Army of Darkness

release year: 1992
genre: horror/comedy
viewing setting: home Bluray 1/30/26 and home DVD 1/28/13 and home laserdisc 1/19/98

synopsis: Fresh from his tribulations in Evil Dead 2, Ash plops into the 13th century - where his quest to get home ends up being a fight against an army of living dead.

impressions: When I saw this back in the early 1990s, I thought it was the greatest thing ever. It was, I said then, "funny horror at its best, as only Sam Raimi can deliver it." There were skeletons cracking one-liners, zombies making fun of themselves as they rot, Three Stooges tributes, and so forth. And that part is still entertaining, but my now-more-mature self can't overlook the fact that there's a lack of solid plot here...the movie jumps from one funny part to the next, and the narrative is loose and often silly. Which is fine, but my point is that not everyone will have the patience to sit through the unexplained events early on in order to witness the awesome mass battles near the end.

acting: Bruce Campbell cemented his status as B-horror-movie icon with this role, in which he mixes corny action and humor.

final word: Sometimes-fun, sometimes-silly comedy-horror.

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