L'Armée des ténèbres : Evil Dead III

Most people would say you can check your brain at the door before you watch this film, but I beg to differ. This is genuinely intelligent stuff here folks. The director, Sam Raimi, reminds us in this film what it is like to have fun. From the film itself, as well as the DVD featurettes, it is apparent that Mr. Raimi is having a blast doing what he does best. It shows too. Granted, there is not much in the line of plot or theme, but these would be totally gratuitous in this escapist piece. Instead, we are given a fantastic adventure, appropriately tongue-in-cheek special effects, and an ode to The Three Stooges. The facial expressions of Bruce Campbell alone make this film well worth its 80 minutes. I don't want to give away a single joke, because the experience is just too much fun. So, do yourself a favor. Watch this film without being so hard on yourself. Yes, you are allowed to laugh. There can be non-sardonic humor in modern day America. Sam Raimi proves it.

The evil dead films go from horror with some black comedy to a horror and comedy mix to this rather innocent adventure comedy. Army of Darkness has more in common with Hercules and Xena than the first two evil dead movies. This does not take away from the fact that this is a faithful sequel. Bruce Campbell has all the fun as he performs Three Stooges routines, goes a little Gulliver, romances a babe, and kills his evil self twice. The battle of Oldsmobile is the highlight as Ash takes on an army mixed of Ray Harryhausen skeletons and KNB zombies. The voices, the sliding dagger skeletons, and the hi ho hi ya make the battle super cool. The silliness is sometimes stupid(shoe laces?) but mostly hits the mark, mostly.

*Evil Ash: I am bad Ash, you're good Ash. Your little goody two shoes! Little goody two shoes! Little goody two shoes!*

Oh, come on, you just gotta love this. Whether a girl or a snotty old man, this movie is funny. Bruce Campbell overdoes himself into this goofy comedy, transforming scene after scene into a laughing contest. One just has to see this.

Seeing the first two movies as well, I think I realize how this one came to be. I think that most of the times artists allow themselves to have fun at their own work, jewels of comedy emerge. I would just love a fourth movie in the Evil Dead series.

Funny thing, though, as this is the most successful of the movies, I have seen it quite a few times, on video, TV or my computer. I can vaguely remember that one of the movies had an ending when the guy found himself in a far post-apocalyptic future after getting the potion, while in others he was in a supermarket, attacked by a demon. Were there two endings to this movie?

=== yup, searched it up in the trivia, it had two endings :)

At the end of Evil Dead 2 Ash is sucked back in time through a time warp. He returns to medieval times where he is mistaken for the prophesied saviour. He is sent to recover the lost Necronomicon to save the people but also return him to his own time. Typically he makes a mistake when reading the book and he reserectes the army of the undead onto the land. Ash must fight to defeat yet more undead fiends!

The third in the series sees the gore drop off and the comedy step up even more. The previous two were both darkly funny but this is just plain hilarious. The sheer raft of one liners and silly/horror set ups keeps you laughing all the way. The horror is not scary as before – mainly because the gore is gone, however I prefer this as the stop motion stuff gives it an old fashioned feel that adds to the value of it – it's hard to explain but I really enjoy this because it feels like an old Harryhausen film.

Campbell is brilliant – I bet he can't believe hi s luck, the rest of his career he's struggled but Rami seem to love him. And rightly so, he is like Jim Carrey but has so much more talent and is a classic B-movie leading man type. The rest of the cast are so-so but really this is an one man show and he does it really well.

Overall this is a great little film. Fans of the series will love it, fans of comedy should love it and fans of B-movie cheese should enjoy it. And the less gore means fun for all the family (almost).

It's not good as "Evil Dead 2" but it's still a fun humorous wacky movie with a bit of horror(well when it comes to the surroundings anyways). This doesn't really have that scare factor compared to the first two, but instead it brings out the crazy, humorous and wacky elements way more this time around. And it takes place in the Medieval Ages I think. Even though this one doesn't really have much to do with the previous installments it's still has that flare going for it. sure it's one of those movies that is the epitome of just going with the flow. Because a lot of it is random or doesn't make much sense. But if you can just go with it, you can enjoy this. What really drives this movie though is Bruce Campbell reprising his role as Ash. His goofy, silly and wackiness while also being a badass brings a lot to this movie. And gives a incentive to root for his side. Although it can be cheesy at times it's still a very fast-paced and entertaining film. Overall it's a ridiculous movie that is so good.

7.9/10