Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Fans be crazy, but this particular batch of stars may be even crazier. Ash vs. Evil Dead, STARZ’s beloved cult horror comedy, led Thursday morning’s New York Comic Con in the most gory and quirky way possible.
A continuation of Sam Raimi’s iconic horror classic, the horror comedy pick up 30 years in the future when the world is yet again in peril and Ash (Bruce Campbell) is forced to again take command. The show had a screening of Season Two’s second episode as well as a panel with Bruce Campbell (Ash), Lucy Lawless (Ruby), Ray Santiago (Pablo), Dana DeLorenzo (Kelly), Jill Marie Jones (Amanda), and Season Two newcomers Lee Majors (Brock) and Ted Raimi (Chet). The panel primarily focused on what fans can expect from Season Two, and it’s a lot: New faces, throwback characters (heyy Ted Raimi), new plots, and more extreme gore. Lots of gore.
“We have to choose our words carefully,” Bruce Campbell said during the panel. “But we also want to assure the fans out there that there might be certain things, certain characters of yore popping up and reemerging played by — potentially — some of the original thespians.”
The panel also promised that there would be more blood and guts than ever. In fact, if you’re already caught up on the series, you’ve probably already noticed. In Season Two’s first episode, Dana DeLorenzo is doused in blood. “That was 26 gallons to be exact, in that first scene,” she said. “They’re always getting very creative with the things that they can turn into a goop to throw on us beyond blood, this season especially. They’re stepping it up to a whole other level of crap being thrown on us. But I do like it.”
You can also expect more appearances from Lee Majors, who is playing Ash’s father, several nude or near-nude scenes from Ray Santiago, and a possible time travel plot line. When a fan asked if Kelly and Pablo would be shocked to know that Ash had been to Medieval times, a reference to Army of Darkness, Campbell said he thought they’d be cool with the concept on time travel before delivering this winking statement: “There may be a little bit of that, particularly this season.”
The panel also revealed some interesting tidbits about Campbell and Lawless. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Campbell has a lot of respect for Sam Raimi, calling Raimi the “most attentive, driven, focused, funny director that you’ll ever work with.” However, Campbell did touch on the director’s notoriously brutal directing style. “He’ll say stuff like this. So you’ll finish a take and he’ll go ‘Wow Bruce! That was great! For somebody else’s movie,’” Campbell said. “He directs through humiliation and crying. Mostly physical abuse, I think.”
“I got to watch him start to insult Tobey Maguire on Spider-Man 2,” he added. “Sam would go, ‘Hey Tobey, you think you could stay there and say that one line, or is that too much to ask?’ And I was like ‘Tobey, he likes you!’”
And in case you were wondering, Lucy Lawless can in fact still do the Xena yell. It took only a mild amount of cheering from the crowd before Lawless erupted into the warrior princess chant that dominated the ’90s. That’s pretty kind for a woman who I’m sure is sick of yelling battle cries for strangers. All in all, the Ash vs. Evil Dead panel was just as fun and relaxed as the series. Keep in mind how much fun they have on set when you watch Season Two’s (intentionally) revolting second episode.
