Army of Darkness (1992) | 31 Days of Horror: Oct 12

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Klaatu, Barada, Necktie!

Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness completes a trilogy of films about the exploits of everyman Ash Williams. It’s less scary than its predecessors but still features countless examples of Raimi’s signature style.

Before Viewing

Though it never explicitly states it in the trailer, Army of Darkness is a sequel to the Evil Dead films of Sam Raimi. Ash is trapped in an ancient time with his gun, which he calls a “boomstick.” He must help the villagers fight off the army of the dead so he can return to his own time. But his attention to detail is not exactly stellar. There are many comically horror moments, such as skeletons punching his face, or his head stretching as he’s sucked into a book. Sam Raimi is back with the Army of Darkness.

Presented below is the trailer for the film.

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After Viewing

A quick recap explains how Ash (Bruce Campbell) and Linda (Bridget Fonda) found the mysterious cabin that contained the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. It opened a portal through which Ash and his Oldsmobile Delta-88 got sucked into and ended up in 1300 AD. Presently, Ash is a prisoner of Lord Arthur (Marcus Gilbert), along with Henry the Red (Richard Grove) and some of his men. The prisoners are taken to a pit which causes individuals to explode into a geyser of blood.

After being struck, Ash falls into the pit which contains a bloated, monstrous, white-eyed woman, known as a Deadite. As she attacks Ash, Arthur orders the spiked walls to be closed on them. The Wiseman (Ian Abercrombie) tosses Ash his chainsaw, which lands on the stump of his right arm allowing the S-Mart employee to kill the Deadite and escape the pit. He demands that Henry and his men be set free. The people see him as the prophesied one who will free them from the evil of the Deadites. He is told that if he retrieves the book of the dead he will be able to go back to his time.

Using the tools available to him, Ash constructs a metal hand to replace the one he cut off in the previous installment. He hooks up with Sheila (Embeth Davidtz), one of the local women, just before heading out on his quest to find the Necronomicon. The Wiseman reminds him of the three words he must say as he retrieves the book, Klaatu, Verata, Nikto. Ash cuts him off tersely as he knows what he has to do. Stopping for rest at a windmill, Ash breaks a mirror creating half a dozen miniature versions of himself. As he destroys them, an evil doppelganger of himself grows from an eyeball that appears on his shoulder. Ash shoots and buries this Evil-Ash.

When Ash gets to the cemetery containing the book, he fouls up the third word of the incantation and releases the evils of the Necronomicon into the world, causing Evil-Ash to rise again. Regardless, he demands that they send him home. Sheila is grabbed by a winged Deadite as Evil-Ash commands the Army of the Dead who march on Arthur’s fortress. With only 60 men left, Ash suggests calling in Henry’s men for reinforcements, and then helps these “primitive screwheads” construct weapons and gunpowder with knowledge from a 20th Century chemistry book.

Sheila is possessed by a Deadite spirit and becomes Evil-Ash’s second in command. The army of skeletons and corpses march on the castle. The soldiers use explosive arrows to blow up the skeletons, but soon the gate is breached. Arthur is shot with arrows, and just as things seem dire Henry’s men show up to bolster the ranks. Ash fights Evil-Ash, who manages to grab the Necronomicon from its pedestal. Laughing, Evil-Ash claims to have won, but Ash cuts off the monster’s hand that holds the book, and launches Evil-Ash into the air on the catapult where he explodes (because of 20th Century know-how).

Sheila returns to her normal self and kisses Ash. He gets the instructions on how to return home from the Wiseman. Back in the modern day, Ash regales another S-Mart employee with the story of how he could have been a king, when a female shopper becomes possessed by a Deadite. Ash grabs a Remington shotgun and fills the creature with lead, before grabbing a female employee and kissing her. “Hail to the king, baby.”

“Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up! You see this? This… is my boomstick!” – Ash

Welcome to the fourth night of the theme week at 31 Days of Horror. All week the articles have been celebrating anniversaries from 100 years ago (Nosferatu) up to 40 years ago last night, with Visiting Hours. Tonight celebrates 30 years of Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness. While technically this film premiered 30 years ago, it really received wide release in 1993. But that’s close enough! The film is a direct continuation to 1987s Evil Dead 2, which ended with Ash being sucked through a portal into the year 1300, screaming “No!” repeatedly. This would also be Raimi’s last horror film until 2000s The Gift.

It’s also much less of a horror film than either of the two previous Evil Dead films. Instead it focuses on comedy and swashbuckling action. The most comedic elements are of course Bruce Campbell’s man out of time and his quips. He brings late 20th Century vernacular into the early 14th Century and it makes for some of the most quotable film moments. “Give me some sugar, baby” and “groovy” are the two most recited lines, but almost anything that Ash does is hilarious. Raimi also showcases his love for the Three Stooges with elements of physical comedy. Ash falls on top of a grave where the skeleton arms pinch, poke, and prod him like a comedy routine between Moe, Larry, and Curly. Even the moments of horror are lightened by the comedy. Evil-Ash has a comedic line read as his jaw keeps popping out of its socket, and later as Sheila becomes possessed, she exclaims that being bad “feels good.” Humorous by having two meanings, of course.

Army of Darkness features more of the signature style defined by Raimi’s early lower budget films. His POV shots of the Deadites chasing Ash, or the fluid, cartoon-like camera movements are all on display here. Even though this was one of Raimi’s early big budget films, that didn’t change his unique vision. It just allowed him to do things bigger and better than in his previous films. What Raimi was also able to accomplish with a larger budget was better special effects. While some of the effects look dated to modern audiences, several of the effects used the Introvision process which Raimi used on his previous film Darkman. This allowed the actors to see the backgrounds projected behind them rather than use blue screen material for compositing them in later. There are still a few jump scares, such as the Deadite coming out of the pit or Deadite crone in the castle, but these are followed up by laughs from a funny moment or a quippy line of dialogue.

This film represents the end of Ash’s cinematic adventures, but it was not the end of the story. There were a handful of comic books and video games that surrounded the film and continued on after it, including the Freddy vs Jason vs Ash comic series from Wildstorm and Dynamite Entertainment. But fans were most pleased with the continuation of Bruce Campbell’s time as the snappy everyman in Ash vs Evil Dead, a television series that ran from 2015–18 on Starz. It picked up the action 30 years after the events of the original films, and continued the continuity of Ash’s adventures along with a number of new characters. There was also a remake of Evil Dead in 2013 as well as a planned sequel, Evil Dead Rise, coming in 2023.

Sam Raimi would go on to become a big budget “serious” director, known for the original Spider-Man trilogy, the offbeat Western The Quick and The Dead, and his most recent horror film Drag Me To Hell. He even returned to the superhero genre after 8 years away from directing with Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. All in all, Army of Darkness is a great film, full of action, horror aesthetics, and lots of comedy. Unfortunately for viewers expecting a horror film, this falls quite short. It is still a fan-favorite in the Evil Dead series in no small part because of the incredible work of Bruce Campbell. Campbell would continue having cameos in lots of films, as well as starring in several other horror films including Bubba Ho-Tep, My Name is Bruce, and his most recent Black Friday.

Assorted Musings

• In the opening credits, the director and stars’ names appear out of smoke with the title reading “Bruce Campbell vs Army of Darkness.” This naming convention would follow in the television series Ash vs The Evil Dead.
• The infamous three words that Ash messes up are words from the classic sci-fi film The Day The Earth Stood Still. They are not a direct quote, as the words in the original film are Klaatu, Barada, & Nikto. But here, the Wiseman and Ash say “Verata” instead.
• A director’s cut of the film adds about 15 minutes of additional footage (most being in the final battle), as well as an alternate ending where Ash takes too many drops of elixir and awakens in a post apocalyptic future many years from now.