There are 172 demons in the town of Willard’s Mill, and it’s up to retired sheriff Stan Miller (John C. McGinley) to stop them. There’s only one problem: Stan would rather take a nap. There is no rest for the recently retired, though, and Stan has even more undead mayhem to deal with in the new episodes of IFC’s Stan Against Evil. The second season of the horror comedy series premieres tonight on IFC, and this past summer, Daily Dead and a group of other journalists had the great pleasure of visiting the Atlanta set to see Stan’s demon-slaying arsenal and favorite recliner in person.
Nestled on a quiet neighborhood street just outside of Atlanta, the two-story home looks like a peaceful place, with its sprawling front porch and red and white colors giving it the appearance of a tranquil farmhouse. But while this home may be a slice of Southern heaven in real life, it can be downright hellish as the New Hampshire house of Stan and his adult daughter, Denise (Deborah Baker Jr.) on the IFC series. House guests tend to include demonic forces that want to rip Stan to shreds, which is why the walls in the office of Stan’s late wife (and kickass demon hunter), Claire (Susan Williams), are lined with weapons ranging from pistols and crossbows to hatchets and other items that, to paraphrase David Spade in Tommy Boy, could really ruin your weekend.
While Claire’s collection of pointy objects may seem excessive, it’s absolutely necessary on a series that features an army of creatures conjured up by the crew at Autonomous FX, Inc., with talented actors like Mick Ignis working under layers of eye-popping practical effects to bring an assortment of creatures to life.
“The great thing about this show that I love so much versus getting a lot of other horror scripts is that it's very clear to me when I read it that the people writing it actually like monsters,” Ignis tells us as we sit in an air-conditioned tent behind the house. The proof behind Ignis’ statement can be seen in the monster baby’s head that rests beside him on the table, while a winged skeletal creature known as The Wraith is perched in the corner, staring at us with empty eye sockets, perhaps deciding which journalist it wants to snatch for its next meal.
The Wraith stays put, though, maybe too tired from fighting Stan on set to take a bite out of us. The demonic forces that haunt Willard’s Mill kept Stan plenty busy in the first season, but in the second season, it seems like they’ll be stealing even more of his quality time in front of the TV. While Stan still relishes watching the backs of his eyelids, season 2 will see the anti-hero with a more clear objective: saving current Willard’s Mill Sheriff Evie Barret (Janet Varney) from being stuck in the witch-burning days of the past, and perhaps even bringing his wife back from the dead while he’s at it.
“You gotta remember, Stan has no interest in battling anything other than the TV remote to get to the history channel and polish off 12 beers,” McGinley tells us during a brief break between scenes. “He doesn't want to do any of those [demon hunting] things, there’s no interest. But, while last year the overriding objective was always getting back to my La–Z–Boy recliner, the objective this year is to get whole, and the only way to get whole is to get Janet and then to go get my wife. So it's a really clean trajectory.”
In addition to a ghoulish new lineup of creatures that stand in the way of Stan and his quest for his normal life before his wife’s death, plenty of new human characters will be paying Willard’s Mill a visit this season, too, as showrunner and co-star Dana Gould is looking to flesh out one of the strangest small towns on TV right now.
“What we were able to do in the second season is sort of expand the world of Willard's Mill to go deeper into the mythology of how we got into this situation and the lure behind Willard's Mill,” Gould tells us during a break in filming.
“We brought in some new characters. Denise Boutte plays a woman named Lara Bouchard, who is a descendant of a real witch that lived in the town. We find out more about Stan's wife and her backstory. And then we really have a great opportunity to expand the world and then bring in new characters.”
“David Koechner from Anchorman plays Janet Varney's ex-husband, Kenny. Steven Ogg from The Walking Dead plays a mysterious figure that comes into town. Jeffrey Combs from Re-Animator plays a demon that's very atypical. He's very charming, and he's addicted to gambling. So, he tortures people through a series of bets. And then from my perspective as a horror movie fan, it just gives me an opportunity to meet these people.”
“We also start the season with Stan facing challenges that he's never faced before,” Gould continues, “because the season ended with Evie trapped in 1692 and time is different. So when we open up the show in the first episode of the first season, Stan doesn't know who Evie is. She died 400 years ago. And she's not the sheriff, and he's still retired, and he's living in an alternate universe. But he's haunted by these images of this person that he should know and doesn't.”
One person Stan still knows is his adult daughter, Denise, played with perfect comic timing by Deborah Baker Jr. Already a fan-favorite, infinitely quotable character, Denise is expected to have even more moments of quirky charm brilliance in between the creature-centric carnage of the series’ sophomore season.
“I feel like Denise is forever changing,” Baker Jr. told us. “Every day is an adventure for Denise. What an amazing, wonderful world that is. Dana has done such a good job. He knows that Denise and I are not that dissimilar. So it's really easy for me to tap into that quirkiness. Every day is an adventure and so amazing, and I think she's just a glass half-full type of lady. And she is a lady! But this season is even better than last season, if that is even possible. And you get to see so much more. We only have eight episodes to show you all of our layers, and we get to peel back more layers and see what really makes each of these characters tick.”
We’ve already seen what makes Stan tick (his desire for normalcy, cold beers, and a quiet evening in front of the tube), but we’ll see even more sides of the character and his humor in season 2, which McGinley uses to side-splitting effect in a scene we watch being filmed in the house while we watch the screens in our backyard tent hangout. The scene involves Stan, an phantasmal voodoo priest, and a dangerous agreement, and McGinley utilizes his comedic chops to give every take a different spin, delivering new one-liners that warm our air-conditioned tent with hearty laughter from everyone watching on the monitors.
That laughter will no doubt resonate through living rooms across the country when Stan Against Evil Season 2 premieres on IFC, and I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to witness the craft, care, and passion for perfection that goes into making one of the most entertaining shows on television right now. Here’s hoping that you make room in your schedule to spend some quality time with Stan and the demon-slaying gang this November, and to bring a little bit of Willard’s Mill into our online world, I have a photo gallery from my time on the Stan Against Evil set that you can peruse below. Make yourself at home in Stan’s house, just don’t sit in his chair… I think that would bother him more than any bloodthirsty demon from beyond the grave.
Photos by Daily Dead:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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