Homemade Ash Williams Costume from The Evil Dead 2

“Okay, you primitive screw-heads, listen up!” This year I went as ASH WILLIAMS. The hero from The Evil Dead series starring: Bruce Campbell.

Lucky this costume is pretty simple. It consists of:

1 Blue Collared Shirt.
1 Brown Pair of Pants.
1 Pair of work boots.
A leather harness.
A Holster.
A Toy Shotgun.
A Toy Chainsaw.
Fake Blood.

The primary parts of the costume that took me the longest are:

The leather Harness/holster
AND
The Toy Chainsaw

The leather harness and holster were made of leather belts and an old leather bag. The most important thing I did was cut the leather bag into a triangluar shape. One that would fit the toy shotgun.

After I had the basic shape of the holster I cut slits at the top, middle, and bottom of the bag and strung it together with twine. Then I cut the leather belts in various lengths to fit onto my body. I followed the design of Ash’s harness from the film, but really it all depends on how you want it to look.

The simplest manner is to have the leather belts create an X pattern covering the chest from the left shoulder to the right hip and from the right shoulder to the left hip.
Once the leather belts are the right length they should pull to the back of the body and attach to the holster.

Now, before you attach the belts you must determine where the holster will be on your back so you can reach the shotgun. Once you find the right spot cut slits in the holster and run the belts through and again attach it with twine.

Next was the chainsaw.

There are many ways to do this, but I bought a Deluxe Toy Chainsaw with Sound. This particular toy chainsaw has a rotating rubber blade and a loud noise function with the press of a button.

I had to modify it first by unscrewing and removing the back plastic handle and then cutting a circle in the back portion of the saw. Next I attached a wooden dowel rod inside the chainsaw and drilled into the top and bottom of the toy.

Once this was complete I bought a PVC coupling big enough for my hand to fit into and 2 silver  hose clamps. The hose clamps are silver attachments that I placed around the PVC coupling and then I placed the PVC coupling into the hole in the back of the chainsaw. Now my hand can slide through the PVC coupling and I can hold onto the whole toy chainsaw by grabbing onto the wooden dowel rod.

The button to make the chainsaw operate I removed from the plastic handle and simply taped it to the dowel rod for easy access. However, this can be placed anywhere the user may prefer.

The Toy Shotgun I purchased at a Halloween Store, it has sound and plastic shotgun shells that eject when you pretend to reload. The only modification I made to it was I cut about 4 inches off of the barrel. This is because in the film he cuts off a few inches to his shotgun, and also it fits better in the holster when it’s slung on your back.

Lastly, taking notes from the film, I added a coat of red spray paint to mask the yellow body of the chainsaw and I sprayed the whole chainsaw with fake blood.

Now the pants and shirt I again followed the film. His shirt is missing a left sleeve and is also ripped down the left hand side. Along with various other rips and tears. The pants were again ripped in various places and that is up to the creator where to make those rips.

Finally fake blood splattering on any and all parts of the costume is the most fun and most enjoyable part. For the coolest effect I dabbed a paint brush in fake blood and I held the brush in my hand and gave it a flick towards the costume while still hanging onto the brush. This provides a splatter effect and creates cool patterns of blood.

And that is a vary basic way to attempt an Ash Williams Costume from The Evil Dead!

So Shop Smart, Shop S-Mart….YOU GOT THAT!?!

Check out my costume in action here!

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