Not as good as II but still fun . . .

Rating: Null/10 (7 October 2014)

Comparing 'Army of Darkness' to it's predecessor 'Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn' is a little unfair. Sure, it is ingrained in our mental movie logic that we have to compare movies to their sequels (so many look indentical) but these two films are so different that it is like comparing apples to oranges. This film depends more on its sense of fun visuals and lightens up on the splatter and that makes all the difference.
'Army of Darkness' picks up exactly were 'Evil Dead II' left off with our hero named Ash (Bruce Campbell) falling from the sky into a medieval world. The land isn't in engulfed in darkness but Ash's soon takes care of that when he is asked to go and retrieve the book of the dead. It required the pronouncement of Klaatu Barada Nikto (you heard that right). But Ash forgets the words and takes the book anyway and he soon finds out the consequences as the armies of the dead rise from their grave and the land is engulfed in the after-mentioned darkness.
The movie is just plain fun. The climax involves a war with Ash and the good people of the land using Ash's chemistry book to build explosives to combat an army of skeletons (just like the ones in Jason and the Argonauts). Director Sam Raimi allows the skeletons a second or two of screen time a piece but manages to give them fun personalities instead of just letting them be menacing.
Like most of Raimi's best work the movie is a work of visual invention. The best scene involves a bend on an old Irish fairy tale as Ash breaks a mirror and the reflection splits in several tiny Ashes who assault him and eventually end up climbing down his throat.
The key to the movie is the chiseled-chin hero played by Bruce Campbell who completely throws his dignity out the window in scenes like the one in which he is assaulted by several skeletal hands at once. He handles certain scenes that other actors would have been too vain to even attempt. He has fun with the dialogue handling lines like 'Hail to the King baby!' with perfect finesse and announcing himself to an opposing zombie as 'Ash, housewares!' 'Army of Darkness' is fun. I like how Raimi goes one step further and doesn't let his scene fall into stogy ordinary action. He does that with his best visual work like this and it's predecessor. I've even seen it in his lesser works. I liked the visual trickery of 'The Quick and the Dead' but longed for something resembling a story. I even saw his skill in his wonderful but overlooked 'The Gift'.
But here somehow all of the elements seem to fall into place just as they did in 'Evil Dead II' even if they aren't the same movie, the fun remains the same.