"Gimme some sugar, baby."

Rating: 9/10 (7 May 2013)

With "Evil Dead II" doing modest theatrical and vast video success plans were immediately underway for the third (and final?) installment of Sam Raimi's rollicking horror trilogy. Once again, the film would be bankrolled by Dino De Laurentiis but with a major studio (Universal) and an even higher budget ($13 million) to boot.
Picking up where the last film went off, unassuming S-Mart housewares clerk Ash Williams literally falls out of the sky into England's Dark Ages, which is swarming by ferocious "Deadites." Before he can come back home Ash must find the Necronomicon, get the beautiful maiden Shelia and battle his evil counterpart's Army of the Dead. And that's how the plot goes.
But since I'm only reviewing the Director's Cut of "Army of Darkness" there might be some spoilers ahead. Although conceived in the same "splatstick" style as with the previous film, "Army" takes the complete 180-degree turn from blood-spraying horror to the exciting swordplay of Ray Harryhausen epics. Equipped with his trusty chainsaw-hand and "boomstick", Bruce Campbell's Ash is at his funniest and perhaps his most chauvinistic right here. And I'm still surprised that Bruce prospered to stay in shape for years between installments.
The supporting actors in "Army" are a delight. Embeth Davidtz ("Schindler's List") is fetchingly gorgeous as both the Good and Bad Shelia. While Marcus Gilbert is okay as Arthur, Richard Grove outshines as Duke Henry. Ian Abercrombie (Mr. Pitt from "Seinfeld") is always a welcoming presence as the Wiseman. In the continuing game of musical chairs, Linda is played by a once much-recognizable Bridget Fonda. For the film's scene-stealing moment, Patricia Tallman's possessed witch literally scared the pants off of me when she appeared on camera. I'm dead serious.
When watching the Director's Cut of "Army," I began to see flaws in the film that completely drag especially in the overlong slapstick scenes. The original ending for the international release in which Ash oversleeps in the cave and wakes up in a post-apocalyptic future was a more fitting conclusion. If you've watched all three films closely, you start to wonder why Ash isn't the conventional hero. According to Sam Raimi, he believed Ash was "more of a fool, which is why he liked to torture him so much in his films" and "being a goof and drinking too much potion was in his character." Well said.
With the "Evil Dead" remake released, could it be that fans are going to see an "Evil Dead IV" in the near future? Then the answer would beÂ…yes.