Welcome back to a little series I like to call Something Old, Something new. I honestly didn’t know where to go next with this series, because it requires a lot of research. I originally wanted to cover Roseanne/The Conners, Full House/Fuller House, and Twin Peaks, but I’ve only seen one of those comebacks in its entirety and I need to do more research on the matter. I’ll get to those next time, but for now, I needed something I’ve seen and as the resident Horror Fanatic it just kind of came to me. Welcome to Something Old, Something New Part 2: the Slasher Edition. Here is my patented non-spoiler review of Ash vs Evil Dead, Chucky, and Scream: The Series.
In the first installment of this series of articles, I referenced how great ‘Chucky’ is. To be honest, I was kind of worried about how this series would do as a television series, but I’ll be upfront, it’s better than Bride and Seed of Chucky. I’d say it’s better than the reboot Child’s Play movie but the best part of that movie was when it finally ended. Actually, I kind of liked the last act of that monstrosity… the first time I saw it was at the end of Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich. That being said, Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky brought the movie series back to greatness and redeemed itself. I could say more, but that’s best saved for another article that belongs to a different series I do. for now, at least, I’m talking about the TV show.
The show picks up a little after the cliffhanger ending of Cult of Chucky and brings the original franchise back after being rebooted, which is a very rare thing to happen and I love this. Directed by Don Mancini and keeping the great and talented Brad Dourif as the iconic voice of Chucky, this series also brings back Jennifer Tilly, Fiona Dourif, Alex Vincent, and Christine Elise from the movie franchise while introducing a brand new cast of characters that you really either like or hate enough to cheer for their deaths. It’s both depressingly dark and side-splittingly funny, just like the movie franchise. This is definitely a fantastic continuation as it not only keeps the old story going, but brings in new playmates for our favorite buddy to torment, maim, and kill. Season one was fantastic and I can’t wait for more, which we better get because it ended on a cliffhanger with several story lines left open. I definitely recommend it to any and all Child’s Play fans who were disappointed when the reboot was announced. I personally am grateful that this became a show instead of movie number 8 in the series, because we really got a more fleshed out storytelling this time around. It’s the right amount of moving forward while still holding on to the past.
5 out of 5 Murder Dolls.
For this one I was absolutely ecstatic once I heard the announcement. Ash Williams was coming back. Hail to the king, baby, and hail I did. Although this show ended up getting canceled after season three due to low viewership, I watched every episode and admittedly only kept my Starz subscription active during this show’s run. I love it for everything it is and should have been. They really pushed the bar with this show and the fact that it was on premium, subscription cable meant it could be as R-rated as it wanted to be. There was blood, gore, and not a single damn was given. I’m personally pretty jaded on horror gore and this series brought it in loads every week. They did a really good job at actually making me wonder how Ash and the gang could possibly make it out of the mess they were in. Spoilers: the answer was usually Chainsaw-hand and the trusty Boomstick, by the way.
Picking up years after Army of Darkness and presumably ignoring all the comic books that were supposed to be canon to the timeline, Ash vs Evil Dead starts with the humor we expect out of the Evil Dead franchise. the terror begins again when Ash brings a lady friend back to his trailer and they smoke a little bit of the jazz cabbage. While being absolutely baked, The Necronomicon gets read from and Ashy Slashy gets called back into action. At first, our hero plans to run away from hell on earth and let someone else take care of it, but then Ash is reminded that he is “The Chosen One” and vows once again to destroy the book of evil. This is Bruce Campbell at his finest, and I really do mean that. Without spoiling much of the series, I think my favorite moments are the return of Ted Raimi as the evil Henrietta and Ash making a new handout of a Nintendo Power Glove., It’s so BAD. So there’s that to look forward to if you are one of the many that never watched this amazing show. It definitely ends on a huge cliffhanger, and maybe one day we will find out the resolution to this story, but for now, I am only holding my breath for the upcoming Evil Dead the Game. I look forward to streaming it on our Twitch channel until I am asked to stop.
5 out of 5 Boom Sticks
OK so If you’re familiar with my articles, you’re probably thinking “Wow, Josh usually isn’t this nice with his reviews. There must be a show he hates coming up” well there is, and Scream the TV series is it. Having nothing to do with the film series that it takes its name from, this show is more like an honorable mention to this article series, which makes it a fitting show for me to crap on. This series was made without any input from movie writer Kevin Williamson, didn’t take place in Woodsboro, and the killer isn’t even Ghostface (mostly). I was super skeptical of this one from the get-go, and I was right to trust my gut. MTV did not make a good tie-in to this beloved series.
Ok, so let’s get to the breakdown. I’ll be brief as I don’t want to relive it. Season one was very anticipated with a lot of hype leading into a wet fart. The reason for the killings? Cyberbullying. Yes, you read that correctly, cyber bullying. To be specific, it’s gay-shaming. No families were ripped apart. No revenge for a dead son. Not even a hard-on for the previous killings or a yearning for fame, Scream the TV series played out like you would expect an MTV horror series to turn out. The best kill happens off screen and It just tries too hard to be self-aware. This show was super uncompelling, focusing more on the love story than the horror, season one was a yawn fest for me. Season two gets a little bit better of a rating as it shows some character development, ups the kills, and ditches the teenage drama for actual suspense. That being said the supporting characters are better than the main Survivor Girl, Emma. Now I know I’m not the only one that hated it because even after MTV announced there would be a season three, it was canceled. There is a season three out there but it was moved to VH1 and was considered a soft reboot. I guessed the killer way early on, and after the finale my thoughts were simultaneously “That was it?” and “Thank god it’s over”. I do applaud season 3 for the use of Actual Ghostface as the killer but at this point, it’s too little, too late. If you’re a horror fan approach this with caution and I only suggest watching this one with a grain of salt. For my money, I suggest just watching “Slasher” or more recently “Fear Street”
1 out of 5 Buck 120 hunting knives.
Agree, disagree? tell me what you think in the comments. and if you love horror as I do, let me know and maybe I will cover some other Horror Tv series, even if they have nothing to do with the movies they were inspired by, Im looking at you Friday the 13th the series and Freddy’s Nightmares. Also, if you’re reading this before May 13th, 2022 be sure to tune to our Twitch channel for my all-day stream of Evil Dead the Game with a small break for some Friday the 13th action. I’ll be there as long as you’re watching. Until then, “I’ll be right baaaack.”
