The Evil Dead has been one of my favorite movies for some time. In fact, I remember hearing stories about why I shouldn’t watch the original film in the franchise when I was younger and that made me want to watch them more. Of course, by the time I watched them they had reached a cult classic status and the humor shined so much that I did not find them all that scary. The Evil Dead films taught me more so than horror could be both terrifying and hilarious. The thought behind The Evil Dead is far scarier than anything else. And as an avid reader there is something horrifying about the idea of a book, the Necronomicon, unleashing all the evil upon the world when reading it aloud.
The franchise of course made me a huge Bruce Campbell fan. From there I watched many of his films, including My Name is Bruce and when the reboot of The Evil Dead. When he appeared in the end credits saying Groovy I grew hopeful something more was on the horizon and thankfully my hopes were answered. When Ash vs. Evil Dead was announced I could not have been happier. And the show has blown away my expectations, so as soon as Bruce Campbell was announced for Walker Stalker Con 2017 in Atlanta, I held onto hope that a majority of the cast would be announced too. Again, my hopes were answered and I spent most of Friday meeting most of the cast.
As I looked at my phone while plotting away the actors I wanted to meet at the convention, I wondered what else I had time for before The Boondocks Saints panel. And that was when I noticed the small lines and both Ted Raimi and Lee Majors at their tables for the time being that early Friday afternoon. I told myself I would go to Ted’s line first and then to Lee Majors. The whole time I kept thinking, Man my friend is going to kill me that I met him first and without her. As he introduced himself and I shook his hand, we began to talk of course about Ash vs. Evil Dead. I told him how awesome it was to see Henrietta again after all these years and he said he was glad that fans took that as it was great to get to play her again, which made me ask him if he enjoyed playing her or Chet more. He Chet was easier so he would pick him since they paid out the same. For the same paycheck I totally don’t blame him. Of course this is coming from a woman who offered a face cleansing wipe to her friend with makeup because I forget other women actually wear makeup. Ahem.
Ted also enjoyed my shirt, which can be found here. As soon as I saw the shirt I knew I had to have it. I’m such an October/Halloween junkie, which is why those of you reading tend not to hear much from me in October unless we have made prior plans.
I digress though, I went to find my friends at The Boondock Saints panel, which was ending by the time I reached them so we went back to autograph alley and by that time Lee Majors was back at his table. The cool part about this was learning that I can expect to see more of Ash’s dad when Ash vs. the Evil Dead comes back from him. This makes me happier than it probably should, but I absolutely loved him in this role. I loved him to the point that my dad and I had a ten minute argument about whether he was the Six Million Dollar Man or Ash’s Dad. Obviously he’s both, but my dad would not let this go and once I sent him the pictures he told me I was an asshole for meeting Lee Majors without him. We are super kind to each other.
While I joked above, in reality that is true. My father has supported me attending these conventions this past two years. He always gives me some money to spend anyway I see fit. And this past year, meeting and getting a photo op taken with Dana DeLorenzo was a must. I adore Kelly. She is by far one of my favorite female heroines in the horror universe. I have laughed many times at the jokes exchanged between Kelly and Ash and meeting Dana made me adore her as well as her character even more. Upon shaking my hand, she asked me, “Do you want to go with sweet or badass.” And just in case people are wondering when that question is asked the answer is always badass. The picture we took together is by far one of my favorites from my conventions the past two years. And despite it took me longer standing in line to get her autograph than it did to get the picture, the time she spent with her fans is beyond amazing. Her lines are fun, just be prepared for the wait.
One of the funnier parts of waiting in Dana DeLorenzo’s line was getting to watch her interaction with Ray Santiago. They were hilarious together. Plus, seeing how well cast-mates get along is always a great feeling for a fan in my opinion. The happier everyone is on set the longer the show will go on right? Maybe that is wishful thinking on my part, but this did not deter me from wanting to meet Ray Santiago all the same. I told him that my dad and I watch the show together and, slight spoiler alert, when Pedro died the initial time on the show I was in denial about the character truly being gone. My denial is strong with this show considering my love for all the characters. I have a feeling we are in store for Pedro dying a lot more this season and he laughed when I said, “So lots of heartbreak on my part, awesome.” Heartbreak and gore. They go hand-in-hand, right?
By the time Saturday finally came, the line to get into the event that morning was absolutely insane. While one of my friends and I were on the lower floor at least, my friend who you will see in the picture in a moment, was on the third floor of the Georgia World Congress Center. Insanity at its finest, she managed to make it to the line just in the nick of time to make our photo op. As we stood there, we were a bit pumped to say the least, but also shocked by how insanely fast the sold out line was going. That’s of course when we realized that much like my experience with Robert Englund last year, Bruce Campbell sizes those up in the photographs and already knows how he’s going to pose you in case you don’t. This was a blessing because we had no idea and I was barely able to speak to the man. My goal is if he ever comes back to another convention to go to his table and actually talk. That did not lessen my experience or make it any less awesome, but it’s nice to know that someone in the world could finally make me go silent all the same.
Though my silence didn’t last long, by the time I was able to sit down at the Ash vs Evil Dead panel, and view all of fifteen minutes before going to get in line for a photo op with someone else on Sunday, I realized just how much I love this cast. They all have this rapport with each other that made watching them on stage together a pleasure. In fact, within that time frame, and the meeting these actors, I smiled and laughed far more than not. And ultimately, there is just something about feeling like you connect with those that are so deep in the world you love, even if that world is fictional and involves deadites.
michellepatterson.net 
Leave a Reply