Ash vs Evil Dead - S01E01 El Jefe (2015)

Review

It's been thirty years since Ashley 'Ash' J. Williams fought the Kandarian Deadite horde circa Evil Dead and the aging demon slayer hasn't been letting moss grow under his feet. He lives in a luxury appointed silver bullet motorhome with a couple of redneck neighbours, his job defines glamour - stock boy at Value Stop, just what you would expect for a hero who saved some medieval folk and quite possible the entire human race. Anyways after tightening his corset, fixing his dentures, Ash is off to an intellectual evening at the Woodsman, a local seedy bar. His night gets better when he hooks up with a chick, who has seen better days, and he is soon going at it hammer and tongs in the ladies room. Unfortunately things take a turn for the worse and his love interest has a bit of a turn informing Ash that "We're coming for you!" Taking time out to finish up Ash decides it's time to pick up his cheque at Value Stop and get out of Dodge. Unfortunately his Boss has other ideas which leads to a stockroom showdown with a diminutive Deadite, storm clouds, and a battle royale at his motorhome as his neighbours go Kandarian. Fortunately he has the help of co-worker devotee Pablo and new employee Kelly, whose recently deceased mother seems to have gone zombie.

Meanwhile Det. Fisher loses her partner, and apparently her mind, as they answer a disturbance at an out of the way house that looks pretty evil. Fisher comes under physical attack from a Deadite incursion and is questioning just what happened as she finds she is on a sabbatical from the Police department. Doesn't help she is seeing Kandarians in the oddest of places. A cameo from Ruby Knowby may actually help with her current mental state; hey it might all be a little too real. Ready to hail the King baby, groovy…

Set 30 years after events in Evil Dead introduced Ash to the Kandarian demonic forces, via the ill-advised reading of passages from the Necronomicon, and 23 years since 1992's Army of Darkness, Ash vs Evil Dead seeks to reengage with the older horror fandom while generated a whole lot of love from the more cynical low attention span younger audience. The question everyone was asking was whether or not big bad Sam Raimi's splatter/slap stick approach to the dark genre would work in a modern jaded setting? The answer friends and neighbours is hell yes! Okay admittedly there might be the odd person out there that didn't like the first episode in season one, but quite frankly we can ignore those people who somehow discovered the show while surfing for the Disney channel. The boom stick is loaded and Ash is ready to rock and roll in a new century, bring on the rest of the season baby!

Things get off to a rocking start with Ash self-administrating a corset, middle aged spread amigos - gets us all, as he prepares for a night out at the Woodsman roadside tavern, yeah it's the first of a lot of puns - Raimi's trademark. Surprising the scene was overlaid with Deep Purple's Space Trucking which was both a brave choice and which immediately had me rocking to the scenario being delivered. Yeah eventually Ash does score at the bar albeit with a disturbing flashback, or was it - queue dramatic look beaver music. We soon learn Ash might have recited a passage or two from the old Book of the Dead while trying to impress a chick, which might just have unleashed the odd Kandarian demon or twenty. Anyways queue the chainsaw and boom stick; Ash along with a couple of sidekicks is soon knee deep in gore as the Kandarian scourge proves not to be all flashback. And before anyone asks yes we do get the POV of the forest demon, you all think Raimi would have left us out in the cold with that option! Oh and before I forget Ash also has this denture thing going down, the years haven't been kind to the demon slayer.

Ash might be older but that wise thing sure didn't happen for him. The Chin nails it.

Meanwhile Detective Amanda Fisher has her own run in with Deadites (Evil Dead name for Kandarian demons) in one of the best suspenseful scenes in the opening episode. We're talking night, lights are out, apparently deserted antebellum mansion. Just the right setting for ghosts, exorcism movies, and southern gothic. Fisher and her partner answer a disturbance call and the lights may be out but something is at home. Queue gallons of gore, well okay it is restrained to a certain extent, and the sort of atmosphere that makes horror fans out of the non-believers. Amanda may survive her first encounter with the evil dead but it leaves her scarred and looking for answers. A brief cameo by Lesbian icon Lucy Lawless later and this can't be a good development for Ash and his sidekicks.

So the major cast is in play, the antagonists have been setup - with some exploration of their capabilities and weaknesses, are we ready to blind read from the Necronomicon? For mine the show worked for Evil Dead alumni, the pilot held enough Deadite action and Ash witticisms to keep things rocking. Add in the tense atmosphere, some scare tactics, and enough wild antics to keep us primed for the season as Raimi recaught the sheer insanity of the original movies. El Jefe has me wanting to dial in for the next episode and no doubt the one after that, only question is can subsequent Directors match Raimi's go for broke approach, guess we'll see in the coming weeks. For newbies, well hell yes! This is horror baby, its supernatural, its gore laden, and it isn't taking any prisoners. The Ash army will be growing daily, signing off on the new troop deployments in the dark genre, get ready for the back log of franchise movies to sell out quicker than Michael Bay can add an explosion to a family sitcom. Raimi has his modern audience, the show Producers now need to maintain the good will Sam has generated.

Okay if you haven't immersed yourself in the franchise then skip ahead, this is background stuff. A lot of wasted real estate is being written about Evil Dead "canon". Show producers have indicated they don't have the rights to Army of Darkness, hence no mention of Ash traveling back in time to the dark ages, but take it as written that happened. So yeah Evil Dead references galore but no time travel shenanigans, read it as has happened however. Do we really need mention past endeavours by the demon slayer, hell no, this show will rock or fall on its own merits without sponging off the movies.

Personally I'm pleased with the addition of sidekicks for Ash, not entirely sure the newbies would be able to handed the single bomb stick theory that is our lead. Pablo is simply awesome, a hero worshipping Latino who is living the dream with the promised El Jefe, see the show for the reference, and Kelly is developing nicely into the female incarnation of Ash, she gets some of the best lines that don't involve Ash's narcissistic tendencies. I'm also grooving to Amanda and the brief cameo by Lucy, that promises to add some spice to the broth friends and neighbours, Ash is going to be battling human foes as well it would appear.

Out of room here, could of gone another thousand words to be honest, might be a touch of the fan boy going down don't you think? I rocked on out to episode 1 of Ash vs Evil Dead and have signed up already to the El Jefe army, bring it on home Ash! A while ago I wrote that the pilot episode of the new Doctor Who needed to both re-connect to the existing fanbase and win new converts from the great unwashed current generation of low attention spanners, this show had the same challenge, i.e. how to be somewhat at least relevant to modern audience. In both cases the Directors and writers managed to nail it, though to be fair in the case of Doctor Who falling ratings would indicate show fatigue has set in. Evil Dead is back baby, and to be honest I would rather have this television show than a fourth franchise movie, here I'm discounting the remake that has mixed reactions. Will the boom stick continue to blast away our blues, I'm seriously stating yes, full recommendation dial on in kids Ash vs Evil Dead promises to be a wild ride into uncharted territory, bags shotgun in the Oldsmobile, yes Raimi didn't miss a trick with Ash's ride. Am I grinning ear to ear, are the Kennedys gun shy!

One tinny weeny worry to finish off with, can the first season come up with an overall plot device to keep us glues during this season and the already greenlighted second season? Fingers crossed kids, fingers crossed.