Ash Vs Evil Dead's "Last Call" Is A Christine Homage
Season 2 of Ash Vs Evil Dead's "Last Call" pays loving homage to Stephen King's Christine. John Carpenter's The Thing is hailed as a masterpiece now and is considered one of the great sci-fi horror movies of all time. However, upon release, the film was lambasted by critics and genre fans alike, who felt it was a gory, needlessly bleak monster movie that had little to say. Carpenter's career also took a hit, with Universal removing him from a planned adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter. In need of a job, Carpenter signed up to a rival King movie Christine (which Bryan Fuller is remaking).
King's book follows a teenager who falls in love with a rundown 1958 Plymouth Fury dubbed "Christine," which is possessed by an evil spirit. The novel isn't considered one of King's very best, but it's still a gripping horror ride with great characters. Carpenter's Christine was also a modest success that has aged well, though the director has since admitted he made the film without much connection to the material. While he felt this affected the final product, it's a testament to his skill as a filmmaker that Christine still works so well, and features one of his most underrated music scores. While not cited in the episode, Ash Vs Evil Dead's "Last Call" features some major nods to Christine.
Ash Vs Evil Dead season 2 - which features Evil Dead's grossest scene - brought the title slayer and his sidekicks Kelly and Pablo back to his hometown to deal with another deadite outbreak. This season also introduced his father Brock (Lee Majors), who is also an oafish, would-be ladies man who despises his son and believes he killed his sister during the events of The Evil Dead. Ash Vs Evil Dead's "Last Call" revolves around this complicated relationship but also finds Ash looking to retrieve his stolen "classic" Delta. The car has been stolen by local teens and becomes a Christine-like monster when evil possesses it.
This Ash Vs Evil Dead "Last Call" subplot is basically Christine on steroids, with the demonic car stalking and slaughtering the unlucky teenagers who stole it. The Delta huffs and puffs like an angry bull while breathing fire from the bottom. Like the demonic deadites - and Christine - the car even enjoys tormenting and teasing victims, giving them a chance to flee before hunting them down. Parts of "Last Call" even seem to reference the famous scene in Christine where the car hunts down the bully Moochie, or when it catches on fire but still continues to chase after Buddy.
Ash Vs Evil Dead's "Last Call" also introduces Ash's old buddy Chet (Ted Raimi, brother of Evil Dead director Sam), and kicks off the unlikely friendship between Kelly and former villain Ruby (Lucy Lawless). The show always loved to play out the dark comedy of most situations, so even when Ash and Brock are on the verge of reconciling, Ash Vs Evil Dead's "Last Call" brings its Christine homage full circle for the final scene.