Things To Know: This movie started filming in 1991, three years after Evil Dead 2, and took two years to complete. Army of Darkness is the most well known of the three, and Director Sam Reimi actually had a budget to work with here, and it showed with better video and sound. Unfortunatly, this movie did not gross enough in the theaters to warrent a part 4, which is appropriate considering the ending of this movie.
Things to forget about: At the end of Evil Dead 2, Ash was worshipped as a god when he went back in time, but in this one, he started out as a slave as they completly changed the storyline.
Things To Watch Out For: When Ash fights his evil twin, they just don't make movies like they used to.
This is easily the best of the three parts, even though everyone else who's watch this trilogy told me that Evil Dead, or Evil Dead 2 was better. I don't listen to them, because, well, they're wrong.
The movie starts of with Ash being dragged to his death in 1300AD. He recaps his life before going back in time, including working at S-Mart, and going to the cabin with his girlfriend, who is played by Bridgette Fonda, who was the third different actress to play the same girl. (They forget about Scotty, Cheryl and Linda, again) He goes into the time warp that takes us to where Ash is now. He and his car fall from the sky and hits hard onto the ground, where coincidently King Arthurs army was there. Arthur wanted to know who this man was, Wiseman Joe (Who was also Mr. Pitts on Seinfeld) said that it could be the guy from the Necronomicon who fell from the sky and saved the land from evil, while Arthur believed that he was one of Henrys men, (King Arthurs rival) and ordered his soilders to grab Ash and drag him, along with about 50 other people to be thrown into the pit. Along the way, a girl named Sheila asked King Arthur if her brother made it back, but Arthur had to brake the news to her that he died in the battle with Henry.
With Ash the next guy in line to be thrown into the pit, just after another man be thrown in there with blood shooting out like a fountain. I guess he died. The man after Ash, is ironically Henry. Ash looked at him and Henry had no idea who he was. Ash asked who Henry was and Henry said that he was the leader of this Army. Ash replied with "your leading shit for Nothing, and nothing left town". While Henry just laughed to himself. The guards told Ash to go in the pit. Ash tried to explain to the gaurd that he doesn't know what's going on, but the gaurds didn't belive him. So Sheila grabbed about a five inch rock and threw it at Ashs head, bitch! Ash was dazed, and stumbled around for abit, until Arthur ordered the two gaurds to push him in, which they did, and Ash fell in. In the pit, there are cages on each side and about four feet of water that Ash has to walk around in. Behind Ash, there is a hand the raises out of the water, but when Ash turns around the hand goes back into the water. Ash looks freaked out, hears a wild noise, and some beast attacks him. They fight for a little bit, until Ash pulls out his chainsaw which came out of nowhere and chopped off the beasts hand, with the gaurds up above looked shocked, and Henry cheering. Arthur orders the gaurds to pull a chain, and when they do the four cages closes in on Ash and the beasts, but these cages also have spikes on them! Ash doesn't know what to do, so Wiseman Joe throws Ash his shotgun, which was found in the trunk of his car, and Ash blows the beasts head off. Ash grabs onto a chain which abled him to get out of the pit before the spikes got to him.
Ash climbes out of the pit looking pissed off o'plenty, and can you blame him? The guy just had to fight off a couple of fat demons, and he had his hair messed up! We all know that, that is an Ash no-no. Ash tells Arthur the classic line of "You know, your shoelaces are untied" and when Arthur looks down... WHAMMO! Ash knocks him out with one punch. With the bystanders looking shocked, Ash pulls out his shotgun, calls it a boomstick, which makes some of the bystanders scream.
But Arthur wasn't going to take this lying down! He wis disrespected by a guy with a determined chin, and he wasn't going to have none of that. Arthur got back up, pulled out his sword and told him he was going to die. Ash responds in typical Ash fashion, by blowing off the sword blade with his shotgun. Of course after that, they treat him as a king, with poor Arthur as his geeky sidekick, no one takes him seriously anymore. In a room in the castle another demon comes to life which Ash has to kill. I'd say this scene was pointless if it wasn't for the fact that it set up the rest of the movie. Wiseman Joe told Ash three words he had to memorize in order to get the Necronomicon without setting off evil which will ultimately destroy their land. Ash yells at Joe for telling him the words oh, around fifty times in a row, and Ash along with his trusty horse goes on a hunt for the Necronomicon!
On his way there, Ash stops off at a cabin, after being chased out of the woods by the evil. While in there, Ash takes alook at himself in the mirror, except that another Ash is looking back at himself! Sure, it happened in Evil Dead 2, but it was still cool here. Ash, all tired and pissed off breaks the mirror, but all that does is make about 10 tiny Evil Ashes. Ash wouldn't have none of this though, as he throws a fork at one of them, and tries to stomp on another one, but tiny Evil Ash put a nail under his shoes, Ash screamed in pain, fell down and smacked his head on the floor knocking him out. When he woke up, he was tied down on the floor thinking it was all a dream, until he saw that an evil Ash was about to jump into his mouth! Ash tried his best, but eventually Ash had an evil himself inside of him.
Ash snapped, with the rest of the Evil Ashes gone, and one inside of him, he did something that none of us would have, which is why we love him so much. He grabbed a pot of boiling water, and chugged it down! Thinking that would have killed Evil Ash, he started to feel something grow out of his shoulder. Ash, screaming in pain could do nothing, because he was now two headed! Both Ashes punched themselves for awhile before rolling outside of the cabin and becoming seperated. Evil Ash started to get the advantage with some nifty footwork, but Ash eventually won by shooting Evil Ash with his boomstick! Sorry, I just have to type it like that whenever I write boomstick! Ash buried Evil Ash, with Evil Ash yelling something like "You'll Be Sorry!"
Yes, and that was the best part of the movie, even though it lasted only three minutes or so. But Ash knew that he still had a very important mission to accomplish, and that is to get the Necronomicon! He rides into the graveyard with his horse and finds not one Necronomicon, but three of them! Ash doesn't know what to do, so he opens up one of them, which sucks him into the book, and into another tunnel. But this times Ash could climb back out of the tunnel, and out of the book. Ash tries the second book, but this one starts bitting down on his hand! Ash finally gets to the third, and right one, but can't remember the words. I could repeat to you what he said, but i'm only going on memory here. Ash says the first two words right, and coughs out the third word hoping that the evil wouldn't notice. Ash picks up the book, and tries to leave, but he has some company...
With Ash battling off these skeletons in typical Ash fashion, he gets on his horse and rides away. Back at the castle Wiseman Joe asks if he said the words correctly, Ash said he forgot the words but they had a deal, and he wants to go back into his own time instead of fighting off this evil again. With everyone around him looking dissapointed, that wacky sidekick King Arthur says that they always honour a deal. When Ash was about to go with King Arthur, a flying monster grabs Sheila, that girl that threw a rock at Ash, and took her away. Ash, already sick and tired of trying to save his girlfriends, decides to stay.
Back at the graveyard, Evil Ash has turned himself into this leader for skeletons, which is called the Army of Darkness, get it? Also the title name? Ah forget it. Anyways, he gets Sheila and starts laying some sugar on her, turning her evil too. and they're on their way to the castle for alittle war! At the castle, Ash has his own men getting prepared, making gun powder, and getting his car to start back up again with fan blades at the front of it. The Army of Darkness make their way to the castle, and it's time for alittle fun.
With the humans dominating the dead-ites. Ash finds Sheila while killing some skeletons with his fan blade car. Ash gets out of the car, and surprise surprise, Sheila tries to kill him! Alittle later on, mainly because I forgot what happens next. Ash battles Evil Ash at the top of the castle. Evil Ash grabs the Necromonicon, but Ash takes at away from him, slingshots him out of the castle, and he explodes. With their leader gone, the skeletons panic and retreat, and the good guys win.
Ash says goodbye to Sheila, and he goes back to the present.
Back at S-Mart, Ash tries to comvince some snot-nosed kid what happened to him, with the kid just brushing him off. At the back of the store, a woman starts talking, and floats off the ground. It's another demon! Ash doesn't waste anytime, grabs a boomstick from a store shelf, and wastes the demon the only way he can. With the demon gone, Ash grabs another woman says "Hasil to the king baby" and gives her alittle sugar for the ending of the movie.
Overall: A great ending to this legendary trilogy, yes with this ending there just needs to be a part four, but Bruce Campbell has said that there never will be one, unless you count that awful video game that came out late last year. On the video tape and DVD they show the trailor of this movie and the original ending, which went like this: (Sorry, no pics)
Ash is told to take 6 drops of some liquid, each drop represents him skipping ahead to another century. Ash loses count while taking the drops, and ends up in the 21st century, i'm guessing in the year 2093. He wakes up in a cave, looks around and sees all these collapsed building, yep Ash wakes up after the world comes to an end, with him screaming as the original ending ends.