost his magic touch for the goofy and majestically melodramatic. Bringing back all the charm and wit of the early years, Ash vs Evil Dead seems like a direct counterpart to the movies, seething with the exact same camerawork and demonic makeup that sucks us right back into the world Raimi and Campbell created. For an added bonus, Sam Raimi proves he can shed off that crappy Spiderman 3 movie that tainted his career with a Starz series that could serve as the anti-Walking Dead. Despite its dark tone of death and dismemberment, the in jokes and comic routines fill almost almost little space of the show, giving Bruce Campbell tons of room to bring his Ash back to the fans, never watering down the role or the distinct feel of his shameless, one handed character.

Everything about this is masterfully crafted. but is sadly hindered by cheap looking CGI gore. If anything, Raimi should find a way to reestablish practical effects and should lay waste to the idea that computer generated blood looks better. It simply doesn't. It cheapens the look of the series and doesn't fit what we've seen in the past. The show has a theatrical film look. The CGI blood is distracting and waters down the realism of the death sequences. Other than that, it's hard to find a complaint about the first episode. With Ash a little older, a little slower, and definitely more cocky, Ash vs Evil Dead is a fan's wet dream, soaking the sheets in the blood of the evil dead.

If you haven't seen this yet, find a way to watch it.

Score