Army of Darkness (Boomstick Edition)
by Sam Raimi
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Ian Abercrombie, Marcus Gilbert, Richard GroveDirector: Sam Raimi
Producer: Bruce Campbell
Cinematographer: Bill Pope
Writer: Sam Raimi
Editor: Bob Murawski
Producer: Dino De Laurentiis
Producer: Robert G. Tapert
Writer: Ivan Raimi
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 81 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-03-11
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Movie Reviews of Army of Darkness (Boomstick Edition)
Movie Review: Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of those movies that has been on cable TV so much that I'm pretty sure most everyone has seen some of it. It's pretty damn silly, obviously, but isn't insultingly stupid like some horror-comedies. It's always fun, and quite hilarious at times, mainly due to the power house performance from Bruce Campbell. Most people seem to prefer 'Evil Dead II', and while I think that movie outshines this one in many ways, this one wins out overall due to Campbell's improved work. Certainly, he had the physical comedy down last time, but Ash's character wasn't fully developed. He wasn't half the surly blowhard he is here, and pretty much all of the truly classic Ash lines comes from 'Army of Darkness'. It's too bad they never made an 'Evil Dead IV', and we might have had the best of both worlds. (And everyone is always insisting that there are no current plans to make another 'Evil Dead' film, so it probably ain't gonna happen. Frankly, I think Bruce is probably too old to play Ash properly anymore.)
This movie is pretty much impossible to describe, as it just kinda lurches from one random comic scenario to the next. It's totally anarchic, and while not every scene works all that well it never gets boring. It's a feast of intentionally cheesy special effects, with tons of great skeleton puppets and a lotta fun stop-motion animation. Lotsa people complain about the lack of gore in 'Army of Darkness', but honestly there wasn't any real gore in 'Evil Dead II'. Plasticky limbs flying around a bit, some spraying green or black paint and not much else.) `Evil Dead II' really wan't much of a gorehound's dream, I'm afraid. And yeah, the serious horror elements have been reduced to about 0, but they were virtually nonexistent in that movie too. I don't wanna dump on `Evil Dead II', I like it a lot, but the typical complaints as to why `Army of Darkness' is worse than it literally don't make much sense. If you loved `Evil Dead II' because it was so gory and horrific, well I gotta lot of other movies you need to see.
I've got the Boomstick edition from Anchor Bay. This has got the Director's Cut and the Theatrical Cut. Like some other reviewers, I actually think the cut you'll usually see on cable is the best one. The final battle in the Director's Cut is too drawn out, and they cut some good lines. Most significantly, the DC ending just isn't 1/100th as awesome as the TC ending. (I'm all for artistic integrity and whatnot, but the studios were right this time. The TC ending is the best scene in the movie.) The TC is fine, but it's missing a few cool things. (i.e. a couple of deleted scenes not in either version, but found on the DVD, the large blood spray on the wall, the part where Ash rips the skeleton arm out of the ground and, most significantly, the brief moment were Evil Ash spontaneously starts breathing fire.) Obviously, it's unreasonable that they'd include a cut assembled by a third party on the DVD, but there's no denying that I like that one best. Still, the TC is pretty close to optimal, and all that material is found somewhere on the 2 DVDs. Overall, this is a very good DVD set, as per usual for Anchor Bay. God, I know I'm gettin off on something irrelevant, but what's with all the idiot's whining about Anchor Bay whenever they release a DVD that is less than perfect. What, you say that their release of `Tenebre' is missing 20 incosequential seconds of footage because of print damage, and yet they still advertise it as `uncut'. Thost deceptive scumbags!!!! Half of the horror movies put out by Anchor Bay would not have a remotely decent DVD release if they weren't around. But what can I say, some people will complain regardless of what happens.
Yeah, this movie is great. I've seen it at least 10 times by now, but it still holds up very well, something which you might not anticipate with such a film.
Grade: A-
Summary of Army of Darkness (Boomstick Edition)
A movie that only true horror buffs could love, Army of Darkness is officially part 3 in the wild and wacky Evil Dead trilogy masterminded by the perversely inventive director Sam Raimi, who would later serve as executive producer of the popular syndicated TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Raimi's favorite actor, Bruce Campbell, returns as Ash (hero of the first two Evil Dead flicks), a hardware-store clerk who is magically transported--along with his beat-up Oldsmobile and a chainsaw attachment for his severed left forearm--to the brutal battlefields of the 14th century. He quickly assumes power (who else in the Middle Ages packs a shotgun and a chainsaw?), and unites his band of medieval knights against the dreaded Army of the Dead. Raimi gleefully subverts almost every horror-movie cliché as he serves up a nonstop parade of blood, gore, and vicious sword-bearing skeletons--an affectionate homage to animator Ray Harryhausen's classic Jason and the Argonauts. The frantic action is fun while it lasts, but even at 80 minutes Army of Darkness nearly wears out its welcome. You know that Raimi can maintain the mayhem for only so long before it grows tiresome, and fortunately this madcap movie quits while it's ahead. --Jeff ShannonSimilar DVD Movies
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