Army of Darkness
Manufacturer : Universal Studios
Rating : 4.5
Reviews : 626
Price :
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This campy tongue-in-cheek take on the sword-and-sorcery genre with its amaxing f/x will make you scream with fear and laughter. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 08/22/2006 Starring: Bruce Campbell Bruce Thomas Run time: 81 minutes Rating: R Director: Sam Raimi
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 Shannon
5 Comments
Wow. Memories! The screwhead edition offers some special features that were not availbile in previous releases. Same great movie, new polished look.
By most standards this final entry into the Evil Dead Triology is the lowest. But you can’t overlook the films hilarious moments. Come on, who doesn’t love Bruce Campbell’s Slapstick mayhem, even if Sam Raimi is filming his torment for our pleasure.
I love this film as campy as it is, even if some of the versions of the film aren’t their best looking. The plot may not make sense and the slapstick mayhem may wear on people’s nerves, but it’s the final battle sequence that makes the film for me.
Chock full of Sam Raimi’s inventive camerawork, the gadget-building montages will make any gearhead sit up in wonder. I especially love that steam-powered truck near the end, with the big propeller blade on the front mowing through an army of rubber skeletons. Yeah, it’s on my wishlist for next Christmas along with the Dead Reckoning, lol.
Even when Bruce Campbell is fighting against his evil-possesed self, the one-liners like “I’ll spoil those good looks” since evil version is ugly as sin and “Backstabber!” when the Evil Ash tears the sword from his back keep coming.
The special effects are relatively tame and dated compared to today’s CG blockbusters. Fans of classics like “Clash of the Titans” and “Jason and Argonauts” (this one included:))will enjoy the stop-motion skeleton battle a la Ray Harryhausen. Even so the newly-budding KNB (Kurtzman, Nicotero, and Berger) effects group, responsible for the masterful effects of “Chronicles of Narnia”,” The Mist” and the zombies of “Land of the Dead” among many other films, shows their incredible standard of cartoony yet horrifically real monsters.
In all, I recommend this film for any fan of Evil Dead or Bruce Campbell. It’s definitely worth it.
4 of 5 stars for the ah ah sci-fi? action? fantasy movie Army of Darkness. I first looked at the cover art and read the liner notes and thought “here we go with a real-B movie, sigh”. I started watching and it was funny and interesting. Watching the Blu-Ray I was really impressed with the image quality–super sharp and clear, it looked almost like video rather than film. So early-on, I’m thinking this is a spoof movie, but no, it was a straight fantasy/comedy movie. Then it hit me! This is a tribute to the Ray Harryhousen movie (Sinbad). Then I noticed this movie has everything from stop-action creatures, alot of rubber suits and alot of real models of creatures. Yeah, some CG, but not much. It really has the look and feel of the old Sinbad movies.
The plot is of a “S-mart” sales guy getting transported to the 1300’s to fight against Deadites and recover an artifact book. Bruce Campbell did an outstanding job in the lead role. This movie was a pleasure to watch. Stupid comedy in places, old-style effects, silly quest and it is all fun fun fun! This is on my watch-it-again list.
this dvd was in immaculate condition. no scratches,dirt or tears..it looked liked i bought it from the store brand new. thank you.
Halloween got me in the mood for Army of Darkness, so shortly after I bought this one off Amazon.
I don’t own a HD DVD player, so this is a review of the DVD side. In fact, this combo format version was cheaper than the regular DVD version (go figure).
Under “Customer Images” on this page, there are some images that compare the DVD side of this release to the Anchor Bay release (Army of Darkness)
The images supplied are helpful because they address 2 things:
1) The video on the Universal release (HD/DVD Combo) does have more in frame on the left/right sides of the screen, but a little bit is cropped on the top and bottom (in comparison to the Anchor Bay release)
2) As the images show, the colors on the Universal release are a bit brighter. On the Anchor Bay DVD, the colors are much cooler. The comparison pictures are a little exaggerated in my opinion though, I think Universal did a very good job with it. The daylight scenes are crisp and vibrant, and the night shots capture the original “cool” colors very well too.
If you’re looking for a good DVD version of AOD, this is one of the best. If you want special features however, this is not the right DVD for you.