The Big Read: Behind the scenes of the new Ash vs Evil Dead

Actor Bruce Campbell stars as Ash in the TV show Ash vs Evil Dead.

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Chris Schulz goes behind the scenes on the Auckland-made splatter-horror show devoted fans have been waiting for.

It's early morning in a cold South Auckland TV studio, and everyone in the room is staring at a man in a mask.

With a startling piece of leathery latex stitched to his face, the eye-catching creature lurches through the lunch room where Lucy Lawless and Bruce Campbell are relaxing and sits down with a thump at a folding table next to TimeOut.

The coffee I was enjoying isn't the only thing that gets a jolt.

"Hey, how's it going? Nice to meet you," says Ray Santiago, his chirpy greeting failing to match his gruesome appearance that's made even more ghoulish by the thick blob of blood covering one eye.

A scene from the TV show Ash vs Evil Dead.

This is another day at the office for Santiago, who's been sporting some extreme looks as one of the leads on Ash vs Evil Dead, the spin-off TV show from Sam Raimi's horror film trilogy that has arrived just in time for Halloween.

Backed by American cable channel Starz and airing on Sky TV's The Zone in New Zealand, the show promises to push boundaries for acceptable levels of blood and gore on television.

Prosthetics designer Roger Murray explains: "Demons, deadites, decapitations, disembowelments ... you name it, (we've done it)."

Lawless plays Campbell's nemesis Ruby Knowby, a woman out to "destroy" Ash who she blames for killing her family.

She's been involved in some horrifically memorable moments on shows like Salem and Spartacus, but says Ash vs Evil Dead "absolutely takes the cake".

"You don't want to live in the head of the person who dreamed this up," she says, her eyes widening ...

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