Sir Ash, Lord of the medieval madness

Rating: 8/10 (4 November 2019)

"Army Of Darkness" is a 1993 horror comedy directed by Sam Raimi starring Bruce Campbell and Embeth Davidtz. The final chapter of Raimi's "Evil Dead" trilogy is the most overexcited of them all. While the shift from splatter horror to horror comedy sounds weird, but is still imaginable, the idea that the third outing is a medieval fantasy comedy is absolutely overwhelming. Centered around our chainsaw and shotgun wielding anti-hero, Ash Williams, the whole plot takes place in 1300 A.D. - and as messed up as it sounds - it's absolute fun from start to finish. The premise might sound tremendously ludicrous, but the execution managed to be ludicrous in a good way . It has a cheap but adorable charme to it. Mostly thanks to the crafty dialogue and absurd humour of the Raimi brothers the odd atmosphere comes to life. Next to exaggerated slapstick stunts (that pay an homage to the Stooges!) and hilarious, but well crafted visual effects, it even offers a decent story with extreme absurdity and ridiculous comedy gold. Let's not forget to mention the score, especially the theme of the army itself. Some scenes are too ridiculous even for my taste, but it's the style of the film that fills me with vast infantile joy. The final battle, with all its pompousness and impressive stop-motion effects, feels weirdly epic in its own unique way. It appeals to the inner child in all of us and it doesn't want to achieve anything more. All in all, this film is a treat for hardcore fans of the predecessors. It's stylish, weird and absurd from start to finish and if you can embrace the medieval madness you'll enjoy it as I did it. It's not everybody's darling, but a groovy end of an iconic horror franchise.