Army of Darkness (1992)

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.

Director:

Sam Raimi

Writers:

Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi

Stars:

Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert

10 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 (as Theodore Raimi)
Deke Anderson	...	Mini-Ash #1
Bruce Thomas	...	Mini-Ash #2
Sara Shearer	...	Old Woman
Shiva Gordon	...	Pit Deadite #1
Billy Bryan	...	Pit Bitch

Storyline

Ash is transported with his car to 1,300 A.D., where he is captured by Lord Arthur and turned slave with Duke Henry the Red and a couple of his men. When Ash is thrown into a pit, he defeats two monsters and wins respect of Arthur's army and vassals. The Wiseman points Ash as The Chosen One that will retrieve the Necronomicon but Ash is only interested in returning home. When he learns that the only way to return to his time is using the Necronomicon, Ash decides to travel to the unholy land of the Deadites. The Wiseman advises that he must say the words "Klaatu Barada Nikto" to safely get the evil book. However, Ash forgets the last word and an army of the dead resurrects to attack Arthur fortress and recover the Necronomicon. The battle between the living and the dead is about to start and the support of Henry the Red is the only way to help Ash and Arthur to defeat the army of darkness.

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Plot Keywords:

necronomicon | evil dead | skeleton soldier | 1990s | reluctant hero | 

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Taglines:

Foretold by a mystical book. Forewarned by a wiseman. Fulfilled by a wise guy.

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence and horror

Details

Official Sites:

Deadites Online - Official Fan site Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 February 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Evil Dead 3

Filming Locations:

Acton, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,424,000, 21 February 1993, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$11,502,976

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,502,976

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dino De Laurentiis Company, Renaissance Pictures, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min 96 min (director's cut) 88 min (international cut) 90 min (Television Cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR Dolby Digital (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Much of Army of Darkness was filmed with multiple cameras simultaneously rolling on both wide shots and closeups, rather than shooting first a master and later a close up. Because of this, the boom mic had to be kept back further from the subject than would usually produce acceptable audio. For this reason, Campbell often wore a wireless transmitter, with the microphone pickup concealed in the chainsaw pull start hook on the strap that crossed his chest, and the transmitter tucked down inside the shotgun holster on his back. Campbell had to be assured that the black foam ball covering the microphone pickup would not be visible on camera.

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Goofs

After Ash shoots Arthur's sword, you can see something on the side of the broken sword that faces Arthur's surprised face. It could have been the device that blew the sword apart, or something attached to the back of the sword that had to do with it being broken for the shot.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[opening monologue]
Ash: My name is Ash and I am a slave. Close 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...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Ash can be heard laughing over the beginning of the credits in the original ending.

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Alternate Versions

US and UK versions feature different endings. The first ending has Ash battling a she-demon in a department store in the present. The alternative ending has Ash imbibing a secret potion that would make him sleep one century for each drop of the potion he drinks. He then goes to a cave to sleep. However, he drank one drop too many and wakes up to find a barren post-apocalyptic landscape. The final shot is Ash screaming in rage at a red sky. The Great Britain video version shows the ''potion'' ending, and the version shown in US theatres showed the ''she-demon'' ending.

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Connections

Referenced in Shaun of the Dead (2004)

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Soundtracks

London Bridge Is Falling Down
(uncredited)
Traditional
Performed by Bruce Campbell

User Reviews

Bruce Campbell in his prime

Bruce Campbell is the absolute king of B Movies and in this movie he's in the absolute prime of his career. He's got such screen presence doing all the corny and off the wall jokes in what is the third movie of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy. The first movie was pretty much a straight up horror movie, then Evil Dead 2 while it still had a bit of true horror in it was very much a comedy film also, in Army of Darkness they go all out with the comedy. But the comedy is done tastefully and doesn't make the movie into a parody of the previous films like a lot of bad movies like Scary Movie do. Plus it doesn't hurt that they time travel back to medieval times instead of being a modern day cabin like the previous two movies were.

Embeth Davidtz plays the female lead who is normally known for much more boring movies like The English Patient and what not shines in a much different role for her. Even Bridget Fonda has a cameo at the beginning of the movie.