"A" is for Army Of Darkness

The Best Worst Movie Ever!

To me, Army Of Darkness is the quintessential cheesy movie. I often refer to it as 'the best worst movie ever'. Shockingly I have not made a proper reference to it in any of my posts thus far, so it's only fitting that Army Of Darkness is my first post of 2009.

It also kicks off a new category I will fill up during the year: The Cheese Alphabet. After gazing at my DVD collection I realized I have purchased or been given some of the cheesiest movies ever made, and I don't take enough time to pull them out and appreciate them. So as a treat to myself, and hopefully to my five readers, I plan to re-watch, enjoy, and review my favorite movies during the next year, all in glorious alphabetical order.

Army Of Darkness is full of what makes a B-movie great. Great one-liners, over the top acting, a plot you can actually follow, tongue in cheek humor, and skeletons with facial hair. Plus, it has another of my most adored actors, the Baron of B-ness himself, Bruce Campbell. He's a man I would be terrified to meet in person because I'm pretty sure he would verbally eviscerate me when I asked a stupid question or just stood there gaping at him, but I love him all the same... Maybe even more than David Haselhoff.

Sam Raimi's touch is clear all through the film, and gives you insight into why the new Spiderman movies were such runaway hits. The action sequences are awesome, including one with poor Ash dueling with a sword in each hand up and down a flight of stairs against two foes, which was apparently done, finally, in one take. Listening to some of the interviews and commentary on how Army Of Darkness was made, I'm shocked no one killed Sam Raimi, or at least doused him with honey and shoved him in a fire ant hill. He sounds like one tough to please bastard, but at least one with a sense of humor. He's the reason the ridiculously out of place, yet perfect, line of "Give me some sugar, baby" ended up in the film, suggested by Sam as he cackled merrily away at the idea.

If you have never seen Army Of Darkness, try it at least once. I have forced this film on my friends, and I think they understand me a little bit better because of it. That's not necessarily a good thing, but they are still my friends, so it couldn't have been too traumatic.

While this is part of the Evil Dead series, Army Of Darkness stands 100% on it's own. Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 were made to be horror, with just a hint of humor, but Army Of Darkness is quite the opposite. Yes, there are some horror elements, and some folks may not be able to get past the first twenty minutes, including a lovely fountain of blood and some horribly cheesy monsters in The Pit. I'm frightfully desensitized to violence, like most Americans, so I just giggled my way through it all.

There are several versions of the film available, but I still prefer the first one I saw. The ending just fits it so much better than what the true original ending was supposed to be. The true original is a bit darker and hard to laugh at, giving , as Bruce Campbell describes his character, 'idiot Ash' what he deserves. The first version released, and the one I've seen countless times, ends with Ash fighting off an S-Mart demonized customer, getting the girl, and just fits the overall vibe of the movie. Watch all versions if you get a chance, but I think you'll see I'm right.

I could spend a lot more time and a lot more paragraphs on Army Of Darkness, but I don't want to give away spoilers to anyone who may actually have never seen it. This movie is the slide rule I measure so many other movies against. It was the B-movie I watched that made everything suddenly click with why bad movies are so awesome. It caused me to have an epiphany, if you will.

Truly, how can I sum up a fan-girl review of this great, horrible movie? There's only one line which can pay homage:

Army Of Darkness is the king, baby!