Because I am the host of the best podcast about movies, in Denver,Colorado I am often asked what movie is my favorite of all time. Citizen Kane, no too boring. My favorite movie is and always will be Army of Darkness. Starring my cult hero Bruce Campbell, Army of Darkness is actually the third part in the Evil Dead trilogy. And it is the most fun you will have watching a movie, period.
“This is my Boomstick!”
Army of Darkness takes place immediately after the events of Evil Dead 2. Our hapless hero Ash is sucked into a vortex that literally drops him in Medieval times. Ash is captured by King Arthur, who believes he is one of his enemies soldiers. He is taken to Arthur’s castle where he learns that the deadites that terrorized him at the cabin are plaguing both Arthur and Henry the Red. Although Ash is not one of Henry’s men he is sentenced to die in a pit that is inhabited by monsters. Ash kills both of them with his trusty chainsaw that he fashioned to his severed hand in Evil Dead 2. He orders Arthur to let Henry go and sets out on a quest to finish off the deadites. Along the way he hooks up with Shelia, splits from his bad self, and misspeaks ancient words while retrieving the Necronomican awaking the Army of the Dead!
“Gimme some sugar baby.” Greatest pick up line ever
Why do I love this movie? Easy. It’s funny, directed by my favorite director, scary, and all sorts of awesome. The movie never takes itself seriously and is tons of fun. Bruce Campbell totally owns this movie as Ash. He’s funny, confident, and a coward all at once. He has so many great one liners that are now such a part of pop culture you might not know that this movie was a flop when it was released. It found a huge audience thanks to the video market and midnight screenings. In fact I remember the first time I saw it. When my parents got divorced we would spend weekends with my dad. He lived right near a Blockbuster Video(remember those) and he would let each of us pick a movie to watch over the weekend. He never told us that we couldn’t watch a movie because it was rated R, or violent. If we wanted to watch it we could. Anyways, my brothers went their way and I went mine. And there sitting in the new releases was the coolest movie art I had ever seen.
“Hail to the King, Baby”
I remember watching for the first time and just laughing my ass off. I loved how silly it was and I hoped my brothers liked it as well. They did. The next day I begged my dad to buy it for me. At first he was a little hesitant, he said we just rented it. I was bummed. The next weekend we couldn’t go water skiing because it was crappy outside so my dad took us to Blockbuster again and I again wanted to get Army of Darkness. My dad looked at me like I was crazy and said let’s just buy it. Score! It was only $24.99 on VHS back then, what a steal! I’m pretty sure that moment started my love for movies, and my love of purchasing every version of Army of Darkness that was released after. Yes. I am one of those guys who fuel multiple versions of movies, but hey there is 2 different cuts of AoD and 2 different endings. I know most fans prefer the original ending, including Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi where Ash awakens in post apocalyptic London, but I like the happier ending.
I wanted to write this as we are seeing the remake of The Evil Dead this weekend(yes, I have already seen it and it is awesome.) and it was a perfect time to revisit my favorite movie ever. So as I write this watching the Blu-Ray version of Army of Darkness, I urge all horror movie fans and movie fans to see the new Evil Dead, Sam and Bruce want to make an Army of Darkness 2 and we can all show them that we want it too by seeing the new Evil Dead, Groovy.
As a little PS I would give this more stars if I could but as it stands this movie gets 5 stars from me and a whole life of amazing memories.