Review of Army of Darkness (1992) by Jeremy K — 17 Feb 2014

Oh dear, I seem to have committed some sacrilege against the Evil Dead franchise. This is the only movie out of the Evil Dead films that I find enjoyable, and even then it's not very good. It's one of those films that gets a 10/10 for pure, unbridled entertainment value and a 2 or so for everything else. It's silly, chaotic, and features an army of dead people led by evil Bruce Campbell. What more could you possibly ask for?

Unlike Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness actually does something creative with the franchise instead of settling with being a carbon copy of the first film. In this installment, Ash Williams (Campbell) has been sucked back through time... for some reason... and has landed in medieval times, where two warring nation-things have to band together in order to defeat the menace of a, well, Army of Darkness. Even if you don't like this movie, you have to appreciate the pure awesomeness of nearly every line of dialogue spoken in it. "My name is Ash... and this is my boomstick!" If you haven't heard that quote before, you've most likely been living under a rock.

Of course, I can't give high marks to a movie as silly as this one, but it gains massive points for pure and unfettered entertainment value. Nothing will ever top Bruce Campbell's mechanical hand in terms of silliness and unbridled enthusiasm. You have to appreciate just how amazing it is that a movie like this could have been made, especially since it was spawned from a low-budget horror franchise. The camp level of this film reaches maximum levels, with a typical damsel-in-distress romantic subplot and skeleton warriors who look like they're right out of Jason and the Argonauts. Every ounce of this movie is so outlandish, so ridiculously over-the-top, you can't help but be entertained by it.

Army of Darkness is also helped along by the fact that, simply put, it's original. The Evil Dead was a pretty bland horror movie, and its sequel was a carbon copy of the first. This one dispenses with the usual gimmicks by completely reversing the franchise's concept. Instead of straight-up horror, this installment is more of an action and adventure flick with a horror element thrown in, making it everything The Mummy should have been-- and more. This is probably why Evil Dead fans (Deadheads, we shall call them) dislike this installment in the franchise: It's different. And I'm not bashing them, I'm just assuming that we wanted different things out of this movie, and I ended up being far more entertained than they were. Horror has never been my favorite genre (I think I've only really liked two horror movies through my whole life), so a little action/comedy infusion was welcome here. If that's not what you're looking for, hey, I get it. Stick to the first two films and you'll have a great time.

Final Score for Army of Darkness: 6/10 stars. Yes, with this enormously positive review, you'd expect a 7 or even an 8, but I can't give this movie too many points, mainly because it's so silly and forgettable. The only moments that will really stick in your head are the one-liners; the rest of it is take-it-or-leave-it entertainment. Yes, it will never get old seeing Bruce Campbell outfit his car with zombie-killing devices using only his chemistry textbook and middle-ages technology. But there is (as you could probably guess from the title alone) virtually no substance to this movie. Yes, it's hilarious. Yes, it's entertaining. No, that does not make it great.