'Army of Darkness' takes place shortly after 'Evil Dead 2' with Ash (Bruce Campbell) being thrown backwards in time to the medieval era. To get back to his own time and save the world, he must retrieve the dreaded Book of the Dead and defeat the evil known as Deadites. The film was released to no fanfare and with its budget being larger than the previous two, it ended up bombing at the box office until it later came to home video where it found the cult following we know today. If you've seen the movie, then you can probably guess why the film did so poorly. The original two 'Evil Dead' films did not find their fans until home video rentals took over and while its commendable that Universal Pictures took a gamble by releasing 'Army of Darkness' into theaters, it wasn't the best move in the end.
A strange personal story with this film is that it was the first one I saw thanks to its frequent television screenings on the Sci-Fi channel back in the 90's. Sure, I didn't really understand the story and really how could I when I never heard of 'Evil Dead' but the film's comedy, action, and creature feature elements made it just as entertaining as a Harryhausen film back in the day. You even have the cheesy skeleton puppets like in 'Jason and the Argonauts' running around fighting people. The movie shows Sam Raimi's love of Three Stooges and other slapstick style comedy while still keeping the same elements of the previous two films. But even with the larger budget and more focused script and even better actors performing throughout I still just don't find myself going back to 'Army of Darkness' that often.
It may be down to fatigue from overwatching it, it may be the hype surrounding it, or it may just be the tonal inconsistencies with the other films but I just don't find myself enjoying 'Army of Darkness' nearly as much as I did. That said, you shouldn't take that as a negative aspect because the film is still fun especially if you like Monty Python or old B-Movies and I'm sure you'll have a hell of a time every time you pop it in. I'm just of the opinion that 'Evil Dead 2' is still the true King that should be hailed to.
( B + )
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