You know I had to kick this thing off with my favorite movie: Sam Raimi’s 1992 monsterpeice Army of Darkness!
Army of Darkness is the third entry in the Evil Dead saga, and has almost nothing to do with the previous entries in the series – kind of a trope of the franchise. The film begins with a recap of the first two movies that show our hero – Bruce Campbell’s Ash Williams – surviving a battle in the woods with demons summoned from the Necronomicon Ex Mortis (The Book of the Dead) and being sucked through a portal to battle demons in the past alongside King Arthur. He also has a chainsaw for a hand that he replaces with a robot hand halfway through the movie. This flick absolutely should not work… but it does!
It’s certainly not The Godfather or Citizen Kane, but when I watch this film I am instantly filled with joy. There are so many interesting camera tricks and filmic references; not to mention the incredibly charismatic Bruce Campbell turning it up to 11. This movie is bonkers/crazy/nonsensical/INCREDIBLE! Raimi does things with the camera, the sound, and the editing to take the audience on a tonal roller coaster. There’s science fiction, horror, romance, adventure; and it never takes itself too seriously. Even if you think it’s a dumb cheesy movie, chances are there’s something you’ll enjoy! I could gush about this thing for days, but I feel like I should get into the substance of the film and why it’s so special.
Army of Darkness takes a man who has been broken and battered and puts him in a situation that’s even worse. Unfortunately, Ash isn’t some likeable super star – he’s kind of a dick. He has no desire to help anyone but himself… and that sets him up for a really simple character arc that pretty much always works: he’s got to learn how to be a better person. He literally has to face down his inner demons and pit his army of the living against the titular Army of Darkness – made up of skeletons and demons – led by his evil doppelganger, Bad Ash. Of course with the help of his boomstick and trusty Oldmobile Delta 88 he saves the day, gets the girl, and is able to make it back to his own time (Unless you watch the director’s or European cuts of the film… that’s a whole other blog post, though).
Just like the previous entries in the series, the camera will impossibly zoom through wooded areas chasing down heroes and victims alike. We never get to see what’s coming after them, only their looks of terror – it’s played mostly for laughs, but the scene where Ash runs into the windmill after being chased by this evil can be pretty terrifying. The long take of the chase is followed by a lot of rapid, tight, camera movements and quick cuts as the evil smashes against the door to get in. It builds and builds and builds, creating an extremely tense scene… and then it all just stops as the camera goes wide. It’s a classic Raimi rollercoaster! It’s always just scary enough to be exhilarating, but not torturous to watch – it’s fun!
I’ve always been a big fan of special effects, and this movie has loads of them. It’s all done classically and practically, though – no big CGI set pieces! There are a lot of matte paintings and composites to create fantastical graveyards, or a small army of tiny evil Ashes. Stop motion sword fights with skeletons harken back to classic Ray Harryhausen movies like Jason and the Argonauts. Ash fighting for his life on stone steps and making daring escapes via a clever use of rope evoke Errol Flynn in Robin Hood. The film is dripping with references to classic cinema – “Klattu Barada Nikto!” from The Day the Earth Stood Still chief among them.
Army of Darkness may have Ash trapped in the past, but references to this film pop up even today! It’s always pretty easy to spot a chainsaw-armed hero fighting zombies in any wacky cartoon now and then (Regular Show/ Billy and Mandy). One of my favorite bits of movie trivia is that portions of the epic Battle of Helms Deep in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers are shot-for-shot recreations of the battle at the end of Army of Darkness. It’s a timeless classic that has influenced filmmakers for decades.
This movie might not be for everyone, but I absolutely love it! I will fight for its recognition as one of the greats until my dying breath. Maybe, just maybe I can convince my girlfriend it’s the best movie ever put to celluloid. Yeah. Maybe I’m a Chinese jet pilot.
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