"I say we stay here and fight it out!"

Rating: 6/10 (30 June 2018)

I can understand how this film wound up a cult classic but it did very little for me. It's difficult to categorize what genre it's in, as it combines elements of horror, sci-fi, comedy and camp, along with a lot of farcical nonsense. So maybe that's the appeal for dyed in the wool fans who have watched it over and over again, judging by it's positive reviews on this board. I have to admit though, the concept was cleverly outlandish, taking a modern day housewares clerk and transporting him back to the medieval ages along with his car and a chainsaw. Lots of possibilities there, but then it degenerated into a lot of downright silly battles against evil demons and a whole host of skeleton warriors. I guess that's where the Army of Darkness comes in. Without acknowledging it's origin in the 1951 sci-fi classic "The Day The Earth Stood Still" (one of my favorite movies by the way), our hero Ash (Bruce Campbell) is given a secret password to retrieve a deadly scripture known as the Necronomicon. However it sounded to me like the second word in the phrase 'Klaatu, Barada, Nikto' was changed to something like 'Verata', or at least that's the way I heard it. The original usage of the term in the earlier movie was also used as sort of a password to let a supporting character advise an alien robot that it's Master Klaatu was in trouble. In retrospect, now that I think about it, the usage of 'Klaatu, Verata, Nikto' here might have meant the whole picture was in trouble. (But in a good way for all you loyal fans.)