But Who Is Gonna Play Ash?

For those of you not familiar with Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead movies, let me bring you up to speed. The first film, The Evil Dead, is a by-the-numbers horror flick about a group of friends who take a vacation at a cabin in the woods. Skip it (you will not miss any key story elements as the opening of ED2 is a quasi-remake). The real fun begins in Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn and continues in Army of Darkness. This is the series that brought us Ash, the shit-talking’ hero with a chainsaw strapped to his arm. Ever wonder where Nuke Nukem gets his hilarious one-liners? They are lifted straight from this series, among others. This is a film series recommended to people who love over the top horror movies that don't take themselves seriously. If you love any of the following things, then this series is for you:

tree rape (you heard me)

possessed body parts

gallons of green, purple and red blood

physical comedy ala The Three Stooges

unexplained continuity changes from movie to movie

skeletons playing bagpipes

Army of Darkness was released in 1992, and ever since that time fans of the series have been wondering, "what’s next?"

Since 1992, the series has gone from cult classic to main stream in many ways. Bruce Campbell will forever be associated with Ash. He’s played him in 3 movies, 3 video games and the character has been featured in many, many comic book spin-offs. Ash even routinely shows up the NECA toy line as well. It can be argued that this character has gotten more and more popular as time has gone on, which is impressive considering we're just about two decades removed from the last movie.


So why hasn’t he returned to the screen at all? It has almost happened a couple of times. Before Sam Raimi hit it big with the Spider-Man movie series, there were talks of moving ahead with another sequel (for legal reasons it would have been Army of Darkness II). Bruce Campbell shares that it would have been based on the alternate ending (because what is an Evil Dead movie without skewed continuity?) and featured Ash fighting machines in the future. This was quickly scrapped and not much else was heard until August 15, 2003. I still remember that day because it was the day that Freddy vs. Jason hit theaters. It was tracking well at the box office, so naturally a sequel was being touted. Not just a FvJ 2, but a Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash. Without getting into the long history of how that came about, it fell apart when Sam Raimi stated that he wasn’t comfortable allowing someone else to have creative control over a character that he may want to use again once day. Fair enough I say. He’s all but confirming another sequel. Fast forward to 2007 – 2009 in which Raimi begins dropping hints that he and his brother have begun laying the foundation of another sequel.

Finally, in 2011, we have the official news that there will be another Evil Dead movie! Sam Raimi is producing, Fede Alvarez is directing and Diablo Cody is putting the finishing touches on the script! That’s right; The Evil Dead is coming – wait. The Evil Dead? As in…A REMAKE?! Surely this is a mistake as Bruce Campbell is coming back as Ash, right? A cameo? Not as Ash? Really? What a terrible, terrible idea. Hey Sam Raimi, let’s ask New Line how well the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street did. Well received? No? It essentially killed the franchise when you left out Robert Englund? Surely they wouldn’t leave out Ash, who IS the franchise. What’s that? It’s about a new generation of kids? Ugh. I can’t wait for this movie to bomb at the box office. Not only were we screwed out of this, but Raimi essentially screwed us out of a fun popcorn sequel to FvJ.

The people defending this have all basically said the same thing: "Look, if you want a new Evil Dead movie, then this is the way to go." That’s the same bullshit line they used when remaking Nightmare on Elm Street. How about instead of giving the fans what they want, you leave it alone? I’m guessing that Bruce Campbell is thrilled that he won’t be back as Ash. Everywhere this guy goes, he gets asked about a new Evil Dead movie. Some friends and I saw him speak about one of his other films a few years back and he immediately wanted that question out of the way. I’m sure this remake solidifies the fact that he’ll never have to talk about it again. I’m getting a real "Bill Murray & GB3" vibe here, and it sucks.

At one point one has to wonder if Ash will even be included, and if so, who will play him? This is a role that Bruce Campbell made famous, so would anyone accept a new actor in the role? This question was answered as of September 15, 2011 when it was reported by Campbell himself, "No Ash character currently. ED remake is a re-telling. All bets are off & all involved love the new approach." Everyone but the fans, Bruce. Remember when I told you to skip the first film? The remake sounds just like it, so guess what I recommend you do here, too?

Very few remakes have a chance of living up to the original (in this case sequels), and even fewer can hack it when they exclude what everyone loves about the original.