Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13815 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-11-11
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 92 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's hard not to feel there's something wrong when Army of Darkness, the third entry in Sam Raimi's lively Evil Dead series, opens with a 15 certificate. And indeed, this is not quite the non-stop rollercoaster of splat we're entitled to expect.

Like Evil Dead II, it opens with a digest-cum-remake of the original movie, taking geeky Ash (Bruce Campbell) back out to that cabin in the woods where he is beset by demons who do away with his girlfriend (blink and you'll miss Bridget Fonda). Blasted back in time to 12th century England, Ash finds himself still battling the Deadites and his own ineptitude in a quest to save the day and get back home.

Though it starts zippily, with Campbell's grimly funny clod of a hero commanding the screen, a sort of monotony sets in as magical events pile up. Ash is attacked by Lilliputian versions of himself, one of whom incubates in his stomach and grows out of his shoulder to be his evil twin. After being dismembered and buried, Evil Ash rises from the dead to command a zombie army and at least half the film is a big battle scene in which rotted warriors (nine mouldy extras in masks for every one Harryhausen-style impressive animated skeleton) besiege a cardboard castle. There are lots of action jokes, MAD Magazine-like marginal doodles and a few funny lines, but it lacks the authentic scares of The Evil Dead and the authentic sick comedy of Evil Dead II.

On the DVD: Army of Darkness may be the least of the trilogy, but Anchor Bay's super two-disc set is worthy of shelving beside their outstanding editions of the earlier films. Disc 1 contains the 81-minute US theatrical version in widescreen or fullscreen, plus the original "Planet of the Apes" ending, the trailer and a making-of featurette. Disc 2 has the 96-minute director's cut, with extra slapstick and a lively, irreverent commentary track from Raimi, Campbell and co-writer Ivan Raimi, plus yet more deleted scenes and some storyboards. The fact that the film exists in so many versions suggests that none of them satisfied everybody, but fans will want every scrap of Army in this one package. --Kim Newman

Special Features
Disc One
Widescreen Presentation (1.66:1) enhanced for 16:9 TVs
Full-Frame Presentation reformatted to fit 4:3 TVs
Original Ending
Theatrical Trailer
Exclusive Behind- The Scenes Featurette
Talent Bios

Disc Two
Widescreen Presentation (1.66:1) enhanced for 16:9 TVs
15 mins. Of additional footage
Audio Commentary with Director Sam Raimi
Star Bruce Campbell and Co-writer Ivan Raimi
4 never before seen deleted scenes
Director’s storyboard

Synopsis
Following a harrowing night of demonic possession and slapstick antics in EVIL DEAD II, unassuming store clerk Ash (Bruce Campbell) is time-warped into England's Dark Ages, where he must find the Necronomicon, a compendium of the black arts, before he can return home. Fortunately, he has time to romance a beautiful princess (Embeth Davidtz), tune up his chainsaw hand, and battle an army of skeletons led by...himself

Customer Reviews

A classic horror/comedy !!
Army of Darkness continues were "Evil Dead II" left off with Ash (Bruce Campbell) falling from the sky into a medievil world. Some may consider this film to be the weakest of the Evil Dead trilogy but surprizingly the story line was much better than Evil Dead I and II with some great action scenes and lots of one-liners. This is definitely an entertaining movie with many very original moments. If you are looking for a good horror/comedy spoof, then this is well worth checking out!

Army of Darkness- Hurrah!
As a big non-fan of both the horror and the spoof genre this film should have been rubbish to me, but it was without doubt one of the best films I have ever seen!
Army of Darkness has the most incredible one liners and cheesy lines ever; almost every line is quotable and will leave you laughing for ages!
Bruce Cambell's acting is brilliant both as good Ash and as evil Ash and his crazy style never stops being entertaining, especially during the two end sequences. The video is great because you get the two end sequences which are both as brilliant as each other.
Also Sam Raimi's directing is amazing and his traditional stylistic traits are seen throughout including "the car" that appears in every film he makes!
All-in-all I would recomend this film for anyone who wants to have a good night in. The film has semi-scary bits and plenty of jokes to keep you entertained!

Buy the original, this sucks. Hail to the Editors Baby!
I bought this in the hope that I'd see more Bruce Campbell wise cracks. What you get is the theatrical feature with ungraded cuttings from the editing room floor glued in with chewing gum and paperclips. The original film is one of my all time favorites and this version proves that editors do a very good job by removing anything that is unneccesary, misleading or of poor film-making quality. This DVD is basically everything that is great about Army of Darkness with added unneccesary, misleading and poor quality footage.

Hail to the Editors baby!