This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The new Starz TV series "Ash vs. Evil Dead" will not feature buckets of (fake) blood.
Nah. There will be a lot more than just buckets. Think barrels of blood. For starters.
"People ask, 'How much blood is there going to be?' " said star Bruce Campbell, who's reprising his role from the first three "Evil Dead" movies. "I went blind the other day shooting a scene. Just picture that. Like, take a shower and open your eyes right into the faucet. That's how much blood there is on the show."
In other words, the TV series is pretty much just like the three previous appearances of Ash in "Evil Dead" (1981), "Evil Dead II" (1987) and "Army of Darkness" (1993).
Campbell returns as Ash Williams, an obnoxious, self-centered monster hunter who battles a legion of demonic spirits known as Deadites, which he and his friends accidentally unleashed in the first movie. (That tale is briefly told in the series premiere, appropriately on Halloween.)
Sam Raimi also returns to direct the first episode. The cast includes Lucy Lawless as the mysterious Ruby; Ray Santiago as Ash's new sidekick, Pablo; Dana DeLorenzo as Kelly, who wants payback for what the Deadites did to her family; and Jill Marie Jones as Amanda, a cop who blames Ash for the death of her partner.
Campbell said that if "Ash vs. Evil Dead" had been released theatrically, it would have been unrated.
"It would be silly for us to rip the fans off by giving them a watered-down version of this series," he said. "So the beauty of working with Starz is we have no content restriction whatsoever, and that's vitally important as filmmakers."
Raimi agreed that it's "really important that we fulfill our obligations to the fans who've asked us to make this either as a movie or a series" because "they have certain expectations."
They expect excessive violence, horrific gore and humor — and the TV series delivers all three to a fan base that has been "relentless" in demanding more, according to Campbell.
"The last 'Evil Dead' movie was 24 years ago," he said. "They haven't shut up since."
Raimi said he's grateful for a career that has included the big-budget, highly regarded "Spider-Man" and "Spider-Man 2."
"And I'd go to these conventions and all people would say to me is, 'Yeah, but when are you going to make another "Evil Dead" film?' "
He wasn't always onboard with that, but decided, "Gee, we're really lucky. … We should really embrace it. It just takes a long time to get over yourself and realize that that's the audience you want to entertain."
Campbell said, "It will never be enough" for fans, "and we're very grateful for that."
The monsters in "Evil Dead" are treated "very seriously" by the filmmakers, Raimi said, but neither the movies nor the series are very serious.
"There's a little bit of the humor," he understated. "We've tried to always maintain the balance between those. But I think it's Bruce Campbell [and] his character which has kept it unique and keeps people now coming back to see these movies again and again."
"I think Sam is very astute in his answer," said Campbell, demonstrating that the character he plays isn't that far removed from the real Bruce Campbell.
Ash is a career-defining character for Campbell, who has taken on dozens of roles over the past four decades. And he has no regrets about that.
"I'm attracted to weird material," he said. "I'm not attracted to normal, generic stuff. I find it too boring. And I don't mind being in cheeseball exploitation movies. It doesn't bother me in the least. Because B movies can do things that are way more interesting sometimes than A movies, because you don't have the restrictions. You don't have to please 100 million people.
"If your movie only costs half a million dollars, you only have to please, like, eight people," he joked. "I mean, it's a lot easier that way."
Campbell and Raimi said they've had a lot of fun getting back together and producing the 10-episode "Ash" series.
"It's just nice to get back and work in the trenches again with the people that you started in the industry with," Campbell said.
Although neither of them expected that, 35 years later, they'd return to the franchise.
"We were simply trying to make a film … that would be good enough to play in the American drive-ins," Raimi said of the original film. ""We were only hoping it would play two weeks. [That] it would be good enough that we wouldn't be thrown off the screen."
Twitter: @ScottDPierce —
On TV
P "Ash vs. Evil Dead" premieres Saturday at 10 and 10:45 p.m. on Starz.