Ash vs Evil Dead

Our Review

The sequel nobody expected: Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell returning to the Evil Dead universe, 30 years later, with Ash Williams — S-Mart stock boy, chainsaw-handed relic of the ’80s — dragged back into demon-fighting when his stoned poetry reading wakes the Deadites again. The show is the movie trilogy’s DNA at TV scale: Raimi directs the pilot (the POV-cam demon rush is intact), the gore is operatic and practical, and Campbell’s aging-loser charm is the engine — a coward who became a legend mostly by surviving.

The additions work: Pablo and Kelly as his protégés give the show its heart and its future (Kelly becomes the franchise’s best new character), Lucy Lawless’s Ruby gives it a nemesis-mythology, and the season arcs escalate with movie-quality set pieces. Three seasons of exactly what Evil Dead fans wanted — horror-comedy with actual horror — canceled on a cliffhanger that still stings. Hail to the king, baby.

Verdict: Watch it. Groovy.