Welcome to the Scream Factory Crypt! In this binge series I will be watching all my Scream Factory titles I own alphabetically! Scream Factory is my favorite imprint of Blu-Ray’s because they take movies that studios and the public might not adore but have fans and deserve to be given respect. This will take a long time as I have over 120(!) titles and counting, I know I will have more before I finish, so stay tuned! Not only will I talk about them on the podcast but I will review them here as well so you can see how I feel about aspects of each release. First up, my favorite movie, Army of Darkness!
Army of Darkness has had many releases on home video, and finally Scream Factory puts all of the meaningful cuts of the film on a stupendous 3-Disc Collector’s Edition. I am biased as I stated above this is my favorite movie and I have bought every version of this on VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray. I am happy to say that this is about as definitive as you can get.
Army of Darkness follows Ash Williams as he is sucked into a worm hole at the end of Evil Dead 2 and winds up in 13th century England. After literally falling from the sky, the King of the land, Arthur believes he is part of Henry the Red’s army, his sworn enemy. Soon Arthur learns that Ash is not part of Henry’s army but indeed from the future. Ash soon sets out to retrieve the Necronomicon, an unholy book that can send him back to his time and save Arthur and his people.
Army of Darkness is probably the zaniest movie ever. From horror, to comedy, to adventure, to romance this movie is all over the place. It’s held together by Bruce Campbell, who plays Ash. He spews one-liners, is a coward and a hero sometimes in the matter of seconds. If this wasn’t directed by Sam Raimi it might not work, but it does and it is one hell of a ride.
The set has four cuts of the film, the Theatrical, Director’s, International, and in standard definition the television cut. Each has its strengths. The theatrical cut is the leanest and probably the one I would show to new comers. The Director’s Cut, is 15 minutes longer and the ending is edited very differently. It is cool to see the full windmill scene, and the ending is more fitting, but the extra 15 minutes are not totally necessary. Sam Raimi points this out in the commentary track. The International cut is 88 minutes so about 7 minutes longer then the theatrical. It’s solid as well. The television cut is a rough watch due to the source but awesome that it’s included.
The video looks great. Each version looks really organic with only minimal grain. The international cut sports a new 4k scan from the inter-positive which in turn makes it look the strongest, but only slightly.
The sound is a standout as well, all cuts (except TV) feature DTS-HD Master audio 5.1. The sound design really flourishes and you can hear all the wacky sound effects and voices that Sam Raimi (usually he is the one making the voices as well) put in.
Army of Darkness really earns its Collector’s Edition title. It is absolutely stuffed with extras. A highlight is the new feature length documentary, Medieval Times: The Making of Army of Darkness. It has some great new interviews, however Sam Raimi is missing as seems to be the case with all his movies now which is a bummer. He is funny and smart, but at least you can listen to him on the previously released commentary on the Director’s Cut. Scream Factory also brought over several vintage featurettes. My favorite is Behind the Scenes with KNB Effects. INC.
Army of Darkness earns my highest recommendation, Hail To The King, Baby!
Movie Ratings:
Film: A+
Video: A
Sound: A
Extras: A+
Overall: A+