Review of Army of Darkness (1992) by Jack B — 27 Mar 2011

The Army of Darkness by Sam Raimi is considered a classic, depicting the main character Ash brought to the distant past where he has to save his life, the lives of its people and get back to his time. It's the sequel to the films of The Evil Dead and The Evil Dead 2. I've watched this a lot of times and though it was made years ago, I found a timeless quality to the film. I still enjoyed it, though it's kind of old.

Something thing I've noticed about the film is that there was never any attempt to make the film mildly realistic, but the whole film is so weird and wild that weird and wild becomes the norm. The film mixes horror, action and comedy. But the action and the comedy is so pervasive that though the film contains elements that could be genuinely scary it's hard to be scared. Also the film has an intriguing protagonist, solid plot and good camera work and special effects.

Then there's the imperfect hero of Ash, played by Bruce Campbell who more than makes up for any weaknesses (including faulty memory) he has with sheer bad assery. I don't know who's the current reigning king of corny one liners but if it isn't Ash he's definitely a contender. The thing is, he makes the corniness kind of cool.

As for the film's plot, the film has the necessary twists and turns to make hold the audience interested. After all its in this movie that the main protagonist progressed from prisoner, to champion, to war general.

The lighting and camera effects used in the film remind me of other horror movies such as Poltergeist. Shadow and mute colours envelop the film, reminding people of the dire situation the people are in. But these are also mixed in with camera shots that remind me of cartoons, such as when Ash was trying to flatten his tiny doppelgangers. I think those scenes remind me a bit of Looney Tunes. The music of the film supported the film. I don't think there was anything astounding about it, but it does support the film which is what is important.

During its time, the special effects of this film must have been one of a kind. Seeing an army of the dead coming to siege a fortress was an interesting sight. The film seems to use a lot of puppetry, costumes and make up. I think there were scenes that made use of stop motion animation. But I think it was worth to note that the film does not seem to rely wholly on these special effects, instead using interesting camera angles and techniques to make up for the limitations of special effects during that time, so much so that even at this film is still engrossing in this time of CGI. It might also be because the film doesn't really take itself seriously so people don't bother to care about the special effects.

The Army of Darkness is a great film, so much so that age has so far been unable to diminish it. I'm really thankful to be able to see such a film.