Army of Darkness (1993)
Grade: 70
"Army of Darkness" is a black comedy. The genre may appear to be horror or action-adventure, but the whole movie is just one big wink from the director to the audience.
Bruce Campbell, also the film's co-producer, is perfectly cast as the hero Ash. Ash is in a cabin in the woods with his girlfriend, when he makes the mistake of opening "the book of the dead". This awakens demons who kill his girlfriend, then invade his hand, which he obliged to cut off with an ax. All of this occurred in an earlier film which I have not seen. Army of Darkness is a sequel.
If the above description is revolting to you, this movie may not be for you. While the movie has a large amount of violence and gore, it is cartoonish in character. It is something to laugh at, like Bugs Bunny whacking the stooge with a mallet.
Ash somehow finds himself in Medieval England. This is not well explained, but explanations aren't relevant anyway. The British knights attack his car with lances, then drag Ash off as an enemy of the people, condemned to die by getting shoved into a pit full of demons.
But Ash proves very good at fighting demons. He has anti-hero qualities: he does good things, but for the wrong reasons. Not to save his people, or to restore justice, but for the fun of it. Ash likes nothing better than spearing, torching, and hacking his enemy. This is revealed not just by his actions but by statements like "Let's Rock" and "Want some of this?". Life is boring when there are no battles to be fought.
Now Ash is the people's savior against the demons. He is taken to a castle and meets a prophet. He is told that the book of dead must be retrieved from a forest controlled by demons, not just to return Ash to his own time, but to save the people from demonic ravages.
After much bluster and a silly romance (he shows no interest in the heroine until she slaps him), Ash goes to the forest to find the book. There, he is beset by various evil, animated objects, including miniature and full-size wicked versions of himself. Ash takes a licking but keeps on ticking. He has to repeat an incantation before taking the book. He says it wrong but takes the book.
Ash returns to the castle to a hero's welcome, until he admits he told the incantation wrong. The prophet says that now the dead will awaken to retrieve the book. At first, Ash insists on returning home, but, later coming to his senses, decides to stay and lead the coming battle against the dead.
In the forest, cool animated skeletons arise from graves, sword in hand, and march against the castle. This leads to much humorous carnage on both sides, with the battle's momentum shifting between the defenders and the dead. It becomes clear that the battle is really just between Ash and the dead's general, as all the other soldiers on both sides aren't good fighters and are just expendable extras.
The defenders hold the castle, and the skeletons are forced to retreat. Ash repeats a chant from the book to return him to his own time. Of course he says it wrong, and while he is back working at his beloved S-mart, a demon returns with him, giving Ash a final opportunity for battle.
http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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