Fun, fun, fun!

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2003)

Bruce Campbell returns as the hapless hero Ash in this third instalment in Sam Raimi's exceptional Evil Dead' series. In Army of Darkness' Ash is transported back through time to 13th Century England where he must yet again do battle with the evil deadites if he is to ever stand a chance of being transported back to his own time.
Continuing the comical feel that Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn' so brilliantly executed and now almost steering clear of any horror aspect, Army of Darkness' is nothing more than a stylish comic romp with the usual sheer brilliance of Sam Raimi's unique direction. The story, albeit far-fetched, plays perfectly and very little of the movie fails to entertain. There are some obvious plot-holes but unlike the original, and to a small extent the first sequel, this is not in any way a serious movie but in fact a well thought out and well scripted comic fantasy. Having said that there are still many horror elements to the movie, but they are there more for the comedy rather than to shock or scare. Fans of the previous movies will be treated to an Evil Ash, an army of skeletons and the typical deadites that we came to love (well you know what I mean) in the first place.
Bruce Campbell is at his zany best as Ash, once again delivering his one line catchphrases the way only he can and unlike the previous two movies he is aided this time around by a relatively strong supporting cast including Embeth Davidtz in an early career role as the female lead Sheila. Campbell and Davidtz seem to share some type of special on-screen chemistry which makes their interactions with each other throughout the movie all that more distinctive.
Once again the viewer is treated to some top notch special effects and inspired direction which come together magnificently to produce the wonderful Army of Darkness'. Despite perhaps being overly camp at times and being rather distant from the beginnings of the series I personally rate Army of Darkness' as one of the better movies of the 1990's and would recommend it as an accomplished and different second sequel. Not much horror but as a horror-comedy fantasy it's hard to beat! My rating for Army of Darkness'  7.5/10.