Good as a stand alone film, but no Evil Dead

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2000)

Army of Darkness, when looked at as a singular film, is funny as hell and of course Ash rules! This film was released as both a stand alone and a sequel to Evil Dead II. I made the mistake of watching this film the first time back in 93 as a sequel, and I was disappointed. First of all, they show Ash working in a Walmart-type store. I'm thinking to myself, "didn't he timewarp to a medieval world with his car and a saw attached to his arm at the end of E.D. II? Why is he here?". From there on, I lost all respect for what Raimi was trying to do; trying to please both E.D. fans and gain new ones with an original movie. It just doesn't work on that level. The lack of plot continuity threw me off.
But as a stand alone flick, it rocks! Funny as hell and cool fx. I remember when I saw this movie for the second time with a friend, he started humming the theme from "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" because he thought this movie was stupid. He just didn't get it; it was, for the most part, meant to be that way, with groaner one-liners and silly skeletons.
If you've seen the first 2 E.D. movies, don't rent this expecting a continuation of those movies. Just enjoy it for what it is.