Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

ARMY OF DARKNESS is a Renaissance Pictures/Universal Pictures presentation, rated R for violence and horror (as well as profanity). The running time is 81 minutes and it was released in theaters on February 19, 1993.

INTRODUCTION
Here we are at the first decade following the release of one of the all-time classic cult films of the horror film lexicon, ARMY OF DARKNESS. Director Sam Raimi, whose EVIL DEAD was one of the most outrageously gory and violent films made in America, followed the conclusion of EVIL DEAD II to make a third installment of the series, EVIL DEAD III, which was re-christened by Universal Pictures in order to make more bank. The tones changed in each film. Part one was amateurish, yet a wild ride of grim special effects, action and dismemberment. Blood flowed like it was just invented, as well as milk, coffee, pus and other fluids of grotesquerie. There was dark humor, but it was nearly overshadowed by the insane amount of splatter. Part two was nearly as gory, yet much more darkly comical and tipped its hat to the slapstick humor of The Three Stooges. It in itself was a campy spectacle of blood and beatings. But part three toned down the gore heavily, and made up for it with some of the dopiest dialogue, most juvenile humor (outside of the bathroom), and more deliberate slapstick.

All throughout these films, we had the great quartet of Sam Raimi, producer Robert G. Tapert, composer Joseph Lo Duca, and actor Bruce Campbell. All four personnel will never live down their involvement in one of the most adored trilogies in horror history. And Anchor Bay Entertainment has realized the cult potential of this series with subsequent VHS/DVD releases of the films.

However, ARMY OF DARKNESS has perhaps had as many lives on DVD as there are greatest hits compilations of The Who. Universal Studios released one, and Anchor Bay, with the inclusion of the new BOOMSTICK EDITION of the film, has five. The copy I will review is the BOOMSTICK EDITION, a brand new package of a familiar DVD conception. This is also an unofficial "10th Anniversary Special Edition" of the movie, seeing as how its been a decade since Universal released ARMY OF DARKESS. But first…

STORY
Ash (Campbell) is the housewares clerk at S-Mart, in the modern world. He even has a girlfriend, Linda (Bridget Fonda), and together they take a vacation to a remote cabin in the woods. They discover the Necronomicon, or Book of the Dead, bound in human flesh and inked in blood. But the recitation of certain passages awakens a spirit which kills Linda and tries to take over Ash, but fails with gory consequence. However, Ash is then sucked in by a time portal and dropped (with Oldsmobile and all) into the Middle Ages, 14th century medieval times. Lord Arthur (Marcus Gilbert) mistakes Ash for an enemy knight on the side of Duke Henry the Red (Richard Grove), and sentences him to die in "The Pit." But the "primitive screwheads" are all surprised to learn that this is no ordinary villain, but an arrogant anti-hero able to shoot, smack and slice up the hordes of monstrosities that plague them. But all Ash wants to do is get back to his world.

Thus, a wise man (Ian Abercrombie) tells Ash to retrieve the Necronomicon, and recite a few magic words. Despite being bombarded by numerous supernatural spirits, Ash finds the book and says the words, even though it's not "every single little tiny syllable" the wise man told him. He awakens hordes of walking skeletons and a zombified version of an evil clone which Ash had to dispatch of. With innocent love interest Shelia’s (Embeth Davidtz) soul at stake and the entire Middle Ages future as well, Ash has no choice but to be a man. It’s time to wage war on these bastards.

OVERVIEW OF THE TWO VERSIONS
If you haven’t seen ANY version of Sam Raimi’s classic film, then you’ve missed out on one of the great cult flicks of the 1990s. Walking skeletons, wild slapstick, cartoon-style violence, a magnificently warped lead performance, frenetic pacing and a sense of humor all permeate this 81/96-minute horror tale.

Sam Raimi, while now a more mainstream force than he was before, always delivered enough bang for the buck. Here’s a director who, even despite the infamous tortures of cast/crew, always looks like he’s having fun directing and making a movie. He keeps the movie going at full-speed, a wild ride of campy humor which tips hats at elements of classic sci-fi/comic book pulp, as well as Saturday morning cartoons and the Three Stooges. Even though he shows no subtlety (a brief love scene ended up as a director‘s cut shot), he always has enough tricks up his sleeve to keep your interest throughout.

The movie also contains great FX work, including make-up effects by KNB, stop motion animation by Pete Kleinow, and visual effects courtesy of Richard Malzahn, William Mesa, and Christopher Briles. The demons all look perfectly grotesque, and the walking skeletons pay a warm tribute to old Ray Harryhausen. As learned through documentary footage, it took insane effort in order to perfectly capture the atmosphere of watching skeletons getting destructed, reconstructed, and re-destructed in clockwork, making a great on-screen battle sequence work. And does it ever.

And one of the most unlikeliest heroes in cinema history was Ash, as played with relish by series regular Bruce Campbell. In the first EVIL DEAD, Ash was a side character unwillingly thrust into fighting for his soul. In EVIL DEAD 2, Ash was more willing and able to kick supernatural butt than before. But with ARMY OF DARKNESS, Ash has become the swashbuckling, confident, cocky demon-blaster with an iron hand, a sawed-off shotgun, and a fondness for Chemistry 101 weapons that help give these old-timers a fighting chance. He’s even got the throwaway one-liners ("Groovy" and "Give me some sugar, baby" of course, as well as a dozen more), and is up to the challenge of fighting any "she-b*tch" who flies his way.

This movie lacks the gruesome abandon of the last two EVIL DEAD movies, but the movie makes up for it with enough style and quirkiness, as well as moments which will leave you writhing on the floor with laughter. The scene with the three books is a macabre piece of comedy, as well as when Ash is holed up in a windmill shelter and bombarded by tiny, psychotic versions of himself. In the end, they tie him up like in GULLIVER'S TRAVEL, and one even dives into his body, and what happens after, either you can finish for me or watch for yourself and see.

The director’s cut version extends the battle sequence to its full glory (switching some shots around and extending others), and even contains a few great shots in the opening that look very good (the drawbridge). The original ending could perhaps be deemed a "bummer" by many, but it fit’s the character of Ash like the theatrical version’s ending does, only to the nth degree (Ash screwed himself over, no matter what sympathy he receives). The director’s cut version even has more dialogue, and alternate lines as well (even though a couple don’t work, like the "I ain‘t that good" bit). But overall, it’s good to own both versions if you‘re a collector or not, and the BOOMSTICK EDITION finally restores such possibility.

No matter how you view ARMY OF DARKNESS, it’s still a frenetic, energetic romp of stunning visuals, kooky wit, and grand adventure, all from the brain of one Sam Raimi. "Hail to the king, baby!"

DIRECTION
Sam Raimi invented the kooky trademark camera movements in his previous films, and milks them for all they’re worth here. The classic "Forest" shot is presented in outrageously kinetic fashion. The editing is tight and wild here and there. The zoom-in shots in the scene with Ash’s metal hand are fun to watch. The angles used are both surprising and wacky. It’s so deliberately cartoonish and flamboyant that you can’t help laughing when seeing the POV shot of an arrow hitting a poor knight. Sam Raimi is a genius of the absurd.

ACTING
Bruce Campbell owns this film in every way. He is a master of “reverse acting,” plays physical comedy very well, mugs like Eastwood, evokes deadpan charm, and simply rocks the movie so hard that he sells Ash as a true anti-hero whereas the character could have been made annoying by someone else. It’s not every action film where you get a hero who is cocky, sleazy, charming, funny, stupid, and worthy all in one package, and the way Bruce digs into the bravado of the character makes it his baby, and damn near his movie, although Sam Raimi’s always one step ahead ("Shop smart, shop S-Mart…YOU GOT THAT!").

Marcus Gilbert actually plays the material straight and gets away with it, actually proving himself to be a great talent even in an overtly campy flick like this ("HE‘S ONE OF HENRY‘S MEN! I SAY INTO THE PIT WITH HIM!"). The same can be said for Embeth Davidtz, who holds her own as the erstwhile love interest, and even plays a snarling demon pretty good too ("You found me attractive once"). Ian Abercrombie does a convincing job playing the old sage who never doubts that Ash is the "chosen one sent to deliver us from the terrors of the Deadites." And Richard Grove hardly does anything in this movie! Even though I liked the "Thank you, generous hosts!" bit the most, I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to his character (see deleted scenes on Director’s Cut DVD).

Oh, and don’t forget Ted Raimi, who had a really small role in EVIL DEAD, a prominent role in EVIL DEAD 2, and now about four small roles in ARMY OF DARKNESS. See for yourself.

MUSIC
Joseph Lo Duca contributes a wonderfully bombastic score fit for a king (loved every second of it), and the great Danny Elfman contributed one "March Of The Dead" theme. With a tag team like that, how can you go wrong?

VIOLENCE/GORE
The violence here is hardly visceral, heavily slapstick-oriented. The most blood you’ll see is that geyser that pops up in the first act of the film.

SEX/NUDITY
There’s a mild sex scene in the director’s cut, and topless slave girls in both versions.

CONCLUSION
ARMY OF DARKNESS is still the kind of movie it was 10 years ago, one for the most undiscriminating movie viewer. I enjoyed its self-mocking, comic book-styled quirkiness and Bruce Campbell belongs on a throne. "Say hello to the 21st century!"

DVD DETAILS
ARMY OF DARKNESS is presented on disc one in both 1.66:1 aspect ratio (for 16x9 TVs) and pan & scan transfers. The picture quality is refreshingly clean, boasting perfect colors and flesh tones, excellent shadow/blackness details, no edge enhancement/haziness, and hardly any noticeable specks .As for audio quality, this THX-approved version boasts a splendiferous Dolby Digital 5.1 mix which makes great use of bass and rear channels, providing us a superb surround presentation that complements the strong picture quality. Also available is Dolby 2.0 for those without the five speakers.

Disc one contains the original theatrical trailer, informative biographies of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, and the separate “alternate ending” used in the Director’s Cut. But the true extra of the disc is "The Men Behind The Army," a 20-minute piece with brief narration by Bruce and interviews with Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger and Robert Kurtzman, or KNB FX, collectively. They dish out the facts about Sam Raimi’s vision, and the process of creating an army and a winged Deadite, and also animating the army itself. There’s behind-the-scenes footage with Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Robert Tapert, too.

Disc two contains the Director’s Cut, also in TV-formatted 1.66:1, although that’s the only picture option. The lone audio track is in Dolby 2.0 Surround. The Director’s Cut ranges in picture quality, due to the video source used in making this composite version. The theatrical version is easily spotted by its crisp picture (although it kind of falters in a few end shots, exposing artifacts), although the windmill sequence and some battle footage easily show fuzzy, messy, grainy picture, with poor black levels and saturation. It’s good footage, but the picture can take away. The audio track was nothing to write home about, but it fares the same as the picture: good aural quality in crisp picture, and less effective quality in some of the bonus footage.

The disc contains audio commentary by Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, and Ivan Raimi too, about 50 minutes into the film. They offer up a witty commentary that mixes good-hearted jabs at each other with nice trivia and information about the extras (see Bruce's dad die onscreen), music, FX design and Bruce Campbell treatment (always a fun issue). It isn’t the raucous good time of EVIL DEAD 2’s audio commentary (by lack of Scott Spiegel, the third Stooge), but Bruce Campbell offers his usual reliable insight, and Sam Raimi’s always right there behind him. They point out the additions in the director’s cut, and even comment on the quality itself, too.

A subtitle track contains the director’s storyboards on the lower left side of the screen, and any unavailable storyboards are displayed with a "No storyboard available" notice. Nice drawings, I must say. Also available are some neat KNB conceptual drawings of the Deadites in a menu christened "Creature Concept Drawings."

Last but not least, there are four deleted scenes. Number one is the alternate opening, which contains Ash (only his eyes in clear view) speaking in a more ominous tone as an original companion to the original ending. Number two is another confrontation scene involving Ash, this time its with Arthur. Cut scene #3 is supposed to fully flesh out how the windmill scene spawned the mini Ash clones. Finally, the fourth scene finally has Henry The Red in an appearance, as Ash goes down to try to talk him into helping fight the Deadites. Each scene contains optional commentary by Sam and Bruce.

The BOOMSTICK EDITION package also contains a new booklet, "Join The Army," full of information (which was new to me) delivered by Bruce "don’t call me Ash" Campbell, including an anecdote about a certain extra named Mr. Ryan, as well a list of accidents and injuries suffered by cast and crew gathered from production notes. To sum it all up, the BOOMSTICK EDITION is a recommended buy if you already don’t own the old 2-disc limited edition, or both the Anchor Bay Theatrical Version DVD and Limited Director’s Cut DVD.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age