It’s Ash vs Evil Dead week for me over at Geeks of Doom. I got a chance to interview the three lead cast members, reviewed the upcoming Blu-Ray release, and met Bruce Campbell at a book signing in New Jersey. One of the highlights was getting to speak to Ray Santiago, aka Ash’s trusted sidekick Pablo Simon Bolivar. The Bronx born actor has been a pivotal part of the Starz series since its premiere in 2015, supporting his “jefe” through plenty of deadite-fueled adventures. Last season on Ash vs Evil Dead, Pablo faced several challenges from his body being possessed by the Book of the Dead, to terrifying visions, and oh yeah, there was the bit about him dying. With Ash vs Evil Dead season 3 already completed and awaiting a release date from Starz, I spoke with Pablo himself about his experiences during season 2 and what to look forward to on the upcoming season.

Dana DeLorenzo plays Kelly Maxwell, Ash’s sarcastic, kickass sidekick on Starz’s Ash vs Evil Dead. The Ohio-born actress spent her time in Season 2, getting doused with gallons of blood, wrestling puppets, and wielding many a gun to dispose of deadites alongside Ash (Bruce Campbell) and Pablo (Ray Santiago). Kelly quickly showed she would NOT be a damsel in distress, becoming one of the most badass women on TV, fighting evil, and matching Campbell one-liner for one-liner.

I first spoke with DeLorenzo last summer before Season 2 debuted. That first phone interview took place in the quietest place I could find in Universal Studios Orlando while on a family vacation. Almost a year later, with Season 2 about to hit DVD/Blu-Ray and with Season 3 awaiting a release date, I got to interview the cast of AvED again. This time, closer to home but still out and about, I spoke with the DeLorenzo about her time and experience on Ash vs Evil Dead as we all ready for its third season.

Check out the interview here below.

Last week, I got a chance to interview Bruce Campbell over the phone. Amongst our topics of conversation were his new memoir, Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B-Movie Actor, a sequel to his 2002 book, If Chins Could Kill, and his upcoming 35-city book tour. Well, yesterday in New Jersey the tour commenced, and I was there with my son to meet the man, the chin, the legend, Bruce Campbell and get my copy of his book. The book signing took place at Bookends, located at 211 E. Ridgewood Ave, Ridgewood, New Jersey.

More below.

For more than 20 years, fright fans have flocked to Universal Studios parks in Hollywood and Orlando for Halloween Horror Nights. The annual Fall event allows park-goers to fully immerse themselves in their favorite horror movies as they get spooked by the infamous characters in live haunted house-style attractions. This year for the first time, Halloween Horror Nights will feature a haunted maze based on Starz’s Ash vs Evil Dead.

I think if you told Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell back in the late 70s that the uber low-budget horror film they were working on would still be relevant to pop culture four decades later, they would’ve probably turned the blood hose on you. But alas, the allure of Ashley J. Williams and is just too strong. Thirty-six years after the original Evil Dead film and 30 years after its classic sequel Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn, and 25 years after its ridiculous horror-comedy third installment Army of Darkness, Ash is still trucking along killing deadites and fighting the Necronomicon on Starz network’s Ash vs Evil Dead, which was renewed for a third season. Since 2004, Dynamite Entertainment has been the home of the Ash vs. The Army of Darkness comic book series, so in honor of Army Of Darkness‘s silver anniversary, Dynamite is releasing a special all-new series starting with a #0 issue at the “S–Mart Special” price of only $0.99.

In the late 70s a group of friends got together in Morristown, TN, to create the low-budget gorefest to end all low-budget gorefests, The Evil Dead. Released in 1981, the film became a cult classic on home video and suddenly people knew the names of Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and of course Bruce Campbell. Six years later, on a budget ten times that of the original, the gang returned to the cabin in the woods and outdid themselves, crafting a half remake/half sequel that broke genre conventions and turned a one-off cult film into a now 5-decade-old franchise. The film was Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn, and it was released in theaters 30 years ago this week. (It’s available now on Blu-ray.)

Some people are content simply purchasing whatever is available for who or what they want to be for Halloween. More crafty folks, such as cosplayers, might prefer taking the long road and building their costumes and props from scratch.

YouTube series DIY Prop Shop has been doing some great videos recently, perfect for this time of year. They offer tutorials on how to build replicas of Negan’s bat Lucille from The Walking Dead, Ash’s chainsaw hand from the Evil Dead movies and TV show, and an ADAM syringe from BioShock.

Learn how to make your very own replicas of these props in the videos below.

Ash vs Evil Dead
Episode 2.1 “Home”
Directed by Rick Jacobson
Written by Craig DiGregorio
Created by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Tom Spezialy
Starring Bruce Campbell, Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo, Jill Marie Jones, Lucy Lawless, Samara Weaving, Indiana Evans, Ido Drent, Rebekkah Farrell
Starz
Air date: Sunday, October 2, 2016, 8pm

Spoilers below for Ash vs Evil Dead…

When we last left our demon slaying heroes on Ash vs Evil Dead, Ash (Bruce Campbell) made a deal with the head demon Ruby (Lucy Lawless) that put him and his new pals out of harm’s way and safely in his own personal paradise… Jacksonville, Florida. For the Season 2 premiere, “Home,” we open with Ruby battling demons. Lucy Lawless quickly gets introduced to Evil Dead tradition, as one spews boiling black vomit blood onto her… welcome to the club, Lucy! She fights them off long enough to realize that despite the truce, only Ash can truly end this. Unfortunately, that’s going to interfere with Ash’s plans. He is the star of the Jacksonville show, chainsawing through kegs and using his boomstick on beer bottles.

I go back over 25 years with the Evil Dead franchise. As a small child, I was mesmerized by the posters and big plastic cassette boxes in the video store. My father let me wander through the horror section and occasionally get some tapes, you know, as long as I “didn’t tell mom.” My walls in college were adorned with those same Evil Dead posters I used to see in the stores, and I own various copies of the trilogy on video, DVD, and Blu-Ray. I sat front and center at NYCC last Fall to see the premiere episode of Starz’s series Ash vs Evil Dead, and I’ve reviewed every episode for this site. So it came with great pride and pleasure that I was given a chance to interview several members of the cast while on vacation with my family in Orlando. One of those members was Ash’s new sidekick, Pablo Simon Bolivar, aka Ray Santiago. Somehow I found a quiet spot outside Diagon Alley in Universal Studios.

Check out the interview below.

Bruce Campbell made an appearance on Conan on Thursday night where he cut the host’s sandwich with a chainsaw Evil Dead-style.

Watch the video of Campbell’s appearance here below!

Since moving out to California, Conan O’Brien has used the annual San Diego Comic-Con as an excuse to go buck wild with his late-night talk show Conan on his new cable home on TBS. For Thursday night’s SDCC show while hosting the stars of the CW’s new superhero primetime lineup — Stephen Amell (Arrow), Grant Gustin (Flash) and Melissa Benoist (Supergirl) — O’Brien needed a boost of energy to deal with all the star power there. To get a quick fix, he was delivered a sandwich by the backstage crew, but the sub was too long for normal human consumption.