The Madness Ends with Army of Darkness

So says our beloved hero, Ash, to Duke Henry... just before Ash gets tossed into a deep hole to fight a frightful creature that first raises her hand thru the murky water in a tribute to Excalibur. This pretty much begins the adventure in Army of Darkness, the third of the Evil Dead trilogy by genious Sam Raimi.

Spoiler Warning: This review gives away the ending to Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.

As you will recall from the previous two Evil Dead movies, Ash takes a small party to a cabin in the woods, finds the dreaded book, Necronomicon, and ends up chopping everyone to bits after they turn demonic. In the Evil Dead 2, he then uses the book to open a portal to banish the evil spirits and gets sucked in to this portal himself... along with his car. Ash ends up smack in the Middle Ages, replete with King Arthur and cohorts. Historically accurate? It didn't even try to be. Massively fun? You bet your longsword it is!

"This here is my Boom Stick!�"

The basic gist is that Ash must now recover the book in order to get back to his own time period... and to save the kingdom. He is warned that he must recite exactly three words before he grabs the book... He forgets the words and sets off the raising of the Army of Darkness, which is an obvious tribute to Ray Harryhausen. The skeletons are fantastic!

Indeed, throughout this one you will catch numerous allusions to other movies, which is most of the fun of watching Army of Darkness. In one scene Ash is fighting a gaggle of mini-Ashes, which end up tying him down... and if you don't get the Gulliver's Travels reference then you really need to get out more.

Now there are some scenes where the special effects splice is horrendous... so excrutiatingly obvious. But ya know what? That may have been intentional. This is, after all, a schlock fest... and this time Raimi knew it from the get-go and used that well.

"Gimme some sugar Baby!"

This time we have a much bigger budget, so we have a much bigger cast... some even worth mentioning. Hooya!

Bruce Campbell is, of course, Ash. There is no way anyone else could do this role. By this point Campbell has Ash down so well that he doesn't even have to try. Campbell is Ash Williamson. Ash is fed up with everything he has gone through in the previous two movies; all he wants to do is get the damn book and go home. But noooooo everyone wants him to save their kingdom first. What a pain! My only regret is that they missed a wonderful opportunity to put Campbell in a kilt. *sigh*

Embeth Davidtz (Thir13en Ghosts, Schindler's List) plays Sheila, the medieval wench that falls in lust with Ash... Go Ash! The woods may not get laid this time, but he does. (Don't worry, it ain't implicit, it's implied). Davidtz does a wonderful job in this role. She can schlock with the best of them, or play it serious depending on what the scene calls for.

Marcus Gilbert (Rambo III, Legacy) is Lord Arthur (an obvious play on King Arthur.) Arthur is in a bit of a turf war with Duke Henry the Red... and Ash manages to release Henry and his band from Arthur's clutches, which doesn't make Arthur very happy at all. Keep watching... eventually you'll find this was a very fortuitous move on Ash's part. Gilbert plays this as pretty much a serious part, which works extremely well against the warped humor of this movie.

Ian Abercrombie (Lost World: Jurassic Park, Addams Family Values) is the Wise Man, the one who advises Ash on retrieving the book... and guilt trips him about helping the kingdom. He tends to remind of an old crotchety professor. Abercrombie is a very good actor, and as few can, he gets across feelings with a mere look that will wither you on the spot.

Richard Grove (Scanner Cop, Money Train) is the jolly Duke Henry the Red, nemesis of Arthur. Grove plays Henry as a guy that just wants to have things be fair... with a good sense of humor. You can well imagine yourself sharing an ale with this guy in some pub. Grove is a good actor, he should have been in more than he has.

Bridget Fonda makes a brief appearance in this as the third actress to play the role of Linda, Ash's departed girlfriend (or was it the girl in the store at the end) Whatever. At least Ash didn't hack her up this time; rather she just disappears into the woods or some such (which begs the question... did the woods get laid after all?)

Sam Raimi directed this, naturally, and co-wrote it with his brother... who was also a film student at Michigan along with Campbell. I have to say that of all of Raimi's work, this is the best to me. I adore this movie. Even if it wasn't so downright comical, it makes a great division on my DVD shelf between all the horror flicks and all the medieval flicks. Thanks Sam!

Now, after all this high praise, I must take a moment to slam both Raimi and Campbell. Alas... there are NO commentaries on this DVD. None, nada, zip. All you'll get is the usual trailer, some production notes, and the usual bios. Bleh. What happened here guys? Too big fer yer britches now? Too durn busy to take the time? I'm disappointed!

Rated R for violence and language. Personally, I do not believe that 'colorful language' will warp a child in any way... nor do I think the schlock violence will. I'd say 10 and up, due to the nightmare factor though... depends on your child. Mine watched Nightmare on Elm Street with me at age 5 and never had one nightmare... and at 26 she has yet to dismember a single soul. Imagine that!

My recommendation? You should have already bought this! Go! Shoo! It's 6 bucks man...get out of here!