Stan Against Evil
Stan Against Evil is an American comedy horror television series created by Dana Gould that premiered on IFC on October 31, 2016, and ran for three seasons totaling 24 episodes until November 21, 2018.[1][2] The series stars John C. McGinley as Stan Miller, a curmudgeonly retired sheriff of the small New Hampshire town of Willard's Mill, who reluctantly teams up with his successor, Evie Barret (Janet Varney), to battle supernatural demons and other horrors plaguing the community.[3][4] Willard's Mill is depicted as a cursed locale built atop the site of a 17th-century witch burning, which serves as the backdrop for the show's blend of gruesome horror, dark humor, and character-driven comedy.[1] The supporting cast includes Nate Mooney as Deputy Travis Freele, Stan's loyal but dim-witted sidekick, and Deborah Baker Jr. as Denise McManus, the town mortician with occult knowledge.[3] Each season escalates the demonic threats while exploring Stan's personal grief over his late wife and his evolving dynamic with Evie, a more modern and optimistic law enforcer.[4] Critically, the series received mixed reviews, with a 64% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its first season, praised for its premise and McGinley's performance but critiqued for tonal inconsistencies.[5] Audience reception was more positive, earning a 90% score on the same platform, and it holds a 7.3/10 rating on IMDb based on over 7,000 user votes.[1][3] Despite its cult following, Stan Against Evil was not renewed after its third season.[6]Series overview
Premise
Stan Against Evil is set in the fictional town of Willard's Mill, New Hampshire, which is cursed due to its dark history of witchcraft trials, during which the evil Constable Eccles burned 172 innocent women at the stake.[7] This atrocity unleashed a vengeful supernatural force upon the town, resulting in the death of every sheriff who has served since then.[7] The series centers on Stan Miller, a recently widowed and disgruntled former sheriff who is forced into retirement after his wife's death, only to become entangled in the town's ongoing supernatural perils.[8] He reluctantly partners with Evie Barret, the ambitious new sheriff appointed to replace him, as they work together to protect Willard's Mill from demonic incursions.[9] The core conflict revolves around the duo battling a variety of supernatural threats tied to the town's curse, including demons, ghosts, witches, possessions, and undead resurrections that target law enforcement figures.[10] The narrative employs an episodic structure, with most installments featuring self-contained "monster-of-the-week" scenarios that highlight the escalating horrors plaguing the community.[11] Their partnership is marked by Stan's gruff experience clashing with Evie's modern approach, forming a dynamic essential to confronting the evil.[12]Genre and style
Stan Against Evil is classified as a comedy-horror television series, featuring 30-minute episodes that integrate slapstick humor with graphic gore and supernatural threats in a demon-of-the-week format.[3] The show employs a hybrid style reminiscent of 1980s creature features, utilizing practical effects for creature transformations and over-the-top kills to evoke the visceral appeal of films like An American Werewolf in London and The Thing.[13][14] This approach draws heavily from the Evil Dead series, incorporating self-referential nods to Deadite possessions and Necronomicon-like artifacts while differentiating through its sitcom-like character interactions amid the chaos.[15] Thematically, the series juxtaposes occult horror against small-town Americana in the fictional New England community of Willard's Mill, where everyday provincial life clashes with demonic incursions tied to a historical witch-burning curse.[16] Elements of grief underscore the narrative, particularly through the protagonist's recent widowhood, which propels reluctant involvement in supernatural battles, blending personal loss with redemptive confrontations against evil.[17] Influences from classic horror, such as The Exorcist for possession motifs and The Shining for psychological dread, are woven in via Easter eggs and stylistic homages that enhance the show's affectionate tribute to the genre without descending into parody.[13][14] Stan Against Evil maintains a self-aware tone through meta-humor and pun-laden episode titles inspired by anthology formats like The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror" segments, fostering an anthology-like structure across seasons where each installment explores standalone supernatural dilemmas.[15] This episodic design allows for absurd comedic escalations, such as killer flowers or demonic goats, while grounding the proceedings in low-budget, splatter-heavy visuals that prioritize fun over frights.[13][18] The result is a distinctive blend that celebrates horror tropes through witty, character-driven comedy, setting it apart from straighter genre entries.[16]Cast and characters
Main
Stan Miller, portrayed by John C. McGinley, is the gruff and perpetually disgruntled former sheriff of the small New England town of Willard's Mill, New Hampshire. Haunted by the recent death of his wife, Claire, which led to his forced retirement, Stan is deeply knowledgeable about the town's centuries-old curse stemming from historical witch burnings that unleashed demons upon the community.[18][9] His personality is marked by cynicism and sharp wit, often delivering withering commentary, yet he remains dedicated to protecting the town from supernatural threats.[18] Evie Barret, played by Janet Varney, serves as the ambitious and energetic new sheriff who replaces Stan. Initially skeptical of Willard's Mill's demonic history, Evie is a resourceful single mother to her daughter Grace, bringing optimism and determination to her role in combating the town's evil forces.[18][19] Over time, she fully embraces the supernatural battles, adapting her law enforcement skills to confront demons alongside improvised weapons and allies.[19] Supporting the core duo is Deputy Leon Drinkwater, portrayed by Nate Mooney, who acts as comic relief as Evie's sweetly dopey and often ineffective right-hand man. Despite his bumbling demeanor, Leon demonstrates loyalty and hidden competence in critical moments, contributing to the sheriff's office efforts against the curse.[18][19] Throughout the series, the main characters' partnership evolves from initial friction—Stan's resentment toward Evie's authority and her dismissal of his warnings—to a resilient alliance forged in shared battles against demonic incursions. Motivated by personal grief, familial protection, and a sense of duty to Willard's Mill, Stan and Evie develop a mentor-protégé dynamic laced with banter, while Leon provides steadfast, if hapless, support that underscores their makeshift team's vulnerabilities and strengths.[19][18]Recurring
Claire Miller, portrayed by Susan Williams, is Stan's late wife who appears in visions throughout the series, serving as a spectral guide and reminder of the town's supernatural curse.[20] As a former member of the Black Hat Society—a secret Wiccan coven dedicated to combating demonic forces—Claire's hidden role as a demon hunter directly ties into the lore of Willard's Mill, where her unsolved murder by supernatural entities propels the ongoing battle against evil and influences Stan's reluctant heroism.[21] Her visions often provide cryptic clues about the curse's origins, blending emotional depth with horror elements to underscore the personal stakes of the demonic incursions.[22] Among the town locals, Denise Miller, played by Deborah Baker Jr., is Stan's adult daughter whose naive optimism contrasts the series' dark tone, frequently drawing her into comedic yet perilous supernatural encounters.[23] Appearing in 24 episodes, Denise contributes to the humor through her exasperated family dynamics and unwitting involvement in demonic possessions or rituals, while her ties to Willard's Mill history as a lifelong resident highlight the curse's generational impact.[3] Another local, Kevin Cougar-Mellencamp, portrayed by series creator Dana Gould, is the eccentric gravedigger who aids the protagonists with macabre tasks like exhuming cursed remains, adding folksy wit and practical support to the monster-of-the-week escapades across multiple episodes.[24] These characters ground the horror in small-town eccentricity, often serving as reluctant allies whose everyday lives intersect with the town's haunted past. Recurring supernatural entities revolve around the central curse of Willard's Mill, stemming from the 17th-century execution of 172 witches by Constable Thaddeus Eccles, which unleashed vengeful demonic forces that periodically target the town's sheriffs.[3] Constable Eccles, played by Randall Newsome, emerges as a primary antagonist across seasons, manifesting as a malevolent, undead enforcer who manipulates events to perpetuate the curse, functioning as a narrative linchpin that escalates threats and connects historical lore to present-day horrors. Other motifs include possessive demons like Haurus, a season 3 entity demanding sacrifices to sustain the curse, and spectral witches such as Priscilla Atherton or Ida Putnam, who recur in visions or resurrections to embody the town's unresolved witch trial atrocities, driving episodic terrors while reinforcing themes of colonial guilt and eternal vengeance.[25] The Black Hat Society, featuring recurring members like Lavinia (Morgana Ignis in multiple guises), acts as allied supernatural forces, providing ritualistic countermeasures and historical context to counter the demons' dominance. Notable guest stars in recurring roles enhance the monster-of-the-week format by infusing variety into the supernatural threats and alliances. Morgana Ignis appears repeatedly as demonic entities or coven members, her versatile performances amplifying the horror-comedy blend through exaggerated, otherworldly antics that punctuate the curse's manifestations. Similarly, Randall Newsome's portrayal of Eccles recurs to tie episodic villains back to the overarching lore, allowing standalone adventures to build cumulative dread without resolving the town's foundational evil.[25] These appearances maintain the series' momentum, using familiar faces in monstrous forms to heighten both scares and satirical jabs at horror tropes.Production
Development
Dana Gould, a comedian and longtime writer for The Simpsons and Parks and Recreation, created Stan Against Evil drawing from his upbringing in Hopedale, Massachusetts, near the site of the infamous Salem witch trials, which influenced the series' premise of a town haunted by demons from a historical mass witch burning.[26] Gould's lifelong passion for horror, particularly 1980s comedy-horror films like Evil Dead 2, shaped his vision to blend genuine scares with humor, while personal elements such as his father's curmudgeonly personality informed the lead character Stan Miller.[26][27] In February 2016, IFC announced Stan Against Evil as an original eight-episode comedy-horror series set to premiere that fall, marking the network's entry into the genre with Gould as creator and writer.[28] The project was executive produced by Gould alongside Tom Lassally (Silicon Valley), Frank Scherma, and Justin Wilkes, with production handled by RadicalMedia.[29] The initial pitch centered on themes of grief and a supernatural buddy-cop dynamic, with retired sheriff Stan grappling with his wife's death while reluctantly partnering with the new sheriff, Evie Barret, to combat demonic forces in their cursed town.[30] Gould conceptualized the series from a tagline—"What if my dad was Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"—evolving it from an initial three-minute digital short about a monster-fighting widower into a full half-hour format after pitching it to IFC over lunch, where it was greenlit following a month of script revisions.[30][26] This development emphasized practical effects and standalone monster-of-the-week episodes to deliver self-contained horror stories infused with character-driven comedy.[26]Filming and crew
Principal photography for Stan Against Evil took place primarily in the metro Atlanta area of Georgia, standing in for the fictional New Hampshire town of Willard's Mill. Downtown Douglasville served as a key filming hub, with locations including the historic old city hall and the former jail used as a production base camp. The sheriff's office set was constructed at 48 Pray Street in Douglasville, a building also utilized for similar purposes in other productions.[31][32][33] The series was directed by a core team including Jack Bishop, Justin Nijm, and Robert Cohen across its three seasons, with episodes often helmed collaboratively to maintain a consistent visual tone blending horror and comedy. Cinematographer Timothy A. Burton employed practical lighting techniques and handheld camera work to heighten tension during supernatural sequences, such as demon attacks and ghostly apparitions, enhancing the low-budget aesthetic without relying heavily on digital post-production. Production designer Molly Coffee oversaw the creation of sets that evoked a quaint, eerie small-town atmosphere, incorporating vintage props and weathered facades to support the show's New England setting.[34][35] Production faced challenges inherent to its modest budget and tight schedule, with each of the three 8-episode seasons filmed over approximately four months in the summer, starting in June for the first season. The crew balanced practical effects for gore-heavy scenes—such as dismemberments and monstrous transformations—with comedic timing, often requiring on-set improvisations to keep costs down. Supernatural elements like resurrections and possessions were primarily handled through practical makeup and animatronics by the effects team at Autonomous F/X, who crafted custom creatures and props to depict demons and witches without extensive CGI, allowing for dynamic, tangible interactions that amplified the horror-comedy hybrid.[36][37][38]Episodes
Season 1 (2016)
The first season of Stan Against Evil premiered on October 31, 2016, on IFC and consists of eight episodes, each approximately 22 minutes in length.[39] The season establishes the core premise in the cursed town of Willard's Mill, New Hampshire, where 172 witches were burned at the stake centuries ago, unleashing 172 demons bent on vengeance; these demons have systematically killed the town's previous 72 sheriffs.[3] Following the recent death of the 72nd sheriff and Stan Miller's forced retirement after his wife's passing, the gruff ex-sheriff forms an uneasy alliance with his successor, Evie Barret, to battle the escalating supernatural possessions, hauntings, and demonic manifestations threatening the town and its residents.[34] All episodes were directed by Jack Bishop and Justin Nijm.[40] The season builds tension through standalone horror-comedy scenarios that gradually reveal the depth of the curse and the protagonists' backstories, culminating in a cliffhanger finale where Evie causes a fatal car crash while swerving to avoid a mysterious girl, hinting at intensifying demonic interference in their lives.[41]| No. | Title | Written by | Original release date | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dig Me Up, Dig Me Down | Dana Gould | October 31, 2016 | Recently retired Sheriff Stan Miller, ousted after an outburst at a funeral, teams up with new Sheriff Evie Barret when demons begin rising from graves in the town cemetery, forcing them to confront the curse's reality.[42] |
| 2 | Know, Know, Know Your Goat | Dana Gould | November 2, 2016 | Stan's daughter Denise unwittingly brings home a demonic goat named Baphomet during a blueberry-picking outing, which possesses locals and targets the Miller family.[43] |
| 3 | Let Your Love Groan | Jessica Conrad | November 9, 2016 | Stan, Evie, and Denise attend a speed-dating event where supernatural matches cause rapid aging and decay, revealing a demon exploiting romantic desperation.[44] |
| 4 | Life Orr Death | Guy Busick & R. Christopher Murphy | November 9, 2016 | Evie enters a spirit realm to retrieve Stan's prized Bobby Orr hockey stick, put on trial for witchcraft by ghostly judges amid demonic pursuits. |
| 5 | Ouija Bored | Susan Burke | November 16, 2016 | Mysterious flowers bloom across town, each releasing a unique supernatural horror upon picking, overwhelming Stan and Evie with chaotic threats. |
| 6 | I'm Gleaning My Coven | Jessica Conrad | November 16, 2016 | A group of goth teens summons a demon that possesses Denise during a coven ritual, forcing Stan and Evie to perform an exorcism while navigating teen drama.[45] |
| 7 | Spider Walk with Me | Dana Gould & Sam Boyd | November 23, 2016 | A stranger arrives seeking artifacts from Stan's late wife, only to be attacked by a giant spider-man hybrid, uncovering ties to the town's witch-hunting history. |
| 8 | Level Boss | Jessica Conrad | November 23, 2016 | As demonic activity surges, Evie swerves her car to avoid a spectral girl, resulting in a deadly crash that leaves her fate—and the alliance's future—in peril.[46] |
Season 2 (2017)
The second season of Stan Against Evil premiered on November 1, 2017, on IFC, consisting of eight half-hour episodes aired in double bills over four consecutive weeks.[47][48] This season delves deeper into the witches' curse originating from Willard's Mill's founding in the 1600s, escalating the supernatural threats through time travel paradoxes, historical hauntings, and personal reckonings for protagonists Stan Miller and Evie Barret.[22] Stan grapples with an alternate reality following Evie's apparent execution as a witch in the colonial era, forcing him to navigate visions and summon aid to restore her, while confronting manifestations of his grief over his late wife Claire.[22] The season expands the mythology by introducing the Black Hat Society, a covert group of descendants from benevolent witches who settled Willard's Mill, now acting as guardians against resurgent evil tied to the town's cursed origins.[22] This coven provides uneasy alliance to Stan and Evie amid resurrections of historical figures, including a vengeful 17th-century witchhunter who haunts the present through descendants and artifacts, amplifying the personal demons each character faces—such as Evie's unstable return and Stan's time-altered regrets.[22][49]Episode list
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | US viewers (millions) | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | "The Black Hat Society Part 1" | Dana Gould | Dana Gould | November 1, 2017 | N/A | Stan awakens in an altered reality where Evie has been executed as a witch in the 1600s; he encounters the Black Hat Society, descendants of good witches monitoring a prophecy involving him.[22] |
| 10 | 2 | "The Black Hat Society Part 2" | Dana Gould | Dana Gould | November 1, 2017 | N/A | Stan travels back in time to rescue Evie from her ghostly fate, but must eliminate a key figure from the past to stabilize her return, while evading the society's watchful gaze.[50] |
| 11 | 3 | "Curse of the Werepony" | Starla Squire | Dana Gould | November 8, 2017 | N/A | Evie's ex-husband gifts their daughter a pony that unleashes a deadly curse, forcing Evie to confront familial ties amid the town's escalating demonic surges. |
| 12 | 4 | "Girls' Night" | Starla Squire | Breckin Meyer & Spencer Crittenden | November 8, 2017 | N/A | During a hypnotized dating show appearance, Evie and friends become targets in a fatal game orchestrated by a bet on Stan's life, blending modern absurdity with ancient hexes.[51] |
| 13 | 5 | "The Eyes of Evie Barret" | Ken Whittingham | Dana Gould | November 15, 2017 | N/A | An antique ring triggers Evie's prophetic dreams of murders that manifest in reality, paralleling deputy Leon's accidental killing as the curse preys on their vulnerabilities. |
| 14 | 6 | "Hex Marks the Tot" | Ken Whittingham | Hannah Bos & Paul Thureen | November 15, 2017 | N/A | Denise nannies a demonic infant that drains affection to grow stronger, leading to chaotic confrontations that expose emotional weaknesses in Willard's Mill's residents. |
| 15 | 7 | "Mirror, Mirror" | Dana Gould | Dana Gould | November 22, 2017 | N/A | To save his late wife Claire, Stan summons a spirit for time travel, inadvertently creating an evil doppelgänger that threatens the timeline and ties back to the witches' original betrayal. |
| 16 | 8 | "A Hard Day's Night" | Dana Gould | Dana Gould | November 22, 2017 | N/A | Stan succeeds in rescuing Claire but dies in the process; Evie time-travels to save him, while Leon's infatuation leads to a gruesome mishap, resolving the season's temporal loops.[49] |
Season 3 (2018)
The third and final season of Stan Against Evil premiered on October 31, 2018, on IFC, consisting of eight episodes aired in double bills over four weeks through November 21, 2018.[39] This season escalates the supernatural threats facing Willard's Mill, New Hampshire, as protagonists Stan Miller and Evie Barret confront the full extent of the demonic curse stemming from the town's 17th-century witch executions by Constable Eccles. The narrative arc builds toward a climactic battle against the demons unleashed by the curse, resolving key character journeys—particularly Stan's reluctant heroism and Evie's determination—while addressing the fate of the town and its haunted legacy.[52] The season maintains the series' blend of horror-comedy, with standalone monster-of-the-week episodes interwoven with overarching mythology. Stan and Evie ally with demons and uncover spells to free the 72 damned souls, culminating in high-stakes confrontations that tie back to earlier threats like Eccles' vengeful spirit. Creator Dana Gould crafted the season to provide narrative closure to the core curse while introducing twists that shake up the status quo, ensuring the town's perils persist in a refreshed form.[53]Episode List
| No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | U.S. viewers (millions) | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hell Is What You Make It | Robert Cohen | Dana Gould | October 31, 2018 | N/A | After Evie is arrested for murder and committed to a psychiatric hospital, Stan tries to rescue her but she sees him as a demon; Stan discovers a possible way to free the souls cursed by Constable Eccles.[54] |
| 2 | The Hex Files | Robert Cohen | Dana Gould | October 31, 2018 | N/A | During an investigation of the Black Hat Society, two eerily familiar investigators arrive; Stan continues his search for a bigger evil ally to defeat Constable Eccles.[55] |
| 3 | Larva My Life | Robert Cohen | Dana Gould | November 7, 2018 | N/A | A disgraced performer disrupts Willard's Mill; Evie's ex returns and transforms into a caterpillar monster, terrorizing the town. |
| 4 | The Demon Who Came in From the Heat | Robert Cohen | Dana Gould | November 7, 2018 | N/A | Willard's Mill is terrorized by a murderous hitchhiker; Stan befriends a demon and seeks a spell to free the souls captured by Constable Eccles. |
| 5 | Nubbin But Trouble | Robert Cohen | Dana Gould | November 14, 2018 | N/A | An evil puppet murders an antique store owner and begins to summon spirits from hell; Stan's home brew has a debilitating side effect. |
| 6 | Vampire Creek | Robert Cohen | Dana Gould | November 14, 2018 | N/A | After Denise wins a fake contest, she becomes trapped in Vampire Creek; Stan, Evie, and Kevin must rescue her before she turns into a vampire. |
| 7 | Intensive Scare Unit | Robert Cohen | Dana Gould | November 21, 2018 | N/A | Stan goes for a prostate exam but must escape when the hospital turns demonic. |
| 8 | Stan Against Evie | Robert Cohen | Dana Gould | November 21, 2018 | N/A | Haurus demands Stan kill Evie to end the curse on Willard's Mill by killing Constable Eccles, but another demon offers a way to defeat Haurus at a high cost, resolving the core curse while leaving ongoing threats.[56] |