Hi! Welcome back!
For this installment, to continue my look at the great Bruce Campbell's monster movies, I'll do another double feature and talk about both 'Evil Dead' sequels: 'Evil Dead 2,' and the third film, 'Army of Darkness.'
Sometimes lengthened to 'Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn' and premiering in 1987, it too was directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell as Ash (One of the few occasions in horror films in which the hero is the most memorable, iconic character, rather than the villain). It's technically more of a series reboot than a sequel, as it gives a different scenario for how things happen.
Here, Ash and his girlfriend Linda (A different Linda this time) come up to the woods to spend some time in a cabin that they knew was recently occupied (Linda asks Ash if the people who are normally there might come back). Ash rather quickly discovers, as in the first film, both the Necronomicon and a tape recorder used by an archaeologist who, together with his wife, brought the book to that cabin to better study it. As in the first film, playing the tape includes the archaeologist's reading aloud passages from the Necronomicon, which reawakens the evil demons associated with it, who immediately take control of Linda, forcing Ash to kill her. Then, along comes the archaeologist's daughter Annie. She apparently has a couple missing pages to the Necronomicon, and, together with a research partner and a couple doomed rednecks acting as their guides, she goes to the cabin hoping to meet up with her parents, not knowing of course that the demons have killed her parents. From there, Ash gets possessed for a while but manages eventually to shake it off, the possessed form of Annie's mom Henrietta attacks everyone, a whole bunch of inanimate objects laugh at Ash, and (In probably the most memorable scene in the film) Ash's hand gets possessed, forcing him to cut it off with a chainsaw, while it still crawls around, flips him off, and generally causes havoc, like Thing from 'The Addams Family' on crack. It ends on a cliffhanger with one of the Necronomicon's prophecies apparently being fulfilled.
Whoo boy, now this is a weird film. It has some grisly moments, but nowhere near as bad as the first one did. The comedy in this one is ramped up 200%, with madcap humor happening all the time. At times (Especially the laughing scene and the hand scene), it's like watching a Tex Avery cartoon while high on every hallucinogenic drug known to man. I suppose some people might not like how frenzied it is, but I couldn't stop laughing! About the only real objection is that Annie's research partner is a bit of a wasted character. He dies pretty quick and almost nothing is known about him, even the two rednecks (Guaranteed monster- fodder in any horror movie) last longer than him!
Campbell is good as ever as Ash, but is much stronger, physically and emotionally, in this one than he was in the first one. He definitely makes Ash more badass this time around. He first gets his chainsaw arm and coins what would since become Ash's catchphrase in the films, video games, and comic books: "Groovy."
And there you have 'Evil Dead 2.' Very funny, and a good sequel/ reboot to set up for the third film.
Next, there’s the third and (So far) final ‘Evil Dead’ film, ‘Army of Darkness.’ Less a horror film than a sword- and- sorcery fantasy adventure, it was released in 1992 and again directed by Sam Raimi and starring Campbell as Ash.
Although this film mainly follows along with the cliffhanger ending of the second film (Ash landing in the 14th century), it too changes things around a bit: At the end of the second film, when Ash lands in the Dark Ages, he’s immediately hailed as a hero, but can’t believe it; In the beginning of ‘Army of Darkness,’ Ash has been captured and enslaved by a ruler named Lord Arthur who suspects Ash of working for a rival lord named Henry the Red. He attempts to have Ash executed by throwing him into a pit of monsters, but Ash fights them off and learns that the Necronomicon has caused armies of undead monsters called Deadites to wreck havoc in the kingdom.
Lord Arthur and his wise man appoint Ash to go on a quest to retrieve the book from a graveyard. Once they have it and are able to use it to expel the evil from their land, they will use it to help send Ash back to his own time. Ash gets the book, but amusingly messes up the ceremony connected with retrieving it. As a result, an army of Deadite skeleton warriors led by an evil clone of Ash is raised up and preparing to attack Arthur’s castle. Ash gives a great motivational speech, the people in the village decide to stay and try to fight off the creatures, and the final showdown goes from there.
I can only really think of one thing off the top of my head I’d improve about ‘Army of Darkness,’ and it’s just a minor thing; As the Deadites are preparing for battle, most of the Deadite skeletons are on foot, but Evil Ash and the other leaders of the Deadite army are all on horseback. I personally thought it would have been cooler if they were riding on horse skeletons rather than the live horses they rode in the movie.
There’s so much to like about ‘Army of Darkness,’ it’s easily my favorite in the ‘Evil Dead’ series. First and foremost, it is freaking hilarious. The humor generally isn’t as zany/ insane as it was in the second one, but it’s still incredibly funny. My favorite funny parts in it were when Ash gets attacked by a bunch of 3- inch- tall versions of himself, and hearing the Deadite skeletons use pretty much every “Boneâ€- related joke or pun known to man in their talk (i.e. when working, “Put your back bones into it!â€, when they see an darkly attractive, evil lady, “Ah, there’s a sight for sore bones!â€). Bruce Campbell is now in full- on hero mode as Ash. He does more fighting in this one than in the two previous ones combined, has countless extremely funny and catchy lines, and as mentioned earlier, the motivational speech he gives to Arthur and the soldiers is awesome. Also, the production values are great. The stopmotion effects for the Deadites are wonderful, the music’s really good (Especially the “March of the Dead†composition for when the Deadites are marching in, preparing to attack), and the set designs, especially for the castle and the cemetery, are also really good.
That wraps up the ‘Evil Dead’ series. I’ve still got a couple more Bruce Campbell horror films left, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow night to learn what the next one is.
