NoFace for Film

Title: Army of Darkness
Director: Sam Raimi
Year: 1993
Starring Cast: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz
Rated: PG-13

NoFace for Film rating: 7 out of 7

Greatest. Movie. Ever.

Okay, maybe I exaggerate, but I have seen Army of Darkness countless times, and it never gets old. I laugh at the same jokes and cheer during the same scenes. When I had heard that it was available on HD-DVD, I just had to add it to my rapidly growing collection.

Army of Darkness is the sequel to Evil Dead II, which is recapped quickly at the beginning of Army of Darkness. When Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), a lowly employee at S-Mart, battles evil beings called Deadites at the end of Evil Dead II, a rift into time opens, sucking him and his beat-up 1988 Oldsmobile into England, 1300 AD. Why Ash winds up in England even though he lives in the U.S. isn’t explained.

The local townsfolk are being terrorized by the Deadites and believe that Ash is the “Chosen One”, destined to help them. Not believing this but desperate to get back to his own time, Ash makes a deal with the king of this town. Ash is to recover a book called the Necronomicon (aka The Book of the Dead, featured in the first two films as well), which has a spell that can be used to defeat the Deadites. The book also has a time travel spell, which the town’s wise men can use to return Ash home. Naturally, things don’t exactly go according to plan and all hell breaks loose - so to speak.

Unlike the first two Evil Dead films, which were more serious and strictly horror films, Army of Darkness is definitely a comedy, with a (bloody) splash of horror. One scene even has a Three Stooges homage. And in another scene, a hapless victim is thrown into a pit containing a Deadite. Seconds later, an impossible amount of blood explodes from the pit like a geyser. It’s so silly that it’s almost cartoonish. It’s as if Raimi were poking fun of his first two films with the third one. That’s what’s so great about Army of Darkness — it’s fully aware that it’s so campy and silly.

Although Campbell’s rugged good looks, tall stature and square jaw fit the bill, Ash is not your typical hero. He’s actually a big jerk. He’s rude, selfish, egotistical, condescending, and an impatient loudmouth. But Campbell still somehow makes us root for him, not only because he is a total badass, but because Ash spews some of the greatest movie lines of all time. In fact, Ash’s quotes are so legendary that one was featured in the Warcraft III video game. Here are some examples of Ash’s quotes in Army of Darkness, courtesy of the IMdB.

[In a passionate moment of romance]
Ash: Gimme some sugar, baby.

King Arthur: Are all men from the future loud-mouthed braggarts?
Ash: Nope. Just me baby… Just me.

[To a female Deadite]
Ash: Yo, she-bitch! Let’s go.

The version I reviewed is an HD-DVD and DVD combo, which I wasn’t too crazy about since these disks are about $10 more than the plain HD-DVD version. I suppose the idea is that if a person wanted to watch the movie on a computer or on a portable DVD player, he or she can do so without having to buy two different kinds of disks. However, they should still at least have the film available on just HD-DVD for people who plan to only use their HD-DVD players for film viewing.

When I popped in the disk, I didn’t know what to expect. AoD is an old film, and I recall that the picture was rather grainy and a little murky the last time I watched it. Thankfully, the transfer was well done, for the most part. The picture overall looks brighter and crisper. You can see every pore and wrinkle on Ash’s face, and for the first time his blue shirt really looks blue rather than a muddy brown. However, a few scenes retained their grainy look, primarily during the Evil Dead II recap at the beginning of AoD.

Then again, Evil Dead II was made in 1987, and it’s likely that with a small budget, Raimi wasn’t using the best quality cameras when he filmed it. Other key scenes that still looked horrible in HD were those that used special effects. For example, when Ash is being tormented by small versions of him, it was often pretty obvious that the “Tiny Ashes” were performing in front of a green screen, and that the “Big Ash” footage was added in later.

But the most disappointing aspect about the HD-DVD version of AoD is that it’s shockingly bare-bones. There’s no commentary, no deleted scenes, no special features of any sort. I don’t understand why Universal decided to be so chintzy and not offer any extras. I would have loved to have seen the original ending or the roughly edited, director’s cut version. The only thing I can think of is that they’ll put in these extras for some lame, “Special Edition” copy so they can sell more disks.

If you’re a Sam Raimi fan, a horror fan, or a comedy fan, you’ll love Army of Darkness. In fact, if you’re any of the above, most likely you already have a copy of this film on DVD. However, you’re better off sticking with your copy, rather than upgrading to this featureless HD-DVD/DVD combo.

(This article was originally posted in Blogcritics.)

Technorati Tags: Army of Darkness, HD-DVD, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Evil Dead II, Evil Dead, Necronomicon

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