With The Walking Dead proving a long-running hit for AMC, other broadcasters are looking for a bite of the maggot-ridden zombie franchise pie. And what better way of doing it than reuniting the star and director of classic man-on-corpse movie series THE EVIL DEAD? Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi have joined forces again for the Starz network to create a small screen saga for chainsaw-wielding antihero Ash in Ash Vs. Evil Dead. It doesn’t take a genius to work out what the premise is going to be, with ten thirty minute episodes lined up. Raimi will helm and co-write the first part, with Ivan Raimi and Tom Spezialy helping him on the blood-spattered script front. Original producer Rob Tapert also returns to the fold.
The story concerns a plague that requires Campbell’s Ash to re-enter the arena of the undead. The film series combined gore and humour with freewheeling, low budget creativity and an independent spirit. Whether that can be recaptured in this age of slickly-packaged shows remains to be seen, but Raimi and Campbell are clearly going to have a ball going back to their roots. Raimi commented:
Evil Dead has always been a blast. Bruce, Rob, and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to tell the next chapter in Ash’s lame, but heroic saga. With his chainsaw arm and his ‘boomstick,’ Ash is back to kick some monster butt. And brother, this time there’s a truckload of it.
The series splatters onto the airwaves next year.
Source: Variety
