‘Ash Vs. Evil Dead’ Trailer Blends Old And New For 199 Seconds Of Utter Carnage

The Ash vs. Evil Dead trailer from Starz has been an unsung hero of Comic-Con week since the cable channel released it via YouTube on July 10.

While most of the internet is buzzing about the Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens behind-the-scenes footage or the first long trailer of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, these are the three glorious minutes that won the hearts of horror fans all over the world.

And if you’re a long-time Deadite follower, it’s not just three minutes. It’s 199 seconds — an important detail since most of us had lost hope that we’d get a single second more of Bruce Campbell’s Ash in our lives after he signed off with “Hail to the King, baby,” at the end of Army of Darkness.

Sure, there had been rumors forever, but the original Evil Dead trilogy didn’t exactly tear up the box office. The films were successful, but in a cult kind of way.

Then came the Evil Dead remake and that brief stinger appearance of Ash at the end credits. That’s when the first news of what would become Ash vs. Evil Dead started picking up steam.

For the first time in years, Campbell and his friend and original Dead collaborator and creator, Sam Raimi, seemed serious about continuing the character’s adventures.

But still fears persisted among fans.

Would we get the hardcore violence of the first Evil Dead or the zany Three Stooges-like antics of AOD?

Most of us wanted a blend of the two, and from what Starz has unveiled, that’s exactly what we got.

No need to build this trailer up more. It’s unnecessary, and nothing is going to excite you more than you already are. So let’s roll it!

https://youtu.be/unnLg1TPCYM

Wait, before you go, I did think of one other thing that will probably excite you, Evil Dead fans. Or a few rather.

First, the pilot episode, premiering on Halloween night, will be directed by none other than Mr. Sam Raimi himself. Second, as you can see from the footage above, there will be no shortage of bloodletting, something I was concerned about since Raimi has been stuck in PG-13 hell for several years.

(Even though his PG-13 horror film Drag Me to Hell was a great return to form despite its lack of gore.)

Finally, there is this quote about the story’s protagonists from Campbell reported by iHorror.

“It’s a threesome, which is a good number. They’re supposed to be two very good counterparts. One is a male-bonding situation; the other is father-figure deal, since Ash could have a daughter the same age as this character. Hopefully we’ll pull Ash out of his loner-veteran mode and get him back into being a human being again.”

It looks like they’ve succeeded.

Ash vs. Evil Dead is slated to run 10 episodes for its first season. Hopefully, we’ll get a lot more than that. But considering the three films combined only ran for 250 minutes and these 10 episodes will be 30 minutes each — a runtime equivalent slightly higher than getting a new Evil Dead trilogy — let’s just be happy with what we’re getting for now and try to make this thing a massive hit, shall we?

Are you looking forward to Ash vs. Evil Dead? Sound off in the comments section!

[Image via YouTube screen grab, linked above]