Army of Darkness 1992
Due to the popularity of the first two films and the cliffhanger twist ending of “Evil Dead 2”, talks of a third instalment in the series had been floating around for a number of years, and as the 80s was coming to a close, production was just beginning on the final chapter of Ash’s story. Fans waited with baited breath to see how their beloved series would end and just over a decade after the original hit theatres, the final piece of the puzzle was released, dropping the “Evil Dead” part of the title, as “Army of Darkness” in 1992.
(It’s not essential that you look at Part 1 and Part 2 of our retrospective, but we’d appreciate it, all the more, if you did)
With Ash now stuck in the middle ages with nothing more than his shotgun and chainsaw-hand (the fact that that phrase can even be said shows you why this is such a popular franchise) due to the unfortunate events at the end of the last film, he must now embark on an adventure to retrieve the Necronomicon and protect a castle from the deadite forces in order to get back to his own time.
As discussed in part two, the series underwent a big tonal shift between the first and second films, and this is taken even further with “Army of Darkness”. If you were to place the “Evil Dead” films on a spectrum with horror on one end and comedy on the other, “The Evil Dead” would be firmly on the horror end, “Evil Dead 2” would be somewhere in the middle and “Army of Darkness” would be much further on the comedy end. All of the jokey macho posturing of Ash, the cheesy one liners and the tongue-in-cheek attitude that made previous film a hit with fans is expanded upon and, this time, made the focus rather than it being an addition to the horror as it was before. This presents a very different kind of film compared to what came before it, but one that is equally enjoyable.
There is a sense of adventure in this film that was lacking in its predecessors (understandably since they were much more firmly rooted in horror), which is immediately engaging and creates an environment in which Ash’s personality can really flourish. The newer pompous, macho attitude that he started adopting in the second film is a perfect fit when he becomes the would-be saviour of the medieval town. His shotgun, chainsaw and knowledge of mechanics are seen as amazing by the less technologically advanced society and this adoration and sense of superiority only serves to inflate his ego even further and is played to comedic effect very well. The comedic leanings of this film allowed for much more of Ash’s signature banter and one liners and made this, easily, the most quotable entry in the franchise.
The budget was once again increased for this sequel, this time coming in at $13 million, an even larger increase than that between “Evil Dead 1 & 2”. This was of course necessary due to the much grander scope of the film, as everything had to be bigger. Whereas the first two films were about a handful of characters in one central location, this film followed armies in castles preparing for full scale war with magic, monsters and machinery. This was another reason that “Army of Darkness” felt so different to the previous films, as it no longer felt like a struggle for survival so much as it did an epic fight of good vs evil with the fate of humanity at stake.
The slapstick physical humour that went over so well in “Evil Dead 2” when Ash battled his own hand was also present. This time, Ash had to fight off a team of tiny evil versions of himself that ganged up and tried to kill him, resulting in a demented “Gulliver’s Travels” style situation. This mix of danger and comedy is present throughout all the action in the film. Although there is legitimate danger and death caused by the deadites, the film tries not to take itself seriously so it often opts for playing scenes comedically. This is achieved in a number of ways throughout the film whether it is through the dialogue and people’s reactions to the danger, the physical actions of the fight or even through the visuals like with the wonderfully silly (but still awesome) image of the car that came through the portal with Ash at the start, driving through the deadites in the final battle with a giant windmill of death modified onto its front.
The story comes to a close with Ash having vanquished the deadites and retrieved the Necronomicon for the forces of good. He is finally presented with a way back to his own time through the use a magic potion that will let him sleep for hundreds of years. Interestingly enough there are two endings to the film after this point. The original ending has Ash mess up taking the potion, causing him to sleep for a hundred years too many and awaking to a post-apocalyptic future. This was eventually deemed too dark for some in the studio and a new ending was filmed where Ash made it back to his own time. Depending on where you see it, the “darker” ending is still used so there is a bit of controversy over what the official ending is. Whichever ending people saw though it was clear that this series certainly did not end in a way that audiences would have expected when the first film hit the big screen. “Army of Darkness” became just as much of a cult hit as the first two films and is still much loved by fans to this day.
In our final installment, we’ll be taking a look at the remake, comics, games and everything that came next for the series.
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