Kevin Bacon’s upcoming action-horror show,The Bondsman, looks like a lot of fun – and also a great replacement for anyone still missingAsh vs. Evil Dead. Created by Grainger David, the eight-episode season hits Prime Video on April 3. Along withKevin Bacon,The Bondsmanalso stars Damon Herriman, Jolene Purdy, Jennifer Nettles, Beth Grant, Maxwell Jenkins, and Ren Hamani.
Prime Video just dropped thefirst trailer forThe Bondsman, and it finds Bacon’s bounty hunter, Hub Halloran, being killed, and his body left in a forest before he’s mysteriously resurrected. Hub sees it as a new lease on life, giving him an opportunity to do something completely different and take up a music career and maybe find romance – until he learns he was resurrected on the Devil’s orders, and he’s now bound to keep bounty hunting for the ruler of Hell.
There’s Even A Chainsaw
With so many supernatural shows on air in the past few years, it’s inevitable that a show likeThe Bondsmanwould draw some comparisons to other shows that came before. In this case, there are a few, butthe one that immediately comes to mind isAsh vs. Evil Dead, andThe Bondsmanlooks like it will fill the Bruce Campbell fighting Deadites-shaped hole in our hearts. Of course, the fact that Bacon’s Hub hunts down and fights demons is the clearest line to be drawn toAsh vs. Evil Dead. The action-horror blend is distinct in both series.
More than that, though,The Bondsman’s trailer hints at plenty of dark humor throughout the show, which is also something thatAsh vs. Evil Dead, and the wholeEvil Deadfranchise, has done so well. The one-man-army mowing down supernatural baddies while still keeping his sardonic sense of humor is a thread that both Bacon’s Hub and Campbell’s Ash share, and though it remains to be seen just how darkly humorousThe Bondsmanwill get, the influences ofEvil Deadare clear.
Though it remains to be seen just how darkly humorousThe Bondsmanwill get, the influences ofEvil Deadare clear.
Heck, there’s one scene in the trailerwhere Hub even uses a chainsaw to mow a demon right through the skull. Anyone who is even remotely familiar with horror knows that the chainsaw is forever associated with Ash Williams. Whether that was an intentional wink to the earlier franchise created by Sam Raimi isn’t clear, but it sure feels like it. Horror has always done a good job of paying homage to what has come before, so it will be interesting to see ifThe Bondsmanincludes any other little Easter eggs and references to other supernatural horror franchises.
The Bondsman Would Also Be A Perfect Complement To Wynonna Earp & Constantine
It Has Similar Elements Of Both
Ash vs. Evil Deadisn’t the only show (or movie) that I thought of when I watchedThe Bondsmantrailer:Wynonna Earpand theConstantinemovie also came to mind. For the former,The Bondsman’s rugged country soul really reminds me of the setting ofWynonna Earp. It’s not clear whereThe Bondsmanis set, but Hub’s accent and the focus on country music certainly suggest it’s set in the South. And thoughWynonna Earpis set in the fictional town of Purgatory, Purgatory is located in the Canadian province of Alberta, known as cowboy country. Despite being set in very different locations, both shows have a similar vibe, thoughThe Bondsmanis a little more country andWynonna Earpis a little more cowboy.
Either way, both Hub and John Constantine are damned.
Of course, the similarities toConstantineare more than clear:two men who died and whose souls went to Hell are resurrected – but at a price. Both are now bound to Hell in their own way. Though Constantine becomes an exorcist in order to absolve himself of the “sin” of dying by suicide, his soul still belongs to the underworld. In that way, every exorcism he performs and demon he sends back to Hell is his way of expunging his record, an unofficial contract. Hub, of course, doesn’t have a choice - he wakes up and finds he’s now the Devil’s personal bounty hunter whether he likes it or not. Either way, both men are damned.
It’s Great To See Kevin Bacon In A New Leading TV Role
Bacon Is No Stranger To Horror
Regardless of what TV show or movieThe Bondsmanmight remind one of, it’s just great to see Kevin Bacon back in a leading TV role.Kevin Bacon has plenty of horror movies under his belt, but his television roles have been much less frequent. To date,he’s only had three big ones:I Love Dick, which only ran for a short eight episodes, the excellent cop dramaCity on a Hill, and, of course, his first ever TV series,The Following, which saw Bacon nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in the psychological thriller.
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The Bondsmanlooks like it will give Bacon a chance to flex his action and dark comedy chops, which is fantastic consideringBacon’s plannedTremorsTV show was unceremoniously canceledby SyFy. WithThe Followingbeing the only one of his TV shows that touched upon horror, I’m eager to see the veteran actor work in the genre on the small screen.
