Shop Smart: ‘Carrie’ Brings Back Ash’s Employer From ‘Army of Darkness’

There are plenty of fun horror nods tucked into Mike Flanagan’s Carrie, now streaming in full on Prime Video. But one particular detail deserves its own headline, and it’s where Carrie’s mother gets a job.

Following her husband’s death on a construction site, Margaret White, played by Samantha Sloyan (Hush), has to fend for herself while Carrie enters public school. She begins working at a local big-box store, the kind of place you’d compare to Target or Walmart.

But look closely at her name tag, her uniform, and the writing on the wall.

“Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.”

You know exactly where we’re going with this.

That’s the store where Bruce Campbell’s Ashley J. Williams works in Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness. The 1993 cult classic finds Ash working in housewares, and he famously delivers the store’s slogan while showing off his boomstick to a crowd of medieval screwheads.

Now Margaret White works there, too.

And here’s where I’m going to argue that there’s a difference between an Easter egg and making something canon. It’s the same store name, the same color scheme, and the same fucking slogan. As far as I’m concerned, Flanagan’s Carrie now exists in the same universe as the Evil Dead movies.

I will argue this until my death.

Call it a wink, call it a little nod, call it whatever you want. Nobody has announced an official crossover, but Margaret White and Ash Williams have worked for the same fictional retail chain, and I’m accepting that as canon. I think that’s pretty fucking cool.