not just pillowtalk

Rating: Null/10 (8 August 2001)

Bruce Campbell is captivating (read: decapitating) as ever in this great sequel of Evil Dead 2. He plays the arrogant hero with unsurpassed facial acrobatics. 'Army' is less experimental, shows off it's big budget and has totally different brilliant action scenes that kept me laughing (hysterically pounding with my feet on the ground). It has a more solid plot (no matter which version you choose), better actors than The Evil Dead (doesn't actually matter, because Campbell rules anyway, especially when he's on his own), eviscerating art direction, a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel and a haired trigger.
But seriously: it was the first movie in the series that I saw ('94) and I was immediately caught up in Raimi's web. Moreover, I can't resist any movie which features Bruce Campbell since Army. They both blow the Evil Dead concept to almost epic proportions here. Cinematographer Bill Pope gloriously continues Peter Deming's stunning work on Evil Dead 2. E.g. the 'Ash/little Ash' scene in the mill is fabulous. Unfortunately, the hard-core experimental b-movie appeal is (almost) gone with the arrival of Dino De Laurentiis. Still, you can call me in the middle of the night to watch it again anytime. The ultimate recommendations after seeing this one should be Chinese Ghost Story (1987), Braindead (1992) and of course Evil Dead 2 (1987), although The Evil Dead (1982) started all the fun of course. Oh, and the terrible waster Evil Dead Trap (1988) has NOTHING to do with this one.
More serious (far-fetched) recommendations about guys trapped in the wrong time/system are: Catch-22 (1970, Nichols) and Brazil (1985, Gilliam) and maybe even Kafka (1991, Soderbergh), Le Procès (1963, Welles). Warning: the last two are definitely neither meant to be funny nor horror.
10 points out of 10 :-)