Bruce Campbell Wants EVIL DEAD to Bring Back the Humor, and I Couldn’t Agree More

Bruce Campbell has a bone to pick with the modern Evil Dead movies, and I’m completely with him on this one. The longtime Ash Williams actor and Evil Dead executive producer thinks the franchise has gotten too grim and needs to rediscover something that made the original films so entertaining: its wonderfully twisted sense of humor.

That’s also exactly what I was talking about in my review of Evil Dead Burn. I enjoy watching Deadites unleash bloody chaos as much as the next horror geek, but there’s something missing when Evil Dead becomes relentlessly bleak.

Sam Raimi found a crazy sweet spot between genuine horror, physical comedy, ridiculous gore, and characters with personality. Nobody who has followed him has really managed to recreate that same magic.

Campbell recently talked about the direction of the franchise and explained what he wants to see change: “I’d like more humor back in. The three features have been mostly humorless, and I personally have a problem with that. There’s no point for these to get too grim. You can be scary without being grim.”

Exactly! Horror doesn’t suddenly stop being scary because you make the audience laugh. In fact, Evil Dead has always been at its best when it can make you laugh one minute and then hit you with something completely horrific the next.

Campbell knows this franchise better than just about anyone. The horror icon played Ash Williams across three movies and the TV series, and he has remained involved with the franchise as an executive producer.

He also had cameo appearances in Evil Dead (2013), Evil Dead Rise (2023), and the latest installment, Evil Dead Burn (2026).

For Campbell, though, this isn’t simply about making the movies funnier. He also wants the franchise to give audiences another great hero they can actually get behind.

“A little more humor wouldn’t kill you. And one hero that you really can root for. Ash is an idiot, but you want him to survive.”

That’s a huge part of what I’ve been missing. Ash wasn’t some polished horror hero who always knew exactly what to do. The guy was arrogant, ridiculous, impulsive, occasionally incompetent, and somehow badass when it counted.

Watching him get beaten to hell while stumbling his way through supernatural insanity was part of the fun. He had personality, and that personality gave the madness surrounding him even more energy.

I don’t necessarily need Campbell to pick up the chainsaw again. I understand he’s moved on, but give me another character with that kind of presence. Give me somebody who fights back with a little attitude. Give me another Ash-like wildcard who makes an already insane situation even crazier.

Campbell also has some thoughts about the visual direction modern horror has taken, and he’d like filmmakers to stop assuming everything scary needs to look miserable.

“Modern filmmakers love to color their movies like a David Fincher movie, like a hospital room, you know? Gray-green, like a garage. Garage lighting. And so, okay, it’s a choice. It’s not mine. I think even a horror movie can look pretty. Why not throw them off? Make it all look pretty and wonderful, and then let them have it.”

He makes a great point. Horror can be colorful. It can be energetic. It can be funny. It can even be beautiful before everything goes straight to hell. None of those things prevent a movie from being disturbing or terrifying.

That contrast was one of Raimi’s greatest weapons in the original Evil Dead films. Those movies could be creepy and horrific, but they were also playful, nasty, weird, inventive, and completely willing to embrace absurdity.

Evil Dead II especially understood how to turn Ash’s nightmare into something that was simultaneously horrifying and hilarious without stripping the Deadites of their menace.

The newer movies have delivered some great gore, nasty Deadite action, and seriously brutal horror sequences. I’ve had fun with them. But I miss the personality of the older Evil Dead. I miss not knowing whether the next scene was going to make me cringe, laugh, or yell at the screen.

Campbell isn’t asking for Evil Dead to become a straight comedy. Neither am I. The horror still needs teeth. The Deadites should still be terrifying, the gore should still be gloriously disgusting, and the characters should still feel like they’re trapped in an impossible nightmare.

Just let that nightmare be fun again. Bring back the twisted comedy. Give us a memorable hero with attitude. Let the filmmakers get visually weird with it. Find someone crazy enough to take a few big swings instead of simply trying to make the bleakest Evil Dead movie possible.

Raimi proved a long time ago that Evil Dead can scare the hell out of you while making you laugh at the insanity. I’d love to see the franchise rediscover that personality because, as Campbell says, “You can be scary without being grim.”

That’s the Evil Dead I want back.