Ash Vs Evil Dead: Season 1 (2015) Cre: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi & Tom Spezialy
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As someone who has watched and very much enjoyed both the original and modern 'Evil Dead' films, I was definitely excited to check out this Starz original horror comedy series, from creators Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, and Tom Spezialy. It looked like a whole load of fun, and like it had the potential to match up with the original trilogy quite nicely.
The series was, as I expected, stylistically very Sam Raimi - smash cuts, goofy camerawork, and lots of close-ups for the one-liners. Some of the visual effects looked kind of awful, but I can see how it would add to the show's charm. In that regard, this series felt like a throwback to Raimi's iconic horror trilogy.
The comedy was very silly, sometimes to utterly absurd and ridiculous levels, but I did enjoy the majority of it. The acting was pretty bad from all involved, but some of it was in a "so bad its good" kind of way, so it kind of worked. Similarly, the story rarely took itself seriously, allowing for a lot of leeway and shenanigans from the cast. It was very clear that this was more about humour than story.
Bruce Campbell returned to Raimi's 'Evil Dead' universe to reprise his role as the classic Ash character as if he had never been away from it. He was hilariously unhinged and quick-witted. The writing wasn't very good, but Campbell's delivery often made the jokes funnier than they really had any right to be. He made the show a lot more watchable than it would have been without him.
The maim supporting characters, played by the duo of Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo, were fine, but definitely did not have the same kind of presence or comedic timing of Campbell. I will admit, I did enjoy some of their comedic work, but it often felt a lot more forced than natural, and didn't land nearly as well. Regardless, I think there was potential for growth from both of them.
In regards to the other cast members, Lucy Lawless was the most significant, although I must say I wasn't a fan of her acting - it was pretty unconvincing, even by the comedy-centric standards of the show. I did enjoy both Jill Marie Jones and Samara Weaving more, though neither got as much screentime as I had expected.
Overall, this was a weird show to watch and review. The writing was, for the most part, pretty terrible, but I can't deny that I was entertained by a fair bit of it. It was almost, with all due respect, so stupid that it worked. Funny or not, I do genuinely hope that the general writing improves though, because some of it was extremely poor. Either way, this first season was fairly groovy, but not great.
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