ASH VS EVIL DEAD is the answer to fans wanting another Evil Dead film with Bruce Campbell back in his most iconic role of Ash.  The good news is that the TV series does fit in with the movies, but the bad news is the producers didn’t get the rights to all of the movies which means no references to ARMY OF DARKNESS sadly.   Ash has been hiding out working at various Value Mart stores for the last 30 years and wanting to impress a hot woman by reading from the Necronomicon unleashes the Deadites again on Earth.  He is joined by Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) with disgraced Michigan state trooper Amanda Fisher (Jill Marie Jones) on Ash’s trail along with a mysterious woman (played by Lucy Lawless) who wants to track down Ash by the mean of his evil hand.  Ash’s quest to rid himself of the Deadites and the Necromicon will bring him full circle with where it all began.

The first season of ASH VS EVIL DEAD is a perfect blend of horror, comedy, and blood.   Bruce Campbell shines as Ash and it is like the character never left.   I do hope Bruce Campbell, creator Sam Raimi, and producer Robert Tapert pursue the rights to ARMY OF DARKNESS one day since I think the TV series only follows material from the first movie while not having rights to use anything introduced in EVIL DEAD 2 or ARMY OF DARKNESS or the EVIL DEAD remake (which I believe is actually part of the same movie universe).   I do like how Ash gets a mechanical hand while I wish they could have a story dealing with how Ash lost his metal hand from ARMY OF DARKNESS.    The ten half hour episodes make wish fro season 2 (which is starting on STARZ in October, but the DVD and blu-ray of season 2 won’t follow until sometime next year).

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentaries for every episode with members of the cast

DISC 2 featurettes:

INSIDE THE WORLD OF ASH- a behind-the-scenes featurette that looks at vital parts of each episode with crew interviews

HOW TO KILL A DEADITE is a featurette of fans at a comic book convention and Bruce Campbell talking about ways to kill a Daedite

BEST OF ASH is a show reel of the best Ash moments from season one

FINAL ANALYSIS:  I loved the horror comedy cocktail of ASH VS EVIL DEAD as I painfully wait for season 2 to make it to blu-ray in 2017.  Bruce Campbell is back as his iconic character that I hope he will play for many seasons to come while I hope they get those ARMY OF DARKNESS rights one day for use in the TV show.   This show is highly recommended for fans of the EVIL DEAD movies and actor Bruce Campbell.

This review is ©9-3-2016 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

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