Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season 2

This is decidedly the best show to come along in some time. But before you watch it, make sure you've seen at least the second Evil Dead movie (which is basically a remake of the first one). Ash is back in his own selfish and stupid way, and Bruce Campbell really pulls off the role well. Honestly, I thought Bruce Campbell didn't have to have much in the way of talent to play Ash, but then I watched him in Burn Notice and the Sam Axe movie that came out of that and now I have a great deal of respect for the man's talents and how they're really needed to play Ash.As far as the story, yes, they go back to the cabin and have a great season finale there. That's all I'm really going to say, and Season 2 is a solid season as well. The show comes off more as a parody of shows like Buffy, Angel, and Supernatural (don't even get started on Ghost Whisperer). But it's hard to call it a parody of those shows when the Evil Dead movies predate Buffy, the oldest of the three.The special effects are solid, and will make you wonder if they have a budgeted "blood" item for each episode. They all get covered in blood, or some other gross fluid in every episode. In fact, you can tell how much time is left in the episode based on how much of the character's skin isn't yet covered in blood. The slapstick comedy is way over the top, more so than in the movie series, and manages to make slapstick fun again. There is a strong preference for stage effects over CGI, to the extent that if you also watch the featured "making of" documentaries, you'll be surprised to find out that what you thought was a terrible CGI effect turns out to be a puppet (something other reviewers seem too have missed).As far as character growth, Ash is the ultimate comedic character in that he seems to regress as the series goes on, when the ideal comedy character is funny because of a lack of growth. But his friends, Pablo and Kelly, go through significant growth, to the point where they're both genuine heroes as you approach the end of Season 2. Meanwhile, Ruby/Xena goes through her own story arc that swaps her from villain to hero, and back to villain. You never really know who's side she's on, and she makes a great addition to the crew because of that.I found myself getting to the point where there was no new episode to watch, and that was the most disappointing moment of the show: not having another episode to watch. When you put out a show that people enjoy so much that they get sad when they've reached the end, you've done your job. Luckily, they're still making new episodes, and we just have to wait for them to be released.As far as I know, they've been reupped for at least one more season, possibly two. I hope they go the distance and make 200 episodes before they quit.As far as differences from the movies, yes, there are plenty, and they have to be there. Just like Buffy had to make some changes going from the silver screen to the small screen, so too does Ash. One change made that's common to both is that the lead character gets a team to help them and the shows are ensemble shows. Some reviewers seemed to be disappointed with that, but I think the show (both, if we're being honest) did a great job addressing that, but realistically, it's really difficult to make a show that's centered around one character. That was why Richard Dean Anderson (of MacGuyver fame) insisted that Stargate SG-1 be an ensemble show before he was willing to get involved. They also discarded Army of Darkness from the continuity due to intellectual property problems, but since those have been resolved successfully, I expect to see a story that addresses Army of Darkness (the original ending, not the one included in the American theatrical release).All in all, I recommend this show whole-heartedly. At 290 minutes per season, it's easily binged and well worth the time spent. We do watch it as a family show, but considering the violence and gore (and the one explicit sex scene in the first episode), you might not want to watch it as a family if your kids are young (mine are all teenagers).

Season 1 started off very strong; it was classic Ash, but now aged about 25 years, and all the evil dead craziness in which he finds himself. It then drops off in quality around mid-season 1 and picks up strong in the later and the last episode of Season 1, in particular. Season 2 has really been a bit of a bummer for me. It's good, but I'd definitely say Season 1 was far better, overall. Season 2 seems like the writers are stalling to move the story forward, probably because they don't have many other ideas for the series. Season 2 almost seems like the writers got lost, not really having as strong cohesion to what happened in Season 1; there's some cohesion, but it's not as strong as one would expect. Also, the story in Season 2 is progressing at a snail's pace, and even though it featured Ash's father, they really failed to capitalize on that character potential, leaving me with the feeling, quite frankly, apathy for Ash's dad. That's definitely not a feeling I expected to have from watching this show, as I do enjoy much of Campbell's and Sam Raimi's work.Based on this lackluster Season 2, I wouldn't be surprised if Season 3 is the last season for this show. This show really had, and still has, potential to take off, and they were headed in the right direction at the end of Season 1, but Season 2 has kind of fizzled out in my enthusiasm for the show; this is even with the insane corpse morgue scene in Season 2, episode 2. I'm really disappointed about feeling this way, but I figured it was too good to last that long, way back when I first started watching Season 1. After all, the other two shows in which Campbell has headlined fizzled out and were canceled after a season or two. See, "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." and "Jack of All Trades". I really hope I'm wrong about that. They've only aired 5 episodes of Season2, at the time of this review.

If you liked Evil Dead .. you'll like this, you primitive screw-heads.

I consider Evil Dead to be the greatest horror franchise, period. Sorry fans of Freddy, Jason, Chucky, and all those other awesome guys, but Ash is king! This is a fantastic show with awesome kills, well shot action, extremely messed up yet funny scenarios, and quite possibly the goriest show ever put on television! If you're a horror, don't hesitate to buy.Now... you probably wondering "Well if you say we shouldn't hesitate to buy, why'd you give it 3 stars?" I'm glad you asked. In spite of having one the best visual and audio qualities of the many Blu-rays I own, there is one very infuriating flaw to the Blu-ray product: loading errors. If you use the "Play All" feature on the Blu-ray to avoid navigating the menu after every episode, THAT SECOND DISC WILL NOT LOAD. If you research this on the internet, you'll find that this is a very common problem that other consumers have experienced. Now, if you have happened to use the "Play All" feature and find yourself looking at the black screen of death, it's not the end of the word. This problem can be fixed by erasing your player's memory through the system settings, though the location to do this varies from player to player. It's a simple fix, sure but I want to marathon this show like it's one 5 hour long movie of gut busting bloodshed. But alas, I can't with this particular product.The reason I encourage horror fans to buy is because this show deserves all the support it can get. While Bruce Campbell may be done playing Ash, this franchise deserves to be preserved in the history of horror and I don't see any other manufactured product to buy. I've rambled on long enough now, but I wanted to make other buyers aware of this issue and know how to resolve it before they make a purchase. It can be a real sinking feeling seeing that black screen and thinking you wasted your money.

I finished watching this dvd yesterday and I must say that Ash is nuttier than ever. He was sane in the the first movie, but after that it went downhill. Awesome effects. It is sometimes a little bit to gory even for me. And a little bit confusing. I don't think I will buy the remaining two seasons. I will concentrate to watch Lucifer, A discovery of Witches, Sleepy Hollow and Supernatural instead. And I have four seasons of Z Nation to watch. It is just season 5 I have to buy.

If you like the headline I wrote, it says it all about it. Also the TV series had great production values, & a great cast, every episode was like a grade a movie from the big screen with great special effects. You can easily binge on it if you are not careful & loose your self & your time. Every episode is like 25 min. long & I found it addictive like a good bag of potato chips.

Ash is back and ready for action! I was optimistic about season two but it was much better then I expected. A must have for horror fans and great to see the series progress in such a fun and and gory way with tons more blood guts and gore!

Vraiment très sanglant et imbécile a souhait... comme on l'aime...

Another great Bruce Campbell adventure. I really enjoy the series.