Army of Darkness (1992)

My name is Ash and I am a slave. Close as I can figure, the year is thirteen hundred A.D and I'm being dragged to my death.

Army of Darkness is directed by Sam Raimi and Raimi co-writes the screenplay with his brother Ivan. It stars Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie, Richard Grove and Timothy Patrick Quill. Music is by Joseph LoDuca and cinematography by Bill Pope.

Ash (Campbell) is transported to 1300 A.D., where he must battle an army of the dead and retrieve the Necronomicon so he can return home.

Unofficially it's Evil Dead III, but as the fans will atest, this is a very different animal to the two films that preceeded it. Blending high energy jinks in medieval times with comedy horror staples, it's a riotous idea that mostly works. Of course one has to accept it on its riotous terms, this for sure isn't a pic for the highbrow crowd. Though it should at least be given the chance to brighten a dark day.

Campell as Ash is put through the mangler once again, with some nifty physical comedy nestling nicely with that of Ash's anachronistic verbalities. It's all breakneck stuff that's performed with a wonderfully self mocking attitude that's easy to warm to. It's a comic book brought to life and it never sags, but some of the cartoon sequence beasties sadly do look a little flat.

Great fun if prepared for what type of pic it is, it's not hard to see why it is so beloved in Evil Dead fan circles. 7/10

Footnote: There are alterante ending versions, of which I have only seen the downbeat time potion one - but being the miserable sod that I am, I love this ending.

Bruce Campbell at his "gimme some sugar Baby" best.
Klatu Verada mumble mumble...
What could possibly go wrong!?!?

This is just a fun, entertaining movie.

"Ash" (Bruce Campbell) is a bit of a loud-mouth hardware salesman who somehow manages to get himself, and his car, transported back seven hundred years and into a mediaeval combat zone! "Lord Arthur" (Marcus Gilbert) is his new master and together with his fellow prisoner "Duke Henry the Red" (Richard Grove) is soon facing doom at the bottom of a deadly pit! Luckily, he has a few useful things in the boot of his car, and the timely use of a chainsaw helps him escape and become the designated saviour who will retrieve the "Necronomicon". His quest will involve a treacherous journey through the land of the "Deadites" in search of a sacred book. Only the immortal words of Michael Rennie himself: "Klaatu Barada Nikto" can save the day... Well, needless to say, none of this grand plan actually works. He forgets half of his magic phrase and only succeeds in resurrecting a somewhat narked army of dead folks who are determined to lay siege to their castle and retrieve the book for themselves. Enemies soon become friends, arrows become strapped to dynamite, trebuchets start lobbing high explosives and all are now hoping to defeat, well, the already dead! This actually benefits hugely from not having a star. The whole ensemble cast join in to create a quickly paced, "Camelot" style action adventure that borrows heavily from twentieth century references (I'm sure the script has a bit of Jack Hawkins from "Ben Hur" here too) and Ian Abercrombie does a fine job as the wiseman. There's plenty of pyrotechnics and swordplay, a generous amount of rather daft humour and, for my money, is one of Sam Raimi's better, more entertaining features. Derivative? Yes - it is, but that doesn't stop it being an enjoyable romp through history and legend that is well worth an afternoon in front of the telly.

Army of Darkness is such a mix bag for me, on one hand it is a very fun and whimsical fantasy adventure but on the other it is such a step away from the franchise that it feels out of place. It is marketed as a horror film, but there is absolutely zero tension or spooks to be had in its entire runtime, luckily the movie was actually quite funny. Raimi tried to do a bit too much in the special effects department, leaving many of the effects feel cheap and out of place. The green screen technology especially just was not there for the time. Raimi's direction was very relevant, and his signature touch on the film really helped. The performances and writing absolutely save the film. Bruce Campbell is the best he's ever been, with incredible line delivery that had be legitimately laughing out loud. The quick witty dialogue between characters was hilarious. Overall, Army of Darkness is by no means a bad movie, but it does take a step a little too far from the source material, which just didn't resonate with me as much.

Score: 67% 👍
Verdict: Good

**A perfect "trash" movie.**

When I saw this movie a few hours ago, I didn't know it was a sequel to “Evil Dead”, a movie I haven't seen yet. I generally like to start the franchises in the right order. However, and as far as I was reading, this film is the one that most differs from the antecedents, not least because the action takes place in the medieval period, and revolves around the possession of a book, the legendary Necronomicon.

Contrary to what one might think, the Necronomicon was not an invention of Sam Raimi, or any of the elements in the film. The book was created by the writer H. P. Lovecraft, and the idea came to be used for the film. Raimi is a creative and original director, and it's not surprising that such a bizarre film came out of his head. Basically, what we have here is a simple warehouse employee who, after handling the book, is teleported to the year 1300. And of course, to return to our time, he will have to find the book there, and overcome dangers of various order, starting with the medieval nobles themselves, at war with each other.

Bruce Campbell is the only actor who deserves mention in this cast of vast names in which there is no one who stands out positively. The cast is really one of the weaknesses and uninteresting of the film! And even Campbell is so irritating and arrogant that I didn't sympathize with his character at all, even though I know he's the hero and will somehow end up saving the day.

The film is corny, it's quite cheap (we only need to look at the poor quality of the stop-motion animations and visual or special effects to see that) and it's so absurd that it's hilarious. There are scenes that seem to be taken from a satire, or a school play. It is impossible not to laugh at such a film, a perfect “trash” film.