Review of Army of Darkness (1992) by Dean M — 10 Aug 2011

This third Evil Dead series sees the gore drop off and the comedy step up even more - really funny than horror! The director, Sam Raimi, reminds us in this film what it is like to have fun. Bruce Campbell is brilliant as the arrogant and hilarious hero with his trusty chainsaw and 'boom stick', I can't believe his luck, the rest of his career he's struggled but Sam Raimi seems to love him. And rightly so, he is like Jim Carrey but has so much more talent and is a classic B-movie leading man type.

The first two Evil Dead films were both darkly funny but this is just plain hilarious. The sheer raft of one liners and silly/horror set ups keeps you laughing all the way. The horror is not scary as before â" mainly because the gore is gone, however I prefer this as the stop motion stuff gives it an old fashioned feel that adds to the value of it â" it's hard to explain but I really enjoy this because it feels like an old Harryhausen film.

The effects are great, and the direction is superb, especially scenes of the Army of Darkness riding horseback and attacking the castle.