'Ash Vs. Evil Dead' Review: Bruce Campbell Can Do No Wrong

Thanks to the presence of star Bruce Campbell, original Evil Dead director Sam Raimi and master producer of enjoyable junk Robert Tapert, Ash Vs. Evil Dead is a blood-squirting, wisecracking success as a half-hour TV series premiering on Starz on Halloween night.

Years have passed for Campbell’s Ash Williams since his last encounters with Deadites and the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, book of the dead. He’s working in a lowly job at the ValueStop, and living in a crummy trailer park. But his past comes back when he gets high with a potential romantic partner and accidentally recites a spell from the Necronomicon. Pretty soon, he’s unscrewing his rosewood-crafted hand and replacing its with his trusty chainsaw, the better to lop off the heads of Deadites.

And Ash has picked up new allies — store co-workers Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) — who marvel at the notion that this middle-aged braggart is actually a highly adept evil-slayer. That dichotomy in Ash’s character is what always made Campbell’s performance so good, even when the Evil Dead movies lapsed into mere slapstick. Campbell’s natural charm — something that also served him well as the paunchier comic-relief in Burn Notice — makes his Ash the rare horror-film character with something approaching depth: He’s really someone you don’t mind spending time with, because Ash is an egotist who can back it up with fighting power and an amused cynicism. He’s more than just a goofball with a borrowed-from-the-1950s catchphrase (“Catch you on the flip-flop”).

The premiere, directed by Raimi, does a good job of updating Ash, who admits to being “10 pounds overweight — okay, 30 pounds overweight” to fight zombies, but is game to get back into the action. It was key to convince young viewers that they should buy into Ash’s act, and so it was shrewd of Raimi, Tappert, and the various writers to use Pablo and Kelly as younger audience surrogates who end up staring at Ash in awe and admiration when he starts chainsawing Deadites.

Whether this set-up will settle into something intriguing enough to sustain a weekly series is Ash Vs. Evil Dead’s biggest challenge, and the second episode sent out to critics is a bit weaker, despite the presence of guest star Mimi Rogers in a plucky performance as a villain.

Starz thinks it has a hit, though — the channel renewed the series for a second season earlier this week, before the premiere. I like Campbell so much, I’m willing to buy into the violent silliness of it all for a few more weeks, at the least, to monitor Ash’s wanton progress.

Ash Vs Evil Dead airs Saturday nights at 9 p.m. on Starz.