One of the greatest movies ever made

Rating: 9/10 (24 June 2005)

Sequel to Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness provides us with a smattering of genres laced with a break-neck high-intensity filming style, long before Sam Raimi became a hot commodity with Spider-Man. This film almost has everything you could ask for - Comedy, Action, Horror, even a little bit of romance - and, of course, more catchy one-liners than you can shake a boomstick at.
The story goes that Ash and a few friends of his trek up to a rickety old cabin in the woods - wherein they discover an ancient log from a researcher who studied The Book of the Dead - the Necronomicon. After unwittingly unleashing a horrible evil, one by one, everybody is either killed - or becomes part of the evil themselves. The evil even begins to infect Ash, through his hand - which he cuts off at the wrist. In a final moment of desperation, Ash recites an incantation from the Book, hoping to re-seal the evil. Unfortunately for him, things are never that easy... a vortex opens, swallowing the cabin, Ash, and all his belongings.
Once he comes out the other side, he discovers he has been transported to Medieval times, where his appearance was prophesied to bring salvation from the deadites - the very creatures he tried to vanquish in the woods that night. The only way he can get back home is by retrieving the very book that started the mess: The Necronomicon. Ash accepts the quest, but only so he can get sent home again - but in doing so, he once again unleashes a terrible evil; an evil that wants it's book back.
This movie is just really well made. The comedy and the action blend almost perfectly. Ash makes his transformation quite well - after surviving what can almost literally be described as Hell (Evil Dead 2), Ash emerges in this movie as brave, confident, strong, and perhaps a little insane - ready to face any battle the Deadites throw at him, with Shotgun and Chainsaw in hand. There are some inconsistencies involving certain events in the film (the items Ash keeps in the trunk of his car, for example), but given the over-the-top nature of the rest of the movie - it only adds to the feeling of fun radiating from the entire production. Evil Dead's B-Movie roots grow deep, and Army of Darkness, if anything, only lampoons and emphasizes that fact even more, with 100ft jets of blood exploding from pits, ninja-agility deadites, and three stooges parodies.
Even if you haven't seen Evil Dead or Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness provides a pretty in-depth flashback sequence when the film starts - making it recommended viewing for anybody anywhere.