I've now seen all three "Evil Dead" movies...

Rating: 4/10 (2 April 2003)

...and for the life of me, I don't understand their appeal. Which is bizarre, because they're almost designed to be right up my alley. I love Lucio Fulci and the slapstick horrors of Peter Jackson ("Dead Alive") and Stuart Gordon ("Re-Animator" is a masterpiece). But Sam Raimi's films never did much for me. In each installment of the "Evil Dead" trilogy, he seems to be trying too hard--one-upping himself constantly in terms of horror and humor, but with neither of those elements being very strong to begin with. "Army of Darkness" is the third installment in the trilogy, a film that thinks it's a lot funnier and scarier than it really is. Most of the time, Raimi wants to covey, as loudly as possible, "ISN'T THIS HILARIOUS? IT'S OH-SO OVER-THE-TOP!" when, in reality, it's not. Special effects eventually take over the meager plot. Bruce Campbell is a capable leading man who gives the material his all, but he's mostly reduced to uttering hit-or-miss one-liners. Sam Raimi may have a cult reputation for these films, but there's a reason his recent, non-horror output ("A Simple Plan" comes to mind) has been better: it's balanced and controlled.
4/10