Bruce Campbell is Right: Modern Evil Dead is Miserable Torture Porn

Welcome to Knockout Horror. There’s sod all horror news to talk about this week that you can’t get in an AI summary on your favourite enormous horror website so let’s talk about something completely different – Bruce Campbell is Right: Modern Evil Dead is Miserable Torture Porn.

The Man, The Myth, The Boomstick

Let’s be honest for a second, there are few names in horror as iconic as Bruce Campbell.

He’s an absolute legend of the genre and Evil Dead’s Ash Williams still stands as one of the greatest characters in the history of horror.

It’s almost difficult to actually put your finger on what it is that makes Ash so damn likeable. I believe that is because it is actually a combination of different factors.

Sure, the catchphrases are endlessly quotable and the fact that he takes a beating and just keeps coming makes him easy to root for. But there’s something else far more important in that equation that I think is frequently forgotten.

Ash is an every-man.

He’s a bumbling idiot, he is intensely impulsive, he’s frequently incompetent, and he makes a lot of mistakes. He’s the Clark Griswold of the horror world and that vulnerability makes him immeasurably relatable.

Ash is every single one of us if we found ourselves in a fight against the Deadites with nothing but a chainsaw, a boomstick, and our wits to survive.

We want Ash to succeed every single time we see him come up against the odds. We don’t care about his imperfections because they make him all the more human and all the more likeable. When the horror threatens to get heavy, Ash lightens the mood and makes it enjoyable again.

The first time I watched Evil Dead II, I realised that this is exactly how I wanted my horror heroes to look and act. An ordinary person facing extraordinary odds.

Indeed, it stands to reason that Ash’s brilliance makes even a rather weak movie like Army of Darkness immensely enjoyable.

A Horror Legend Shaped by a Horror Legend

Ash’s status as an enduring horror legend is largely down to the man who played him – Bruce Campbell.

Campbell was heavily involved in shaping Ash from the meek college student we see in the first Evil Dead movie into the sarcastic, battle-hardened action star we see in the second and third films.

Let’s not forget, also, that he was instrumental in getting the title made in the first place. He raised funds and took on a key role as a producer.

Campbell would suggest dialogue changes, adjust character reactions, and would frequently improvise scenes in a process that would, eventually, solidify just who Ash really was.

Campbell understood on a macro level just what it took to create an iconic horror protagonist.

When you stop watching horror as a fan and begin studying it as a reviewer, you start to spot patterns. You also recognise influence. Evil Dead is right up there with films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Exorcist when it comes to movies whose influence can still be seen throughout horror to this day.

Ash Williams is one of the few horror protagonists whose influence can also still be seen to this day.

To create that type of enduring legacy in a genre takes an intimate knowledge of said genre that absolutely every fan should pay attention to.

The reason I am saying all of this? Well, that’s because I firmly believe that there aren’t too many horror connected people more deserving of having their opinion listened to and acted upon than the man that brought us one of horror’s most enduring characters – Bruce Campbell.

The Background – So What Did Bruce Say?

Bruce Campbell, earlier this year, shared a “treatable but not curable” cancer diagnosis. A diagnosis which he has approached with all the vigor of a man who has led an iconic character through numerous near-death experiences.

Campbell also shared that he will not play Ash in any future Evil Dead related projects, essentially retiring the character.

Now, it’s easy to make a connection between the health related issues and the retirement announcement but that would be incorrect.

Campbell made it clear that, despite how much he loves Ash and the Evil Dead franchise, he felt as though he had navigated the character through young adulthood, into middle age, and beyond and Ash’s story was simply done. He didn’t want Ash to become a borderline geezer who is unable to take care of himself.

On top of that, Bruce Campbell says he tired of the creative process and lost interest in equal measures. The Evil Dead franchise had moved on from Ash and cabins in the woods and it was time for him to do the same.

He also made some other comments regarding Evil Dead that are far more interesting. He essentially called out the last three films in the series and said:

Once again, Bruce Campbell is right on the money, just like he was when he crafted Ash into one of the genre’s most memorable character. He hit on something that nobody wants to admit.

Evil Dead is Now Miserable Torture Porn

Now I want to clarify something before I carry on. I enjoyed Evil Dead Burn quite a lot. I gave it a positive review and felt it had a lot going for it. My preorder for the limited edition 4K Blu Ray steelbook is already secured and I highly recommend the film to genre fans.

One thing I just could not shake throughout, however, was the feeling that it completely lacked a charismatic protagonist and a sense of humour.

Alice (Souheila Yacoub) is a massively traumatised abuse victim without an ounce of personality beyond being a “survivor”. She reacts in a hyper-serious manner to every single event and she is about as bland as a horror protagonist can possibly get.

The same goes for the movie itself.

Sure, there are a couple of token moments of humour here and there, but they are few and far between. For the most part, Evil Dead Burn is a brutally violent, utterly grim, and relentlessly stoic torture porn that goes out of its way to make you grit your teeth.

While I enjoyed it, I repeatedly said the same thing to my fiancee while watching – this isn’t an Evil Dead movie.

Watching its two predecessors, Evil Dead (2013) and Evil Dead Rise (2023), shortly after, the exact same sentiment rang true. These are great horror movies – they aren’t great Evil Dead movies.

Why So Serious?

Let’s clear something up, the Evil Dead movies were scary and extremely gory. Hell, The Evil Dead was classed as a “video nasty” here in the UK and banned from release for decades after (admittedly, the UK censorship board was overly touchy in this era). They were still a ton of fun, though.

Every gruesome moment and every single scare was punctuated by Ash doing something stupid or cracking out a one liner to add a little levity. Deliberately farcical stop motion would be quickly followed up by violent decapitations. There was a careful balance that kept the movies enjoyable and light while still managing to scare the pants off viewers.

The new Evil Dead movies completely lack that. They simply aren’t fun!

Burn might be the apex and a troubling sign of where the series is going. It leans so hard into joyless violence and brutality that you almost forget that horror movies are supposed to be enjoyable and an escape from the everyday – particularly those that bear the Evil Dead title.

It even bleeds (pun intended) through to the visuals. Go and fire up Evil Dead II. Raimi absolutely delights in attacking the viewer with oversaturated colours and kinetic camera work to keep the action fizzing. When Ash attacks a Deadite, it gushes bright red blood that pops off the screen in a cascade of colour.

Burn is the complete opposite. I mean, sure, director Sébastien Vanicek has attempted to replicate the aforementioned kinetic camera work but it feels misplaced and more like a tribute act than the real thing. The picture is horrendously washed out and most of the action takes place behind a layer of dull gloom.

The truth of the matter is that the recent Evil Dead films are simply a symptom of a bigger problem.

Horror Has Forgotten How To Be Fun

Horror, as a whole, is losing the ability to be both scary and fun.

Don’t get me wrong here, either. I am not saying horror needs to be a comedy to achieve this. Scream is fun yet scary, The Cabin in the Woods is too. Films like this are just becoming fewer and further between.

The massive demand for enormously serious stories, complicated and troubled protagonists, and depressing narratives is stripping the genre’s ability to make you laugh as well as terrify you.

Everything is grey and gloomy – both visually and narratively.

I’ve talked at length, on this website, about how frustrated I feel that every other movie is an “elevated horror” that needs to act as a piece of social commentary.

Even movies that should simply work as enjoyable ghost stories have to act as an allegory for the perils of drug addiction or some other random bullshit – Talk to Me, for example.

Every monster is a metaphor for generational trauma, grief, or mental illness. Every protagonist is a complex “survivor” who has already been through unimaginable struggles before they even make it onto the screen.

Directors and filmmakers have forgotten how to make fun horror and are obsessed with the idea that a de-saturated, washed out colour palette and a troubled protagonist equals prestige horror cinema.

Ash Williams has gone. The everyman protagonist who panics and impulsively reacts before becoming defiant and generally pissed-off in the face of overwhelming terror is becoming increasingly rare.

Modern horror is so obsessed with creating dark, brooding, and enormously stoic protagonists that it forgot to make them fun and likeable.

But There is Hope…

I don’t think the days of fun horror are completely done, despite the genre’s turn towards elevated stories and complex, dark protagonists.

There’s actually a decent number of movies from the past few years that really offer a lot of hope that directors are rediscovering the special formula that made Evil Dead work so damn well and made Ash Williams so iconic.

Radio Silence are absolutely killing it with Ready or Not, Ready or Not 2, and Abigail. They keep the gore flowing, the colour palette vibrant, and the protagonists both pissed off and charismatic. Deadstream is another fantastic example of exactly what Evil Dead did so well. Shawn Ruddy is basically a more insufferable, influencer version of Ash. Sissy is another good shout, as well.

Let’s not forget the high-concept horror movies that have big ideas but really don’t take themselves too seriously. M3Gan was an absolute laugh-riot a few years back and enormously enjoyable. Companion hit on a lot of the same notes, as did the frankly brilliant The Substance.

Even lower budget films like Tubi’s Lowlifes are keeping horror fun but frightening by turning typically bleak subject matter like hillbilly horror on its head.

Fun horror really isn’t dead – it’s just being crowded out by stuffy boardroom executives at major production companies who firmly believe that misery equals prestige.

Bruce Campbell isn’t asking for anything that is going to create an earthquake in the genre. The blueprint is already there and audiences have proven that, when directors are given the chance to balance charismatic leads with tons of gore and a bit of genuine humour, they will lap it up each and every time.

Let’s get back to when horror was fun and didn’t feel as though it needed to be a brooding, miserable slog. Thanks for reading!

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