Ash vs. Evil Dead's Season 2 premiere airs on Starz this October 2nd, and to honor the show's gloriously gory return we're taking a quick look at what makes the franchise's battling bonehead of a hero, Ash Williams (iconically portrayed by Bruce Campbell), so damn awesome.
First appearing in 1981's The Evil Dead, Ash, along with his girlfriend, sister and a couple of friends, visited a remote cabin in the woods where he accidentally awakened demonic spirits from beyond. Ash, bloody and disremembered, would survive the night, but then he'd go through all of it again in Evil Dead II - the horror/comedy reboot-quel.
The swashbuckling Army of Darkness would follow in 1992 and then Starz' Ash vs. Evil Dead would resurrect Ash decades later for a new rambunctious run. So how can one man be such an ass and an ass-kicker? How can a hero be so dense but then also be so diabolically good at demolishing deadites? Ash has always been the "reluctant hero," never really stepping up until pushed too far. Selfish to a fault, Ash's own idiocy usually causes the actual trouble he has to clean up. Good thing he's the Boomstick Butcher with the Chainsaw Hand.
Here are Ash's 7 best moments from the Evil Dead-verse...
Evil Dead always played fast and loose with its demonic rules, creating an atmosphere where you never quite knew what would happen next. This included things like a malicious spirits inhabiting everything from lamps to picture frames to - you know - your hand. And Ash was not about to be beaten and humiliated by his own appendage. Oh, hell no. Ash would cut off his nose to spite his face - or in this case, painfully chainsaw off his hand to show it who's boss. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, DUMB EVIL HAND?
With some extra space on his body to play with, Ash now had options when it came to arming himself. First and foremost, he'd cap his stump with the very chainsaw used to create it. In Army of Darkness (below), he'd fashion himself a metal hand powerful enough to crush a metal goblet. Both times, after an awesome assembling montage, he'd take a pause to look at his new part, declaring it - and the general state of things - "Groovy!"
Perhaps the most memorable Ash moment of all, Army of Darkness' boomstick scene elevated our hapless hero to new heights of jerk-dom. To be fair, he wasn't being treated very well by the quick-to-judge denizens of medieval England and thought it was time to teach these "primitive screwheads" about 20th Century weaponry. In this case, his twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. Everyone cowered in fear as Ash, essentially, took over the castle and bullied his way into being treated like royalty. Great job if you can get it.
The fact that Ash reeeeally wanted to get back to his own time but also reeeeally didn't want to make any real mental commitment to memorizing the exact chant to safely retrieve the Necronomicon stands as one of his best, buffoonish moments. Instead of helping out the poor demon-ravaged people of England, he accidentally unleashes hell on earth by trying to flub his way through three words - adding a cough at the end. As if he could somehow trick the ancient dark forces lying in wait.
While not the original Army of Darkness ending (which depicted a Rip Van Winkle'd Ash awaking in a post-apocalyptic London), the reshot S-Mart ending stands as the better, more satisfying of the two - especially if you consider that franchise didn't continue until more than 20 years later. This action-packed, quotable showdown in Ash's place of work saw S-Mart's housewares attendant go from stockboy braggart to demon slayer in matter of seconds, delivering the epic "Hail to the King, baby" moment right at the end.
Ash splashed back onto the scene in 2015 with Ash vs. Evil Dead, which saw our once-powerful hero humbled as a trailer park lothario haunted by his days as a deadite smasher. After (once again) awakening the ancient evils of the world, Ash was shoved back into the war against damnation and had to battle evil monsters inside his own homestead. The boomstick and the chainsaw returned in epic fashion as Ash leaped from once side of his trailer, arm outstretched, and connected with his darling 'saw (which was hurled by Ash-devotee Pablo).
We never really knew all that much about Ash in the movies, and the first season of Ash vs. Evil Dead was the first stab at trying to turn Ash into an actual character with (some) layers. Season 2 will dig even deeper into Ash's past and family history, but back in Season 1 we caught a glimpse of Ash's version of paradise: Cold beers, a quiet pier, and... Jacksonville, Florida. Yup. Ash's drug-fueled trip at the behest of Pablo's uncle revealed our that our hero's dream was to live a fairly tacky life nestled in 70s nostalgia and a spring break atmosphere.
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA). Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at http://ift.tt/2aJ67FB.
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