Army of Darkness (1992)

Director:

Sam Raimi

Writers (WGA):

Sam Raimi (written by) &
Ivan Raimi (written by)

Release Date:

19 February 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Fantasy | Horror | Romance

Tagline:

Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas

Plot:

A man is accidentally transported to 1300 A.D., where he must battle an army of the dead and retrieve the Necronomicon so he can return home.

Plot Keywords:

Book | Necronomicon | Evil Dead | Army Of The Dead | 1300s

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Jan. 4

4:35 AM

HBO

Cast

Bruce Campbell	...	Ash
Embeth Davidtz	...	Sheila
Marcus Gilbert	...	Lord Arthur
Ian Abercrombie	...	Wiseman
Richard Grove	...	Duke Henry the Red
Timothy Patrick Quill	...	Blacksmith
Michael Earl Reid	...	Gold Tooth
Bridget Fonda	...	Linda
Patricia Tallman	...	Possessed Witch
Ted Raimi	...	Cowardly Warrior / Second Supportive Villager / S-Mart Clerk (as Theodore Raimi)
Deke Anderson	...	Mini-Ash #2
Bruce Thomas	...	Mini-Ash #3
Sara Shearer	...	Old Woman
Shiva Gordon	...	Pit Deadite #1
Billy Bryan	...	Pit Bitch

Also Known As:

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Dead (UK) (video title)
Army of Darkness: The Ultimate Experience in Medieval Horror (USA) (closing credits title)
Bruce Campbell vs. Army of Darkness (USA) (closing credits title)
Evil Dead 3 (USA) (working title)
The Army of Darkness (USA) (original script title)
The Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness (UK) (DVD box title)
The Medieval Dead (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and horror.

Runtime:

81 min | 96 min (director's cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Netherlands:12 (re-rating) | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Finland:K-15 (DVD rating) | Italy:T | Germany:18 (Special Edition DVD) | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:14A | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:16 | Ireland:15 | Japan:PG-12 | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Acton, California, USA

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis Company

Trivia:

The magic words Ash must use to claim the Book of the Dead are "Clatto Verata Nicto" - a reference to "Klaatu, Barada, Nikto", the words used to command the robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the theater version, where the priest tells Ash to drink the potion and say the words, his words don't match his lips (probably because in the original, he gave Ash different directions).

Quotes:

[first lines]
[opening monologue]
Ash: My name is Ash and I am a slave. As far as I can figure, the year is thirteen hundred A.D and I'm being dragged to my death. It wasn't always like this, I had a real life, once. A job.
Ash: [now Ash is in a flashback] Umm... Hardware aisle twelve, shop smart, shop S-Mart!
Ash: [back to monologue] I had a wonderful girlfriend Linda. Together we drove to a small cabin in the mountains. It seems an archeologist had come to this remote place to translate and study his latest find: Necronomiconexmortis. The Book of the Dead. Bound in human flesh and inked in blood, this ancient Samarian text contained bizarre burial rights, funeral incantations, and demon resurrection passages, it was never meant for the world of the living. The book awoke something dark in the woods, something evil.
[something crashes through the window of the cabin and Linda screams]
Ash: It took Linda. Then it came after me, it got into my hand and it went bad, so I lopped it off at the wrist.
[Ash is seen cutting off his hand]
Ash: But that didn't stop it, it came back big time.
Ash: [Ash gets pulled into the vortex holding onto the doorway] For God's sake how do you stop it?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Stockflame (2005)

Soundtrack:

March Of The Dead

81 minutes of pure fun!

The third--and presumably last--of the Evil Dead movies finds Ash Williams(B-movie supreme ruler Bruce Campbell in full froth)somehow transported(along with his broken down car)in Medieval England,about to do battle,once again,with the undead,with the aid of(among other things) his "boom stick" and his chainsaw. While being a strange man in a strange land,he romances plucky lass Sheila(Embeth Davitz,pre-Schindler's List) and aiding the reluctant natives(among them Ian Abercrombie,MArcus Gilbert and Richard Groce).

To me(and I suspect I am not alone on this),one of the neat things about this film is that it moves at such a rip-roaring pace that one has little time to catch their breath or even add up the absurdity of the story. But,to quote another commenter,Who cares? This offering,which pretty much eschews the original Evil Dead's Horror premise,and capitalizes on more of the crazed,feverish pacing of Evil Dead 2,seems content to offer large doses of humor mixed with raucous violence and only the thinnest character exposition. Bully for director/co-writer Sam Raimi,co-writer Ivan Raimi and company on this! This is a great "palate-cleanser" of a movie and is a solid party film(among other occasions),whether you're fans of Campbell,Raimi,berserker action films,comedies or all four.