The Evil Dead Series-Part 3:Army of Darkness.

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2018)

Only having three titles by Dario Argento left to see (I ended up picking Phantom of the Opera,which apart from the continuing of a few themes was a missed opportunity for Dario) I decided to go for another movie to watch as a double bill on my 31st birthday. Receiving the complete set from very kind fellow IMDber Red-Barracuda,I decided that it was the perfect time to see the evil dead rise again.
View on the film:
Revving back to life after a five year gap, co-writer/(with brother Ivan) director Sam Rami & The Matrix cinematographer Bill Pope transfer the free-flowing ultra-stylisation of the first two onto a much larger canvas,with the extended,rapid-fire tracking shots of the first films morphing into explosive battle scenes that spin flying first-person shots across the sky towards their targets. Taking the series in a more open Fantasy/Ray Harryhausen-inspired direction,Rami tones down the gory horror shocks for playful Slap-Stick Horror (!) that ties Ash into Gulliver's Travels,and the Medieval setting allowing Rami to use Harryhausen-style stop-motion animation to bring an army of darkness back from the evil dead.

Sending Ash's 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 into Medieval times, the screenplay by the Rami's chop their lone hero into a fish out of water adventure,where Ash's off the cuff one-liners leads to very funny gruff exchanges with the knights. Whilst less focused on the horror element,the writers do well twisting the Adventure tale into the Horror genre,as Ash is sent as a man on a mission to retrieve The Book of the Dead,and a surprising dip into Sci-Fi ends the trilogy on an excellent chilling note. Picking up the chainsaw again, Bruce Campbell gives a hyper-active performance as Ash,who leaps into action to take on the evil dead's army of darkness.