Army of Darkness (1992)

Director:

Sam Raimi

Writers (WGA):

Sam Raimi (written by) &
Ivan Raimi (written by)

Release Date:

19 February 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Fantasy | Horror | Romance

Tagline:

Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas

Plot:

A man is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., where he must battle an army of the dead and retrieve the Necronomicon so he can return home.

Plot Keywords:

Book | Necronomicon | Evil Dead | Army Of The Dead | 1300s

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Jan. 4

4:35 AM

HBO

Cast

Bruce Campbell	...	Ash
Embeth Davidtz	...	Sheila
Marcus Gilbert	...	Lord Arthur
Ian Abercrombie	...	Wiseman
Richard Grove	...	Duke Henry the Red
Timothy Patrick Quill	...	Blacksmith
Michael Earl Reid	...	Gold Tooth
Bridget Fonda	...	Linda
Patricia Tallman	...	Possessed Witch
Ted Raimi	...	Cowardly Warrior / Second Supportive Villager / S-Mart Clerk (as Theodore Raimi)
Deke Anderson	...	Mini-Ash #2
Bruce Thomas	...	Mini-Ash #3
Sara Shearer	...	Old Woman
Shiva Gordon	...	Pit Deadite #1
Billy Bryan	...	Pit Bitch

Also Known As:

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Dead (UK) (video title)
Army of Darkness: The Ultimate Experience in Medieval Horror (USA) (closing credits title)
Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness (USA) (closing credits title)
Evil Dead 3 (USA) (working title)
The Army of Darkness (USA) (original script title)
The Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness (UK) (DVD box title)
The Medieval Dead (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and horror.

Runtime:

81 min | 96 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Netherlands:12 (re-rating) | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) | Italy:T | Germany:18 (Special Edition DVD) | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:16 | Ireland:15 | Japan:PG-12 | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Acton, California, USA

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis Company

Trivia:

Director Trademark: [Sam Raimi] [pov shot]As various missiles such as catapult loads and arrows fly through the air, we see their targets from the missile's viewpoint.

Goofs:

Continuity: Ash's hair when talking to Lord Arthur about returning to his own time.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[opening monologue]
Ash: My name is Ash and I am a slave. As far as I can figure, the year is thirteen hundred A.D and I'm being dragged to my death. It wasn't always like this, I had a real life, once. A job.
Ash: [now Ash is in a flashback] Umm... Hardware aisle twelve, shop smart, shop S-Mart!
Ash: [back to monologue] I had a wonderful girlfriend Linda. Together we drove to a small cabin in the mountains. It seems an archeologist had come to this remote place to translate and study his latest find: Necronomiconexmortis. The Book of the Dead. Bound in human flesh and inked in blood, this ancient Samarian text contained bizarre burial rights, funeral incantations, and demon resurrection passages, it was never meant for the world of the living. The book awoke something dark in the woods, something evil.
[something crashes through the window of the cabin and Linda screams]
Ash: It took Linda. Then it came after me, it got into my hand and it went bad, so I lopped it off at the wrist.
[Ash is seen cutting off his hand]
Ash: But that didn't stop it, it came back big time.
Ash: [Ash gets pulled into the vortex holding onto the doorway] For God's sake how do you stop it?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Spider-Man 2 (2004) (VG)

Soundtrack:

March Of The Dead

Funny and cool!

At the end of Evil Dead 2 Ash is sucked back in time through a time warp. He returns to medieval times where he is mistaken for the prophesied saviour. He is sent to recover the lost Necronomicon to save the people but also return him to his own time. Typically he makes a mistake when reading the book and he reserectes the army of the undead onto the land. Ash must fight to defeat yet more undead fiends!

The third in the series sees the gore drop off and the comedy step up even more. The previous two 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 – 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 – it's hard to explain but I really enjoy this because it feels like an old Harryhausen film.

Campbell is brilliant – I bet he can't believe hi s luck, the rest of his career he's struggled but Rami seem 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 rest of the cast are so-so but really this is an one man show and he does it really well.

Overall this is a great little film. Fans of the series will love it, fans of comedy should love it and fans of B-movie cheese should enjoy it. And the less gore means fun for all the family (almost).