John C. McGinley is your ersatz Ash in the trailer for IFC’s Stan Against Evil

By William Hughes | October 7, 2016 | 9:38pm

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With its comedy-horror premise, reluctant blue collar hero, and penchant for excessive gore, IFC’s Stan Against Evil has had a big, chainsaw-handed ghost looming over it from the moment it was first announced. (Hell, the show’s title even sounds like Ash Vs. Evil Dead.) Now, the network has released a new trailer for the John C. McGinley-starring show, in an apparent effort to differentiate it from the distinguished competition over on Starz.

McGinley stars as the titular Stan, a former sheriff tasked with smacking down demons after discovering his late wife was some kind of renegade ghost hunter. Janet Varney co-stars as his replacement, forced to help Stan keep the peace against the 172 angry undead plaguing their town. It’s an unabashedly high-concept premise, but the trailer seems to promise enough bloody enthusiasm to keep things going for a while. Plus, we haven’t had a bout of well-honed McGinley crankiness since Scrubs went off the air in 2010, and it’s pretty nice to have it back in our lives.