Fan of evil dead 2?

[DestinedToDie]

I really enjoyed evil dead 2, thought Army of Darkness was alright, though not as good. Then comes Bruce Campbell's new evil dead (in 2013?)... which outright sucks. Leaves me thinking the series is dead.

Well, guess what? Ash vs Evil Dead tv series. I discovered it just today and there are 2 episodes out. Reminds me of the freaking legendary evil 2 deadites, with a little bit of the comedy from Army of Darkness. None of the dullness of the latest movie and we have Bruce Campbell playing as lead character.

You'd think this would suck because it's a tv series, but I was genuinely surprised by the high quality of the first episode, the lines Ash had and the deadites being so very true to Evil Dead 2. Don't watch this if you've never watched Evil Dead 2. But if you're a fan, then I definitely recommend.

Related trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unnLg1TPCYM

[psi29a]

Big fan of all his work!

[ezze]

I was neutral about The Evil Dead [1981], but I loved Evil Dead II [1987] and Army of Darkness [1992]. I saw the latter two multiple times.

However I did not see Evil Dead [2013] yet, but I was delighted that they finally made Campbell as Ash in the new series Ash vs Evil Dead and saw the first two episodes and I loved them.
I always liked Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness because I cannot take horror too seriously as it is intrinsically disingenuous. So this movies add a bit of humor and not taking themselves too seriously become, for me, much more effective.

I never heard of the other series you mentioned...


Edit: I just saw the third episode and it was ok. I did not like it as the first two, but I guess they had to show some weakness to increase the bounds between characters. The series stays very promising.

[TechNoirMK]

I did not see Evil Dead [2013] yet

It's very 'meh'.

[DestinedToDie]

Well, having watched the 4 episodes out there I think I'm starting to get a better view of what we're getting.

Definitely Army of Darkness quality. I think what was so good about Evil Dead 2 was that it was partly just Ash and the Evil Dead in a cabin in the woods. And the goal was to survive until morning (dead by dawn!). Even if you were possessed, sunlight would drive the evil dead right out of you. But in episode 4, we see the possession cloud thingie move around in broad daylight.

Not that it's a bad show, I'm quite enjoying this. Just more of the Army of Darkness funny horror action adventure style instead of gross comedy horror.

[ezze]

Definitely Army of Darkness quality. I think what was so good about Evil Dead 2 was that it was partly just Ash and the Evil Dead in a cabin in the woods.

Agreed, but I think the incredible quality of Evil Dead II "alone in the cabin against evil" section makes pretty much impossible to make another, better, movie on the same idea go figure a series. So the fact they read the necronomicon in the city gives fresh air and new possibilities.

And the goal was to survive until morning (dead by dawn!). Even if you were possessed, sunlight would drive the evil dead right out of you. But in episode 4, we see the possession cloud thingie move around in broad daylight.

I always thought it was the Ash sheer badassery that cast apart the deadlite possession and that they are just weaker under the sun. Besides the bad spirit is still inside him somewhere. This spirit is part of the reason why Ash is such an asshole sometime and shows almost magical powers, like shooting three times in a row with a two shells rifle...


I also saw Ep.4 now I liked it (the "my trip, my rules!" and "I need two beers!" were worth the ticket ) and I still think Ep.3 was the weakest.
It is not the only jarring point, but in Ep.3 the CGI was really annoying, the "inside the brain" sequences looked like useless fillers and the effect around the demon made it look artificial instead of scary. It was so overdone that I was surprised that he was actually a real actor in a such beautifully scary suit! Personally I was more excited by the practical effect of the demon teleporting around.
And to make it even more stupid in the same episode the CGI is used beautifully to make the Lawless scene in the beginning more effective! Maybe it is just a matter of taste.

Anyhow, welcome back Ash!


...

I can say only one thing... Groovy.

[DestinedToDie]

I always thought it was the Ash sheer badassery that cast apart the deadlite possession and that they are just weaker under the sun.

Bruce Campbell has actually sort of talked about this. You see, in Evil Dead 2 he kills and buries his girlfriend in the first 10 minutes. The girl was wearing a necklace that had some optical lense you could in theory concentrate light with. They had bought this necklace for exactly this reason.

In the movie Bruce Campbell would get possessed, but use his dead girlfriend's necklace to concentrate light onto himself and unpossess himself. Quite romantic. However the necklace was so bad at doing it, they decided to ditch the idea and simply have Ash be freed by the light of the sun. The necklace is in the movie regardless.

Edit: Or perhaps I am wrong? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzhcHk4gNM4 3:10 he talks about the necklace. Basically the necklace would be used to concentrate light on the book and burn it. Would have been such a waste.

[DestinedToDie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMvsA1Y ... tion=share

Bruce Campbell talks about Ash vs. Evil Dead. 5:10 to hear about the necklace story from the man himself.

[DestinedToDie]

Alrighty. Episode 6. Spoilers, obviously.

At the end of episode 5 they light up the statues, which I found kind of weird. Weren't those preventing the evil dead possession clouds from entering? And what do you get? Pachinko's uncle immediately possessed.

Now I didn't mind this and his dead charred corpse looked cool in my opinion. But we had been getting a lot of build-up with that brunette woman chasing Ash. And suddenly she's just thrown into the fire and instantly burned crisp. Never learned much of her. The black cop is also undone in this episode. Wasn't she just misguided 1 episode ago to think that this is all Ash's fault? Now she's on his side.

The action scenes were nice. I especially liked the corniness of how Ash equipped his chainsaw and shotgun.

But I do want to touch on the wisdom he achieved on his acid trip. When the weird guy deciphers the Necronomicon to him, he tells Ash that the key is in himself. Inside the shamanic acid trip, he comes to the revelation of "shoot, think never". Now this might sound like Ash logic, but it is actually what some eastern zen buddhism describes as suchness. One does not need to think:"Today at 13:42, I fart" in order to fart. The fart comes in and of itself. Ash has been overthinking stuff. Thinking instead of being and acting. And being Ash naturally he kicks deadite butt.

But burying the book? This sounds awfully misguided. If it were that easy, why didn't they translate the book in Evil Dead 2 and then bury it to contain the evil? Instead, they had to read certain passages of it to send it back in time.

Also, why is the book undestroyable? Again, in Evil Dead 2, some of the pages were torn and ended up in the dank cellar with the witch. Ash went down to pick them up. It is certainly possible to tear up the pages, it's just that the book is only a portal, harmless in the right hands. Destroying won't send anything back. It only prevents further things from coming into the world. So I guess that's why Ash wants to bury it. So no one can find it.

How do you get rid of the deadites? You kind of don't. You just beat them into submission without a thought. Which is what I feel like Ash will be doing. Remember the final battle in Army of the Dead? At first the evil dead became an evil version of him. He killed his evil part and buried it. Then it came back as a zombie. He burned the zombie into a skeleton. And when the skeleton still came after him, he made fireworks of it. Never did they actually banish the deadites back. Even at the end of the movie where he is working at the housewares store, a deadite breaks in, is like "I'll swallow your soul!" and Ash kicks her possessed butt.

Check the s-mart ending, which the current show continues off from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NmzF9pj9Yk

This is of course my personal view. Writers of the new show may have overlooked these things that happened in the movies. IMO Ash smoking weed and reading the book did not bring the deadites back. They were present all along, just gone dormant from being beaten at every step. Perhaps the conjuring of additional deadites made them brave enough to try again?

[DocClox]

Just watched five, and I have to say - good stuff!

I wasn't sure until about halfway through the first one; I kept getting flashbacks to Duke Nukem Forever. But once the show found its feet it's been nothing but fun. If that's the right word to use.