Preview: Ray Santiago in The Body

Calling all Ash vs. Evil Dead fans! Ray Santiago is coming back to TV this week! Here’s a preview and info on where and when to check his new project out!

Ray Santiago has a new project. It’s hard to believe that it’s been 5 months since we saw him in the series finale of Ash Vs. Evil Dead.

I’ve kept the character alive in the part of my brain that’s responsible for fan fiction. Pablo Simon “El Brujo Especial” Bolivar,  and the new Jefe, are battling Deadites with Kelly (Dana DeLorenzo) and Brandy (Arielle Carver-O’Neill). Pablo’s working hard on creating a new Rift to look for Ash (Bruce Campbell) and  Dalton (Lindsay Farris). Ruby (Lucy Lawless) ends up involved. It’s a really great show that airs weekly in my head. It gets all the ratings. And, it’s renewed forever.

Meanwhile, in the real world where real people live, Ray has moved on to something that sounds awesome.

This Friday, Oct. 5, Ray will co-star in The Body. It’s the first installment in a new horror anthology series called Into the Dark courtesy of Blumhouse Productions. Each episode is the length of a movie and will air once a month on Hulu.  The segments will be inspired by different holidays.

The Body revolves around Halloween. The main character, Wilkes (Tom Bateman), is a jaded hitman. He takes advantage of the witching hour to transport a dead body in plain sight as if it was part of an elaborate costume. Hilarity ensues.

Ray Santiago-The Body-Courtesy of Blumhouse

When it premiered at the LA Film Festival on September 21, the dark comedy of the feature was considered to be one of its strongest aspects. I’m not familiar with a lot of the cast or Paul Davis as a director. But, infusing comedy in the middle of horror and gore was Ray’s wheelhouse on AVED.

I first heard about The Body when Ray did a champagne and bubbles inspired Instagram Live chat shortly after AVED ended. I found out a lot more about the storyline when 1428 Elm interviewed him after filming on The Body had wrapped. His character is a high strung, trust fund kid who is also a wannabe Hollywood visual effects creator.

When I met Ray and attended his panel at Flashback Weekend Chicago horror convention in August, he was genuinely excited about this venture and his character, Jack. There wasn’t any more insight into his role, but it was cool to see him beam just a little bit about this opportunity. Fans stopped taking pictures long enough to make a note of the release date on their phones.

Ray Santiago-The Body-Courtesy of Getty Images for Hulu

I can’t wait to see The Body. The premise sounds great. And also, I’m a Ray Santiago fan. Ray is a talented actor and he really shined when he played Pablo on AVED.

Pablito was not the easiest character to play. He started out as an earnest, shy young man who knew who he wanted to be. But, he was insecure and ended up valiantly tagging along on other people’s journey’s.

Ray played that honest and simple with a lot of emotion. It was genuine. His nuanced performance was relatable. That endeared him to the fan base.

Like all the characters on AVED, Pablo had a clear arc that included a lot of growth. This was especially true in season 3 when Pablo essentially became the key to helping Ash navigate the Rift and save his friends.

His El Brujo Especial was just as grounded and caring as he was smart and powerful. Another actor might have phoned in their performance thinking, “This is just some horror gig.”  Ray knocked it out of the park.

I’m looking forward to seeing that nuanced performance in The Body. On the surface, Jack sounds like he could be some coked out dweeb. If there’s one thing that decades of watching movies and TV has taught me, it’s that trust fund kids can get pretty desperate.

I can’t wait to see how a high strung, self entitled Jack interacts with a hitman at a Halloween party. I mean, that’s worth a watch right there.

Even if Jack goes full trust fund kid, I’m sure Ray will find a way to make him likeable. By the end of the episode, we’ll probably be rooting for him and asking for his own spin-off. Hey, that’s the way the Internet works.

Are you going to stream The Body this weekend? What do you think of Ray’s character?  Let’s discuss in the comments!