Icons of Horror: Ash Williams (The Evil Dead)

Remember when Evil Dead was a horror movie? Honestly, I kinda like where it went better.

Horror protagonists tend to have the most bizarre character development one can get in fiction. Their first foray will usually be simple: they start out scared and powerless, then develop into a badass and conquer their fears. It’s after that where things start to get crazy. Just look at what happened to Jamie Lee Curtis’s character in the Halloween movies.

None of them, and I mean none of them, have anything on Ash from the Evil Dead franchise.

In the original Evil Dead movie, Ash was just an ordinary dude. He took a trip to a cabin with his friends, family, and girlfriend, read an evil book, then endured a night of absolute horror before burning said book. By the time he did that, however, everyone he came with was dead and poor Ash was left traumatized and alone.

Which is where the story was supposed to end. Ash’s horror story was over. In fact, the original ending implied that he died as well.

That didn’t last.

Unsurprisingly, Ash would return in the later Evil Dead movies. What was a bit more surprising is where both those movies and the character would go. Supernatural horror and gore? Fuck that! It’s time to open the Necronomicon and get sucked back to 14th century Europe!

From this point on, Ash is a completely different character. He’s basically the most over-the-top action hero of all time. For god’s sake, his catchphrase is ‘Groovy!’ His solution for losing a hand is to replace it with a god damn chainsaw!

Is this a problem? Just the opposite! This Ash is cheesy, funny, and extremely charismatic. A lot of that is thanks to Bruce Campbell’s excellent performance. You can tell this dude loves playing this character, and that makes it a lot easier to love watching him.

Now, Ash isn’t completely without depth. In Ash VS Evil Dead, he is brought down a bit closer to the Earth. All the events of the previous movies take their toll on him psychologically. Dude is still a badass, but he’s got some shit to work through.

Ash is a great character. Whether you’re looking for genuine scares or hearty laughs, he’s got it all. This character is absolutely crazy and I’m so glad to live in a world where he exists.