Label: Lionsgate
Region Code: A
Rating: TV-MA
Duration: 858 Minutes
Audio: English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Cast: Bruce Campbel, Lucy Lawless, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, Arielle Carver-O’Neill
Synopsis: Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), the chainsaw-wielding, wisecracking antihero of the legendary The Evil Dead films, is back for more gore-filled adventure in this complete 30-episode collection of the Ash vs Evil Dead TV series. Follow Ash’s journey as he returns home to Elk Grove, Michigan, meets his long-lost daughter, and unites with former enemy Ruby (Lucy Lawless) and fellow demon fighters Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) for a final blood-splattering stand to save the world!
Thirty or so years after the events of the Evil Dead trilogy the first season Ash vs Evil Dead catches up with our beloved blow-hard Ash Williams, the one-handed demon slayer is now working at the Value Stop in Michigan as a stock boy, along with his loyal co-worker Pablo (Ray Santiago) and Pablo's crush-girl Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo). The day after after a blackout night of drinking and smoking weed with a prostitute Ash realizes he must have read from the dreaded Book of the Dead and has inadvertently unleashed Deadites back into the world! Now he must fulfill his destiny as mankind's savior, reluctantly falling back into his demon-killing lifestyle, donning his chainsaw and sawed-off shotgun, but very reluctantly and a bit half-assed.
Ash is joined on his quest by his co-workers, adding some nice buddy comedy to the series, plus we get Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) as mysterious woman named Ruby Knowby and an ill-fated return to a particular cabin-in-the-woods where Ash is reunited with his severed evil-hand and Henrietta the demon-grannie! Honestly, the idea of this series didn't imbue me with positive feelings when I first heard about it, I didn't think it would work, but these half-hour episodes are jam-packed with all the humor, gore and goofiness we came to love about the Evil Dead series, and the blood and gore is phenomenal, there has never been a TV show as ridiculously bloody as this, it's really quite wonderful.
Season two expanded on the story with Ruby revealed as an immortal evil out to unleash an even more evil upon the Earth, whose demon ex Baal shows up to convolute some of the later episodes. The last few episode dealing heavily with Baal are a real drag on the season in my opinion, happening at an asylum with Ash questioning his sanity, it's a scenario I didn't really care for. Meanwhile Ash returns to his home town of Elks Grove where he is reunited with his father, played by Lee Majors (The Six Million Dollar Man!), and we get the return of Ash's sister Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss, Evil Dead) from the first film. The visuals are top-notch, the gore is dripping right off the screen, but the storyline does falter a bit towards the end, but even a bad episode of Ash Vs Evil Dead is better than a decent episode of pretty much any other series in my opinion.
The third and (sadly) final season does something that a lot of sitcoms have done before, the trope of entering a young family member no one knew about before, which is usually a bad idea. Here wer are introduced to Ash's daughter, and against the odds it's a welcome addition to the series. Ruby also gives birth to an evil Ash, and were introduced to a clandestine group of Ash worshippers know as the Knights of Sumeria, and the final episode features a kaiju-sized deadite with the military showing up to take it on with tanks and war planes, it's a nice but of spectacle. Unfortunately the third season was the nail-in-the-Necronomicon for the series, but it wraps up with a fun finale that continues the story into the post-apocalyptic future that feels appropriate and right, though I do wish we were getting more of ass-kicking Ash, I would have been down to watch it.
Ash vs Evil Dead was an awesome three seasons of gore-filled TV, each episode was a tight, blood and humor filled half hour that kept me coming back for more,. It's a shame it all had to come to and end, but that this managed to live up to the legacy of the films and then some is miraculous, it's hard to believe it ever happened at all, but it did and I'm grateful for it.
Audio/Video: Ash Vs Evil Dead - The Complete Collection arrives on six-disc Blu-ray fromLionsgate in 1080p HD widescreen (1.78:1) looking gorgeous, fine detail and textures are sharp, blacks are solid, colors are vibrant and the gore is splat-tastic. The series comes with Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio mix that puts you right in the thick of it with fun, sometimes campily overdone, surround mixes make for a exciting audio presentation, the sounds of bloody gore drip from the speakers, the buzzing of Ash's chainsaw fill the air, horrific scream and the affected demonic babble of deadite coming through with immediacy and resonance. The TrueHD gives the Joseph LoDuca (Evil Dead) score some nice presence,. plus we gets some choice 70's rock from Alice Cooper, Ted Nugent and Deep Purple, optional English subtitles are provided.
Extras include a load of audio commentaries from cast and crew, inside the episode recap featurettes, season recaps, extras about the weapons, extras about the ass-kicking women, an extra about the Delta, kill clips, just lots of good stuff to pour through for fans of the show and the series.
The six disc set arrives on an oversized Blu-ray keepcase with the six-discs inside, these are the same discs as the individual season sets we've seen before, so if you already own those there's little reason to upgrade, but if you haven't bought them this is a great pick-up. Now we needs a Book of the Dead edition of the series with a rubbery Necronomicon packaging, which I am sure we will get at some point, the Evil Dead trilogy are among the most re-released properties in all of home video history, I am sure this series will follow in that same tradition.
Season Features:
Season One:
- “Inside the World of Ash” Featurette (16 min)
- “How to Kill a Deadite” Featurette (3 min)
- “Best of Ash” Featurette (1 min)
- Audio Commentaries
Season Two:
- “Season 2 First Look” Featurette (2 min)
- “Inside the World of Ash vs Evil Dead” Featurette (16 min)
- “Up Your Ash” Featurette (2 min)
- “Women Who Kick Ash” Featurette (12 min)
- “Puppets Are Cute” Featurette (1 min)
- “Dawn of the Spawn” Featurette (1 min)
- “Bringing Henrietta Back” Featurette (2 min)
- “The Delta” Featurette (2 min)
- “How to Kill a Deadite” Featurette (2 min)
- “Fatality Mash-Up” Featurette (1 min)
- Audio Commentaries
Season Three:
- “Season Overview” Featurette
- “Inside the World of Ash vs Evil Dead” Featurette
- Audio Commentaries
Man, I am going to miss this show, the half-hour episode format was a stroke of genius, it kept things fast and furious, never a dull moment, and Bruce Campbell was on-fire, bringing us right back to the Ash we knew and layering on even more gore-filled cheese and demonic chicanery, it's was a wondrously carnage and laugh filled extravaganza. If you're a fan of the series this collection looks and sounds great on Blu-ray, and if you're fan of the films but haven't seen the series do yourself a favor and grab this set, you will not be disappointed!
