Army of Darkness (1992) or, Medieval Dead

7/27/2013

Army of Darkness (1992) or, Medieval Dead

♥♥♥♥♥

An awesome, painted poster for Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness - with a very funny tagline

Army of Darkness is the 6th feature by and third film in Michigander master filmmaker Sam Raimi's (Spider-Man (2002)) Evil Dead franchise; it has deservedly become a cult hit. - Blending comedy, horror and action with great skill, Army of Darkness is a gem and a take-off from the, however, also sensational first Evil Dead two films, in that it takes place somewhere around year 1300. Raimi wrote the imaginative screenplay with his brother Ivan Raimi (Darkman (1990)).

Familiar hero Ash this time gets caught in the Middle Ages, battling different kinds of medieval death in order to return back to the comfy 1990s.

The humor is light, physically centered and genre-prone throughout. Army of Darkness was definitely innovative and ingenious in terms of its staggering effects, - the flying arrows and swords that the camera follows, for instance, or the mini-attackers, the live skeletons etc. - All brought to life with impressive visual expertise. It brings you back the enthusiasm of watching old Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts (1963), associate producer/special visual effects creator) films with its effects-heavy zeal for everything fantastic. Army of Darkness by turn thrills, awes, scares and amuses.
Bruce Campbell's (The Evil Dead (1981)) returns as Ash, and Campbell's great, physical acting talent is used in almost every shot of the film, back in top shape here in a very demanding role.
Enormously entertaining and good-looking; everyone who were involved must and rightly should be very proud of Army of Darkness.

Related posts:

Sam Raimi: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) - A fun, eye-popping adventure
2013 in films - according to Film Excess
Evil Dead (2013) - One hell of a ride (producer)
Drag Me to Hell (2009) - Raimi returns to horror in high style

Star Bruce Campbell talks of his work in the film here

Cost: 11 mil. $
Box office: 21.5 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.95 times its cost)
[Army of Darkness premiered 9 October (Sitges Film Festival, Spain) and runs 81 minutes (US theatrical release)/88 minutes (international release)/96 minutes (director's cut). Financing came together with Universal Pictures due to producer Dino De Laurentiis' deal with them. Filming took place from May - August 1991 in California, including in a castle built on the edge of the Mojave Desert. Universal demanded cuts to get a PG-13 rating for the film and refused Raimi's own ending, which he, Campbell and producer Robert Tapert (The Grudge (2004)) had put up 1 mil. $ off their own salaries to shoot. The rating never got lower than an R, despite cuts, and Raimi and co. later had their ending made available on home video. Disagreements between Universal and De Laurentiis (about the rights to the Hannibal Lecter character) pushed the general release of the film from the summer of '92 to February '93. It opened #6 to a 4.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it played only 3 weeks and grossed 11.5 mil. $ (53.5 % of the total gross.) Despite being the highest-grossing Evil Dead film to date, Army of Darkness' ballooned budget means it wasn't financially successful theatrically at least. The franchise has since spawned a 2013 remake (Evil Dead) and a successful TV-series, Ash vs Evil Dead (2015-) by creators Sam and Ivan Raimi and Tom Spezialy. Army of Darkness is fresh at 72 % with a 6.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Army of Darkness?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

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7/27/2013

Army of Darkness (1992) or, Medieval Dead

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