MCA Home Video | Review by Dan Taylor
For
the longest time, it seemed that the third
-- and final??? -- installment in Sam Raimi's
one-for-the-time-capsule EVIL DEAD series
would never see the light of a projector
in the US. Legal wranglings between the
film's money man (Dino D) and Raimi's studio
ties (Universal) threatened to tangle the
rights in a sea of red tape and a morass
of ill will. Even Raimi had begun calling
the flick "my BRENDA STARR". Yet,
as February '93 drew to a close, I found
myself in a theater watching ARMY OF DARKNESS
with: a handful of salivating gore nerds
("Hey, watch the drool boys, this is
leather"), some high school kids who
were about five (!) when ED #1 unspooled,
and a lone, vocal urban theatergoer who
made the experience a bit more enjoyable.
Picking up -- stylistically
& literally -- where EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD
BY DAWN left off, the film returns us to
the 14th century as Ash (Bruce Campbell)
finds himself the member of a medieval chain
gang. Accused of treason -- or something
-- by a gaggle of Euro-types, Ash is scarred,
beat, and more than a bit confused. In a
Cliff Notes version of the first two films
that goes beyond brief (See! Bridget Fonda
play a store clerk! See! Bridget Fonda turn
around and scream! See! Bridget Fonda...disappear
from the film!), he brings those not in
the know up-to-date and prepares us for
the kick into high gear that we all anticipate.
Unfortunately, high gear never really comes.
When Ash reaches the castle
and eventually convinces the "primitive
screwheads" that he's not teamed up
with a rival clan from over the hills, they
ask his help in retrieving the fabled Book
of the Dead. Seeing this as his big chance
he strikes a deal with the wisemen of the
clan and goes in quest of the book...and
his opportunity to get back to S-Mart in
time next blue light special. The remainder
of ARMY OF DARKNESS follows Ash in his journey
for the book and his leadership of the Medieval-dwellers
against the Deadites, or the title's Army
of Darkness.
For me, AOD has one glaring
problem...instead of the jolly and ghoulish
mix of gallows humor, camp, slapstick and
gory terror that marked EVIL DEAD 2, this
film is intent on pushing the camp and slapstick
to even more absurdist levels. Hard to believe,
isn't it? But when Ash accidentally raises
the skeletons of dead warriors from beyond
-- and they begin participating in a classic
Stooges eye-poking routine, I'd had more
than enough. Though AOD entertained me,
this smacked too much of pandering. Dear
god...does this mean I want a measure of
subtlety to my humor? Let me put it this
way: if I want to see the Stooges, I can
turn on the TV any Saturday morning and
grab a good dose of THE THREE STOOGES GO
THE MOON. They never made THE THREE STOOGES
GO TO HELL, but if they had, it would probably
be something like this.
The film is at its best when
poking gentle fun at other films and genres
throughout cinematic history, most notably
the swashbuckling adventures of Sinbad,
Flynn and more recently, Costner. As the
square-jawed, bone-headed Ash, Campbell
tosses off the most ridiculous dialogue
with all the arch gallantry of any Saturday
matinee hero. Watching him, its amazing
how far he's come since the bookcase-crashing
days of the original Ash from ED1.
Another obvious inspiration
to keep in mind while viewing AOD is the
recent wave of Hong Kong cinema. Much like
the way that John Carpenter attempted to
invest his present-day battles in BIG TROUBLE
IN LITTLE CHINA with epic Hong Kong swordplay,
Raimi adds flipping and punching demons
to several battles in the film, and the
finale -- a tacked-on modern-day closer
that brings the series full-circle -- has
the look, feel and spunk of a Jackie Chan
effort. Raimi, of course, would go on to
produce John Woo's American directorial
debut, HARD TARGET starring Jean Claude
Van Damme.
I probably sound like
I'm putting ARMY OF DARKNESS down but I'm
really not. The film is definitely entertaining,
and at less than 80 minutes long is about
the best no-brainer piece of entertainment
since the original TRANCERS (a mere 75 beautiful
minutes). It's just that I'd rather watch
DARKMAN or the first two EVIL DEAD films
again.
