'Stan Against Evil' Recap: 'Dig Me Up, Dig Me Down'

​Written by Scott Edwards

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

Every time a new horror television show gets put on my radar, I have to give it a view to see if it will pique my interest, I mean hey, I love horror and everything about it. A couple of weeks ago when I was changing channels trying to find something to watch to get into the Halloween spirit, I saw a trailer for a show called Stan Against Evil.  Seeing an aged Doctor Cox (John C. McGinley) killing demons planted that seed in the back of my head of something to watch at a later date. Unfortunately, I forgot all about it when it was supposed to premiere, but a friend gave me a friendly reminder this past weekend and since he enjoyed it, I figured it was time to give it a try and I was not disappointed.
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At his wife’s funeral, Sheriff Stanley Miller is trying to grieve for his loss when he sees a woman laughing at the loss of his loved one. Yelling at her to make her pay her respects, the woman refuses and turns into a laughing demon that Stanley is happy to beat the ever loving hell out of. Being forced to resign from law enforcement, a new sheriff has been appointed in the small town of Willard’s Mill and for the first time ever, the sheriff will be a woman.

Sheriff Evie Barret is ready to start the next step in her career at the station and seeing the rat hole that it is and running into Stanley who has failed to leave after his wife’s passing, she has no idea what things this town has in store for her. Getting used to sitting behind the big desk and meeting her Deputy Leon is more depressing than positive as Leon knows what troubles come with the job and lets the single mother know what she is in for. With every constable in the town's history dying a horrific death while in office, it all stems back to the old witch burning days where the sheriff at the time burned 172 witches during his tenure, resulting in a curse that has been visited upon everybody who wears the badge, except Stanley, who was able to walk away scot free.

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Arriving home after a week away, Stanley is forced to enter his wife’s sewing room, a place that he had been forbidden to see in her lifetime. Opening the door and seeing a wall of weapons and a wall of who’s who, he is drawn to her desk where a strange book lies in wait. Seeing some of the illustrations in the book, Stanley has to turn to his daughter for answers, but since he was never able to connect with his family when his wife was around, it will not be any easier now that she is gone. Finding out that the necklace that his wife wore is the key to reading the strange text, Stanley is forced to head off to the cemetery to dig her up, but there is someone waiting for him there.

Seeing the old sheriff trying to dig up a body, Evie threatens to kill him if he does not come clean about what he is doing, so Stanley is happy to oblige. Showing her the sewing room, Evie gets her hands on the book, only to find out that she cannot read it without the seeing stone hidden in Stanley’s wife’s necklace. Heading back home to check on her daughter and finding that the baby sitter has been beheaded, the witch that stopped in her office earlier in the day must be trying to make a point of who is in charge in this town.  Returning to his wife’s gravesite and seeing it is already dug up, Stanley sees Evie tied to a stake and ready to be burned like the witches were back in the day. Pulling out his know how, and subduing the witch, Evie and Stanley are forced to work together to vanquish the curse that has been plaguing the town for generations.

Not a bad opening episode, I wish it was a little longer, but I am pretty impressed overall. The main reason I wanted to see this was for John C. McGinley and it seems like he has reprised his over the top Doctor Cox role from Scrubs, but this time around he is a little bit saucier in this new role. Janet Varney lights up the screen as Evie and plays great off of McGinley. With two strong leads, I have high hopes for this show and hope that there will be more blood than what we had in this first episode, but as a horror/comedy listing, I am sure that it will come in due time.  Stay Scared.

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