Amazon.com video review:
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
Amazon.com video review:
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
