Hilarious Horror
Army of Darkness
Cast: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie, Richard Grove, Ted Raimi
Director: Sam Raimi
Movie Help Web Popcorn Kernels: 
Some people love horror movies. Some people love getting scared. I've never been one of them. So when my brother suggested we rent Army of Darkness, I tried my best to dissuade him.
I knew that Army of Darkness was the third in the Evil Dead series; I'd watched the first one some years before, and been spooked. I wasn't in the mood for a horror film, I kept telling him. But he insisted, and I braced myself for the inevitable thrills, chills and ever-rising body count.
What I got instead was an over-the-top, hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable time-travel/action-comedy masquerading as a B-grade horror flick.
Army of Darkness picks up where Evil Dead II left off with the hero, store clerk Ash (Campbell). At the end of the previous film, an evil force captured Ash and sent him back into the past, a la The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. (A brief intro not only explains this but sums up the happenings of the first two Evil Dead movies, as well as providing Bridget Fonda with a cameo.)
Upon his arrival, Ash finds himself in the middle of a set-to between Lord Arthur (Gilbert) and Duke Henry the Red (Grove). But all he wants to do is return to his own time, with the help of a magical book called the Necromonicon. Unfortunately, his efforts to retrieve the book also wake up a legion of supernatural nasties which threatens the very existence of the medieval world, as well as the soul of Sheila (Davidtz), a young woman Ash falls for. Luckily Ash has some modern-day weapons on his side (including a chemistry textbook) which may be enough to save the day.
Yes, there are plenty of skeletons and other creepy creatures. But this isn't Night of the Living Dead: Part III. Director Sam Raimi has combined the special effects of his previous films with some hilarious slapstick. It's simply impossible to take a battle scene seriously when a skeleton tries to attack the hero, misses, and yells, "Hey! Where'd he go?"
Like Airplane, the movie is packed with numerous gags, including some of the funniest lines I've ever heard. A sampling of quotes:
"Good...bad...I'm the guy with the gun."
(After Ash reassures himself his men could win the great battle): "Yeah, and maybe I'm a Chinese jet pilot."
"Hail to the king, baby."
There's much, much more where that came from, and the jokes get funnier with each viewing. Campbell, who gets to say most of the best lines, combines clean-cut good looks with a deadpan delivery and wonderful comic timing, which probably served him well in his stints on Hercules and Xena: Warrior Princess. The rest of the cast does a decent job too (Ted Raimi, Sam's brother, is quite funny in his series of small roles), but this is Campbell's show from start to finish, and he's more than up for the challenge.
You don't need to see Evil Dead or Evil Dead II to understand it (I still haven't seen the second one). Don't even worry about the plot too much; just sit back and enjoy the fun.
