Army of Darkness [Blu-ray]

When we last saw Ash Williams, he had been sucked through a time vortex and ended up in the 14th century... where he STILL had to contend with undead horrors. No, not going to give context."Army of Darkness" pretty much picks up from there, finishing up the legendary trilogy that Sam Raimi started with "The Evil Dead" and "Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn." This time around, Sam Raimi dials down the horror once again, while dialing up massive quantities of skeletal comedy -- while there's the odd gross-out moment (eyeball in the shoulder!), most of the story is devoted to the increasingly manic Bruce Campbell struggling to defeat an undead horde of skeletons with only his trusty boomstick and chainsaw.Having appeared in the 14th century, Ash (Campbell) is immediately captured by the arrogant Lord Arthur (Marcus Gilbert), who mistakes him for one of Duke Henry's (Richard Grove) men. He tries to explain that he's not, but ends up tossed into an execution pit filled with iron spikes and demonic Deadites -- and only the timely intervention of the Wise Man (Ian Abercrombie) allows Ash to reclaim his chainsaw and "boomstick," kill the Deadites, and establish that he is a prophesied savior come to free them from the Deadite scourge.But of course, the entire universe hates Ash. So when he's sent on an incredibly simple quest to reclaim and de-power the Necronomicon, Ash immediately encounters bizarre Deadite attacks that are specifically designed to torment him -- including the formation of an evil doppelganger from his own body, Evil Ash. And when he manages to botch the whole thing, the Deadites prepare to storm the castle and take everything over. Life is hard when you're Ash.Considering that the series started with a serious attempt at horror, it's a little odd that "Army of Darkness" mostly drops the horror. Of course, there's still some gloriously gross moments (the emergence of Evil Ash, and his decaying face a few scenes later), but most of the movie is played for laughs (including a long sequence where Ash is assaulted by a small army of Lilliputian doppelgangers, who jab him in the butt with a fork and tie him to the floor). Even the grosser moments are played for laughs ("Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun").And that's what makes this whole movie so gloriously entertaining -- it's gross, nasty and violent, but it's presented with the gleeful joy that comes with a cavalcade of one-liners and memetastic moments ("All right, you primitive screwheads, listen up... this... is my BOOMSTICK!"). Nothing is presented very seriously, because... well, how can you take this seriously? It's about a college student/S-Mart employee who gets blasted back in time to fight demonic zombies in a medieval setting. The cheese is thick and gloriously unserious, climaxing as Ash careens through the titular army in a massive armored steampunk-car/tank that easily hacks them apart.And despite the much larger cast and more extensive sets and special effects required, somehow Raimi maintains that rough, low-budget feel -- the stop-motion, tiny Ashes, and especially the battle sequences that are clearly against inanimate Halloween skeletons. It still feels like a cheesy low-budget movie that does NOT careBruce Campbell is at the absolute height of his Campbellitude here -- he gives a delightfully hammy performance as a gun-toting, one-liner-spouting Ash. He plays the kind of guy that every guy likes to think he'd be in such a crisis, uttering don't-give-a-dang one-liners, shooting monsters and smooching a wench with extremely good teeth with great relish. And he gives an equally quotable ("Little goody two-shoes!") performance as the Evil Ash, who is just as snarky but... well, his face is rotting off. The supporting actors give good performances, especially Abercrombie as the wise man that nobody ever seems to actually listen to, but this is clearly the Campbell show here.It may have effectively left horror behind, but "Army of Darkness" instead embraces a gloriously gross brand of comedy, with knights, skeletons, bagpipes and one S-Mart employee with a boomstick and a robot hand. It's hard to find a movie more resolutely fun than this.

"Army of Darkness" is a classic horror-comedy film directed by Sam Raimi. The film follows the story of Ash Williams, a lovable but bumbling hero who is transported back in time to the Middle Ages. In this world, Ash must confront an army of the undead, as well as his own personal demons, in order to return home.One of the standout features of "Army of Darkness" is its unique blend of humor and horror. The film is full of clever one-liners and slapstick comedy, but also features some genuinely creepy and suspenseful moments. The special effects, while somewhat dated by modern standards, are still impressive and add to the film's overall atmosphere.Bruce Campbell gives a charming and energetic performance as Ash, and the supporting cast is also strong. The film's medieval setting is well-realized and adds an interesting layer to the story.Overall, "Army of Darkness" is a must-see for fans of horror and comedy. It's a film that has stood the test of time and remains a fan favorite to this day.

Watched it and it was great.

"Army of Darkness" is filmed, acted, and written so tongue-in-cheek that I'm amazed they didn't wear holes through the sides of their faces. While the set pieces, battle sequences, and cinematography are as masterful as any Spielberg film, "Army of Darkness" was obviously made simply with the idea of making it an all-out entertaining picture and it succeeds in that way, on every level. The physical comedy element from "Evil Dead 2" returns with a vengeance; I've seen this movie more than fifty times and every gag still works. But instead of the cabin in the woods and sense of isolation that we felt in the preceeding two films, "AOD" has the scope of a grand-scale sword and sorcery epic, using its visual effects to turn backlots in Los Angeles into vast stretches of woodsy nothingness.The movie's not much in the area of plot. It doesn't need to be. Movies like "Army of Darkness" are not about elaborate plot devices and subplots and dramatic pauses; they're about action, and giving us as the popcorn-stuffing audience members a good time for our money. A lot of the credit for all these successes goes to Bruce Campbell, as our main everyman character: The moron, the braggart, the blowhard, Ash. God love em. True, the idea of Ash being a cowardly character has completely left the story for the idea of him becoming this leader of men that we root for. True, the logistics of the film suffered in the editing process. And true, we never really see Ash reload his gun before he fires again. But does it matter? Not at all. The film moves too fast for us to care. The action sequences are so well executed that we can forgive the movie for just about anything, and the fact that it has an enormous sense of humor about itself doesn't hurt either. Classifying it as a horror film does it a discredit. It's not a horror film at all; it's not even one of those self-parodies that are so popular these days since Kevin Williamson had the cahones to write "Scream". It's an action-comedy that sky rockets into a stratosphere all its own in both categories. Both coexist in perfect balance most of the time, once in a while tipping in one direction or the other. The result is a masterpiece.Sam Raimi learned a lot from the days of "Evil Dead" developing an involving visual style and a sense for drama which he used on "A Simple Plan" and "The Gift". This is all well and good, and those films gave him the critical merit to direct "Spider-man", but I think his job on "Army of Darkness" gave him the real tools needed. And even if "Spider-man" becomes the enormous success that's expected, he'll always be remembered for his cult favorite series that began with a group of college kids in a cabin being killed off by an invisible force, one by one, leaving only Ash, who lived and carries "Army of Darkness" on his shoulders - bouncing up and down with laughter all the way.

Definitely one of the greatest cult classic films of all time. Bruce Campbell is and always will be Ash. The Trilogy was filled with laughs, action, and great characters.