I had heard a lot about this movie, and I knew that it was a cult favorite. I also knew that it was made by the people who made Hercules and Xena, which are cool serieses, and that it starred Bruce Campbell, who is a cool actor. I hoped that it would be a sort of comedy making fun of B-movies. And it was... sort of.
Ok, all BS aside, the first time I saw Army of Darkness I thought that it was really pathetic. I almost gave up on it when I saw the Mini-Ashes, and I groaned through almost the rest of the movie. Okay, the end scene was cool. I still think that the end scene is the coolest scene in the movie, and I still think that the Mini-Ashes are lame. The only funny part of that scene is when he pours the hot water down his throat.
I watched the movie again however, because hey, if everybody likes it so much, it's gotta have some redeeming qualities. Yes, it was still lame the second time around, but I was used to the lameness by now. I also found several things that I liked, including the lame B-movie qualities I didn't notice the first time.
Honestly, when I first saw the movie poster, I hoped that somehow he would be transported to the land of the dead where there are only Deadites, and he has to fight his way out, with tons of chainsaw-swinging. Well, there was no land of the dead and very little chainsaw-swinging.
If I could change one thing about this movie, I'd have Ash take out more Deadites with the chainsaw. The chainsaw is THE symbol for the Evil Dead series, even though it plays a disappointingly small part in the actual films.
I guess what really holds up this movie, other than the fact that other people like it, is the extreme quotability of it. Here's a list of every quotable quote (in my opinion) in the film, in order of quotability:
"All right, you primitive screwheads, listen up. See this? This is my boomstick!"
"Hail to the king, baby."
"It got into my hand and it went bad, so I lopped it off at the wrist."
"Klaatu... berata... ni-hrkrk."
"You found my beautiful once." "Honey, you got real ugly."
"Gimme some sugar, baby."
"Shop smart... shop S-Mart!"
"Good... bad... I'm the guy with the gun."
"I got news for you, pal, you ain't leading but two things right now: Jack and Sh**... and Jack left town."
"Groovy."
Note that just because a quote is at the bottom of the list doesn't mean that it's no good... every single one of these quotes are guaranteed to be among the most quotable in movie history. Well, at least I think so. And they totally kick butt when playing video games or real life games that involve shooting people.
As most of you already know, I have an Army of Darkness poster hanging in my room. It's really cool. To see it (and the place I bought it from... yes I know it's expensive), click here.
Okay, on to the list of my favorite scenes (in order of when they happen in the movie):
The flashback scene: This has the hand-chopping-off line. Excellent.
The pit fight: The only use of the chainsaw hand. Savor it.
"Klaatu... berata... ni-hrkrk.": I saw this in the trailer, and this basically made me want to get it.
The fake skeleton fight: Where Ash takes out some skeletons that are obviously props in the last fight.
The final scene: The very best scene in the whole movie, except for how he shoots a billion shots.
After having watched this movie way more times than might be good for me, I decided to go for the rest of the series. So I got "Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn." Big mistake. The scene with the dancing zombie girlfriend disturbed me to an unimaginable degree, and the rest of the movie was just about as bad. The only good part was when Ash makes the chainsaw hand, which is also where he (chain)saws off the shotgun. The whole scene is probably not even a minute long, but had a massive coolness factor. If I could, I'd make this into a movie clip and show it to people who are fans of Army of Darkness but have never seen the other movies, and tell them, quite truthfully, that they're seeing the one good part.
No, I haven't seen the first one, and I'm in no hurry to see it, thank you very much.
The obligatory statements: I hope like crazy that they make Evil Dead 4. I also want to play the new Evil Dead game coming out.
UPDATE: "If I could, I'd make this into a movie clip..." Well, guess what? I did! If anyone wants to see the birth of the chainsaw hand, let me know and I'll send it to you. To appreciate this scene, you probably need to have seen Army of Darkness and liked it.
And knowing that Ted "Joxer" Raimi played the monster in Evil Dead 2 makes it just a bit less creepy.