Big winter 2015 movie preview.
Part 0 (HC3)
Here we go, it begins.
Ash vs Evil Dead (2015)
All right, so here's how I'll handle this one.
The series has premiered, so every Sunday, I'll review the latest episode down in the comments thread.
Then, when all 10 are out, I'll do a full series review, and that will be the one I retro-link back to "80's Slashers", and give all the bells and whistles.
And we begin with episode one...
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Excellent.
Sam Raimi is back in the saddle for this episode, and he hasn't lost a step.
It's like the years between "Army Of Darkness", and now never even happened.
Well, except that time HAS passed in the story, and Ash is an old fart, which they milk for a lot of comedic effect.
But flavor and continuity wise, we're right back to business.
I'm liking the sidekicks, I'm liking the secondary b-plot characters, it's all great.
And it's really great to finally see this universe fleshed out with something besides video games and comics.
In the films, we only ever saw the cabin, the medieval world, and S-Mart, now we're going to explore the larger real world Ash lives in.
This is gonna be fun.
Another great episode.
Mimi Rogers gives her guest appearance.
I was reminded of the kind of adventure the comic books would do.
Dynamite did a good job of getting in the style of the Ash character after all.
Here, we learn more about Kelly, and she finally becomes the third member of the trio.
Now 75% of of what's in the trailer has happened.
The end of the trailer with the crosses joke happened this time.
I have a feeling the next two episodes will complete the trailer, and then we'll be in all new territory.
Oh, and the fight in the car with the broken bottle also happened.
Three down, seven to go!
This week, Ash, Pablo, and Kelly fought the blue and pink demon with no eyes from the trailer.
And, it cliff-hanged on what can only be the setup for Ruby rescuing Amanda next week.
I was right, by episode 4, the trailer will be gobbled up, and then we're in all new territory.
This was mostly a talk-y episode, but a TV series lets you slow down, and flesh the characters out that way.
We also got a little bit of fleshing out of the backstory of the Necronomicon.
The demon did something to Ash and Pablo that will probably have consequences later, and we're given a cryptic hint as to how Ash will be able to stop the evil by series end.
Good slow episode.
Have a feeling next week will be all about Ruby.
Its been leaked from multiple sources, including Campbell and Lawless on talk shows, that Ruby is a Knowby, making her daughter of professor Raymond Knowby, and Henrietta Knowby, and sister of Annie Knowby.
All of whom we met in "Evil Dead 2".
So, that's going to be interesting to see how all that links up, and what she thinks of Ash because of that.
Can't wait.
Four down, six to go!
Almost to the half-way point!
This week, the gang goes to see Pablo's uncle, the shaman (referred to in the trailer).
Ash goes on an acid trip through his mind, and we see glimpses of his life before and after the ED trilogy.
Also, turns out the demon from last week is tagging along and causing mischief.
I was right last week, we've totally caught up on the trailer now, and from next week on, we're in all new territory.
For some reason, they can't reference events in "Army Of Darkness", so they've been dancing around it.
Value-Mart instead of S-Mart.
Ash's wooden hand with no reference to the medieval armor hand.
They only flash back to ED1 and ED2 footage.
And now, Pablo is building Ash a new cyborg hand out of bike chains, and video game circuit boards.
So, Ash will get an upgrade, but without reference to the medieval hand.
I guess we're just left to assume that either he porthole-ed home after AoD, and in the last 30 years, it rusted up, and fell apart.
OR, he got home with a magic coma, like in the alternate ending, and the hand rusted away that way.
Oh, and we finally see what the invisible force looks like!
In the trilogy, characters could see what it was, because they reacted to it, but we only saw its point of view.
It looks like a green dust storm.
Which is about right, it can't look like a creature, it doesn't look like a creature until it's turned into "Apple-head", by Annie Knowby's spell at the end of ED2.
Ash called it "a drafter".
Add a new name to the ED mythology.
Also, Ruby showed up, saved the day, revealed her lineage, and then showed Amanda that she has Ash's old hand from ED2.
So, she obviously has been to the cabin.
And yes, she does blame Ash for the death of her parents and sister.
So, the chess pieces are all on the board, and lined up now.
Now the game begins.
See ya next week!
5 out of 10!!
Halfway there!
Kelly gets an exorcism.
Pablo gets a power item.
Pablo's Uncle becomes an Obi-Wan Kenobi ghost.
Ash gets his new hand, and it looks like a "pimp my ride", update of the medieval hand.
Meanwhile, Ruby uses Ash's zombie hand to home in on him like a dowsing rod.
Kind of a meh episode overall.
Boring bits dragged, while important plot stuff felt rushed through.
Hopefully, next week will be better.
Oh, and Ash finally beat the demon from episode 3.
So, it zapping Ash & Pablo's brains I guess isn't going to be a thing for later.
I guess that effect just visually set up that it can get into your mind, which showed up as a plot point in episode 4.
6 out of 10.
We're over the hump!
Much better than last week's.
Ash, Pablo, and Kelly stop off at a diner for chow, and a Drafter finds them, and makes some Deadites for them to fight, and the fight scenes were great.
Meanwhile, Ruby....dies?...goes into a dimension?
Either way, it was a disappearing act.
I have a feeling she'll be back.
Ash's Deadite hand also went missing.
Then, Amanda caught up to the gang at the diner, saw Ash fighting Deadites, and finally knows he's not a murderer, and joined the gang.
Also, Ash now knows from his trip in episode 4 that he has to go back to the cabin from Ed1 & Ed2 to defeat the Necronomicon once and for all.
So things are going to come full circle.
Also-also, Necronomicon reacts badly to Pablo's new magic Brujo amulet he got in episode 5.
That's gonna be a payoff somehow, I wager.
Also-also-also, Ash's doomsday prepper gun-nut buddy got Drafter-ed, so he's going to be a villain.
Big plot things things are in motion now.
Can't wait for next week!
Oh, and one of the big unanswered questions of the trilogy has been answered.
In ED1, Ash threw the book into the burning fireplace, and it seemed to burn, and said burning caused the extant Deadites to literally melt down.
In ED2, the book seems to be back, but you'll notice it's only in scenes that are re-enactments of ED1. From then on, the book is replaced in the plot by Annie's extra missing pages.
In AoD, Ash is in 1300, so he's got the un-burnt fresh copy of the book.
Now, in AvED, the book is back unscathed.
How did the book come back?
This is a mystery that had to be solved before for the comics and video games to make sense too, btw.
I had three fannish explanations during the comic era.
1. The book can regenerate, because it's a super-deadite like Jason Voorhees.
2. While in 1300, Ash caused a teensy change that caused a butterfly effect, which caused it not to be burned.
3. Ash brought the 1300 version of the book back with him, which caused a paradox, but the book is paradox proof.
Anyhoo, it can't be 3, because Ruby went back to the cabin, and all the mess from ED2 was still there, which is how she got the hand.
This episode, Kelly casually mentions that Ash told them he tried to burn the book once. This has to be the time from ED1.
It may have been referenced in a prior episode, but I didn't listen, or didn't remember.
So it's gotta be 1.
The book healed, or it didn't really burn in the first place, and the claymation transformation was deceiving.
So, it can all be waved away as "magic invincibility", and we can move on.
It can't be 2, because Ash remembers it happening, and a history change would paradox away the memory.
Of course, fiction is loaded with time travel stories where the protagonist remembers events.
Even allowing for that, there'd be so many other possible changes to Ed1 & ED2, and so many extra theories needed to explain why they didn't happen, best to go with no changes were made, and the Necronomicon is just fireproof, and maybe a traumatized Ash was seeing things.
After all, he did trip plenty of balls in ED2.
So, again, it's 1, and let's move on.
Just re-watched the Evil Dead Remake.
1. I sill love it.
2. It could have been woven into continuity before AvED came out, but now, not so much.
3. Remake Necronomicon is flat out fireproof.
I haven't been using the episode titles, and by way of reminding myself to do that for the final review...
1. El Jefe
2. Bait
3. Books from beyond
4. Brujo
5. The host
6. The killer of killers
Up next, "Fire in the hole".
Note to self.
Re-watch 'em all in a binge to take it in as one story for the final review.
"Fire In The hole".
7 out of 10.
3 more to go!
Ruby literally rises from the ashes, and we catch a quick glimpse of Lucy Lawless nipple.
Apparently, she's magically fireproof, and possibly not human.
She gets new clothes, finds her car, and pops a Candarian dagger out of the glove box, and is back on the trail of our heroes.
Meanwhile, the rest of the gang faces deadites at the redneck survivalist compound, and they weapon upgrade.
All the while, Ash keeps flirting with Amanda, and...it's working!
This episode, and the last, Ash has had reservations about his teammates ending up dead like all his friends from ED1 & ED2, so at the last minute, he ditches them, and takes off on his own.
Final scene, Ash's deadite hand makes it to the cabin first.
So, Ash's crew at the compound, Ash heading towards the cabin alone, Ash's hand at the cabin, and Ruby on her way.
We inch ever closer to the finish line.
My overall review, fairly decent.
This one felt like a level of one of the Evil Dead games for some reason.
It was a plot pit-stop, but they kept it fun.
I liked last week's a little better.
Next week "Ashes To Ashes".
Yep, the title of the first AoD sequel comic book is now canon.
Also, by the time it comes out, I will have probably seen "The Force Awakens".
"Ashes To Ashes".
8 down, two to go!!
Ash makes it back to the cabin, and the set builders and art department re-created it perfectly, so most of the episode is spent exploring the cabin and the work-shed to show it off.
It's all there. The front porch swing, the holes in the front door from Cheryl, the deer head, the clock, the trap-door, the kitchen, the room where Knowby's ghost appeared, and Linda's skull is still in the work-shed vice grip.
Anyhoo, Amanda shows up to help Ash, and Pablo and Kelly are lost, and come upon a camping group who are probably deadite fodder next episode.
Meanwhile, Ash's Deadite hand clones itself into another evil Ash.
Counting possessed Ash from 2, and clone Ash from 3, this is the third Evil Ash.
This Ash however looks exactly like Ash, and has his memories, so it fools Amanda.
We end with the two Ashes fighting, and a seemingly doomed Amanda.
Cliffhanger!!
Next week "Bound In Flesh".
And yes, I saw "The Force Awakens".
http://dickynoo.blogspot.com/2015/12/big-winter-movies-part-3.html
"Bound In Flesh".
Second to last!
Kelly and Pablo kill Evil Ash, and Ash dismantles him, but awakens the book, and it has a conversation with him for the first time.
Amanda comes back as a Deadite, and the campers from last week are gruesomely whittled down to one blonde bimbo with a hurt leg.
(Called that one)
Meanwhile, Ruby shows up, and claims to know how to kill the Necronomicon once and for all, but we cliff-hang with her using the book, and claiming that she wrote it.
So, is Ruby host to the spirit of the author of the book, or is she an immortal, and pretending to be a Knowby?
OR, is she the original Knowby?
One more episode to go to find out!
I have a feeling these last two should have been an hour finale.
Bad enough I've had to wait out these teensy little half hour episodes since Halloween.
Next one will be day after fucking New Year's fer cryin' out loud.
Anyhoo...
Next week: "The Dark One".
"The Dark One".
The finale!!
Things come full FULL circle down in the fruit cellar, (even Jake's skeleton from ED2 is still down there!) Ash fights a creepy zombie kid birthed from a gruesome ritual, Kelly gets pinballed around by the cabin come to life, blonde bimbo finally eats it, Pablo has the Necronomicon's severed face taking him over, Ruby is about to take over the world, and then...a twist I won't reveal, then....a fucking cliffhanger for season 2!!
Arrrgh!!!
Yeah, they're totally gonna milk this.
Man, I don't know what I think yet.
Maybe I'll know better after the re-watch marathon.
Up next, the full series review!!
Stay tuned!!
Okay, I just did the full marathon, and it definitely needs to be seen twice.
Lot of callbacks and foreshadowing to things at the end you just can't remember week to week. It needs to be binged.
This time, I was able to better able to put together who and what Ruby is.
1. In episode 3, the guy at the occult bookstore says the Necronomicon was written by the dark ones, and we see illustrations of them as hooded figures. They were briefly mentioned in the intro to ED2 so it's canon, and not pulled out of thin air. He describes them as neither demon nor human, so they're something special in between.
2. In episode 6, the Deadite possessed skeleton of Pablo's uncle recognizes Ruby, calls her by name, says she's a double-crosser, and that "the others", will never let her have the Necronomicon to herself.
3. In episode 7, we find out Ruby is flame resistant, therefore some kind of immortal.
4. In episode 9, Ruby says she wrote the book.
5. All throughout, she stands by her story that she's a Knowby.
6. Ash's shotgun doesn't work on her. It hurts, but she can heal up.
7. The Candarian dagger seems to work though.
SO...
1. She's a dark one.
2. She's a rebel dark one that wants to be THE dark one, hence the title of episode 10.
3. Deadites recognize and dislike her. Unless they're summoned by her.
4. She's connected to the Knowby family somehow. An ancestor maybe? Time travel? Season 2 will have to answer this.
5. Knowby or no, she is called Ruby.
6. She, not all the dark ones, wrote the book. Maybe she took dictation from the others?
That's what I can put together.
Season 2 will have to fill in the rest.
Okay, NOW for the full series review...
...and here it is.
http://dickynoo.blogspot.com/2016/01/big-winter-movies-part-15.html
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