Army of Darkness

A bombastic array of excellent "fights" with the dead, a huge number of great original ideas, a wonderful sense of perspective, and the divine Campbell. Overall, I really like the way Raimi conceived the whole trilogy – he started with a pretty serious horror film, then defined a new genre in which he mixed horror elements with comedy elements, and then conceived the final part as pure comedy. Even though I was laughing a lot of times ;))), this instalment is still the weakest of the whole series for me. (03/07/2011)

Rather than a horror film, this turned out to be a fantasy comedy full of wisecracks. And that's good. Campbell brings Ash's character to perfection. Raimi must have read Conan stories as a kid, and Army Of Darkness is part tribute and part parody of his adventures. I'm kind of curious if they're going to eventually make a fourth installment, and if they do, you can bet I'm going to go see it. (08/27/2008)

Raimi continues beyond the surreal Evil Dead 2 carnival into the realm of infantile pleasure and unfettered phantasmagoria. Campbell is the greatest hero to have ever worn household goods, and of the whole trilogy, I enjoyed this film the most. Probably even from the whole of Raimi's filmography. A festival of jokes and knee-deep fiction, in which the technical imperfection seems to me to be an integral part of the game. The much more perfect (and built on the same plot), whilst paradoxically less playful and imaginative, Oz: The Great and Powerful, is evidence of this. (04/03/2013)

Where are the days when versatile directors dared to make something so incredibly outlandish. What I love about Army of Darkness is how Raimi subversively embellishes every filmmaking choice with the ultimate bizarre fantasy fable. The whole thing is based on hackneyed chivalric tales about the chosen hero, which the inventive director turns into a pure parody with a protagonist who repeatedly worsens the situation and behaves like the complete opposite of the ideal hero (he is rude to women and mean to his subjects, constantly harms himself, and unleashes the army of the dead due to his own sloppiness). The script is bursting with original ideas, and the work with style and environment is funny, too, highlighting the various parodied scenes (fire and silhouettes of characters in the love scene, close-ups in the heroic moments, quick-motion in the scene with the two Ashes). The effects may look outdated, but that’s very fitting. And yet the focus is entirely on the awesome Bruce Campbell, who gives one of the funniest performances I've ever seen (I'd give him an Oscar for the mill and cemetery sequences alone). It's definitely very guilty pleasure and sometimes out of control, but that makes me love it all the more and throw in that subjective fifth star. (09/03/2018)

If I were to say that Evil Dead 2 is Bruce Campbell's one man show, what am I supposed to say about Army of Darkness? I know, it's a show of several Bruce Campbells (of different sizes). The story doesn't seem to exist, but everything from the beginning to the end is pushed by Ash and charming special effects, which are really abundant here. While the escapades in the windmill are reminiscent of the hand scene from the second film, the final battle with the "Harryhausen" skeletons is unique. And I haven't even mentioned yet how funny Army of Darkness is (no, it really doesn't have much to do with horror). What I liked most was Ash picking the right Necronomicon (when his deformed head looked very, very, very strikingly like Al Pacino) and his irresistible recitation of the three key words. (07/30/2012)