LogFAQs > #946104475

54. Ash vs. Evil Dead (17.5 points)
Nominated by: Xeybozn (3/5 remaining)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yq3jeOmxSk

Importance: 3
Fear: 4.5
Snake: 10

I didn't truly love or even like Evil Dead until I watched this show, and it was on a random whim to boot. There are several aspects of this show that make it a better experience though than all Evil Dead films combined. First it starts at the root of all good productions, the characters. Bruce Campbell, through decades of experience, has honed his Ash Williams to this sometimes lovable, always an asshole person pining for his glory days but struggling with the realities of age, reputation, family, and friendship. Ash is quite simply put, a loser, thirty years passing with little progress in his life and nothing to show for his past heroics but a stumpy hand and whole trailer's worth of bad memories and PTSD. It's not all lost though! Ash vs. Evil Dead introduces two amazing supporting characters, Pablo and Kelly; Pablo is sort of Ash's protege, and he looks up to Ash as a father figure and hero. Kelly is on the surface your typical snarky, tough female lead, but Dana Delorenzo absolutely fuels her character with an inner sense of darkness, tragedy, and sense of longing to be accepted even by two weirdos like Ash and Pablo. These two characters are what makes this show more than just another Ash vehicle used to make him say his famous catch-phrases. The show actually re-contextualizes Ash's adventures as really an avoidance of life's problems & issues, a refusal to grow up and reach maturity especially where it matters most. Pablo and Kelly are really reflections of what Ash wants to become, and over the course of the series, he does learn, he does mature, and he does finally, truly grasp his ultimate responsibility.

So, what else makes this show awesome? Its increased emphasis on horror and most importantly, various styles of horror. The Evil Dead films always had a love for body horror and Lovecraftian themes, but Ash vs. Evil Dead also incorporates psychological tension into its narrative too. In Ash's home town, everyone sees him as a murderer, not believing in the Deadites, and this visibly hurts and tears Ash to pieces. Figures from his past routinely come back to haunt him, he really cannot catch a break and it's easy to feel bad for him. Evil Ash returns too, giving Ash a real showdown with his psyche this time, as his worst traits are on display and is a genuine threat, notably with little to no humor revolving his character, a rarity for the series. In perhaps Evil Dead's darkest franchise moment, Evil Ash even kills several students at a school dance which is just undeniably chilling. Pile that on top of the large amounts of gore and blood throughout the series, and you can see the show straining the limits of good taste, but its most disgustingly great triumph is a battle in the morgue against a Deadite, as, among other things, Ash ends up in the butt of a cadaver that's literally shitting as Ash gets pulled in with a tentacle. It's as fucked-up as it sounds, those without a strong stomach will not last! I love it though, this is what I feel Evil Dead has always wanted to be, just an onslaught that incorporates all definitions of the word "horror", but just always ridiculous enough and ready with a one-liner that are you laughing your ass off as you barf into the nearest trash can.

Lastly, we have the comedy, the last missing piece that makes this show a masterpiece. Though I touched a little on how it seamlessly blends its horror with its comedy, this is truly as black as black comedy gets. From Ash's attempts at a burial with the wrong religious symbolism, to Deadites using dead people as puppets, to Ash hitting a bong moments before the most important battle of his life. Simply put, if the show thinks its funny, the show puts it in. I'm generally not a fan of juvenile humor, but Ash vs. Evil Dead always seems to do it in a way that's charming and never gets annyoing, and always making sure to juxtapose and tie it in with character development whenever it can. This is comedy with a purpose, elevating itself above typical expectations and not just childish for the sake of being edgy (okay, except for maybe the morgue scene. Still love it though!)

Ash vs. Evil Dead was the best horror show of the decade no one watched. Once again it ended on the verge of apocalypse with no conclusion. How fitting. However, if this is truly the last we ever see of Ash, so be it. Bruce, Raimi, and everyone else involved deserved a show as fantastic and artfully crude as this gem of a series, the perfect follow-up to the three cult hits that could, a piece of TV-pushing horror that gleefully and unashamedly reveled in its own blood, chainsaw in one stump and boomstick in the other, making us all rethink as to what a piece of media bearing the Evil Dead name could be.

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And it's gonna be a long October, and I don't have reasons to believe, in much of anything, alright
https://imgur.com/1e1e70S