Matt Connarton Unleashed: Erich Pilcher reviews Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness

My name is Ash and I am a slave. Close as I can figure

it. The year is thirteen hundred a d. And I'm being a dragon

my death. It wasn't always like this. I had a real life at

once a job hardware all twelve shop Smart Shop Smart. I had a wonderful

girlfriend, Linda. Together we drove to a small cabin in the mountains.

It seems an archaeologist to come to this remote place to translate and study his

latest fine Acranamicon ex mortis, the Book of the Dead. Found in human

flesh and inked in blood, This ancient Sumerian text contained bizarre burial rites,

funerary incantations, and demon resurrection passages. It was never meant for the world

of the living. The book awoke something dark in the woods. It took

Linda, and then it came from me. It got into my hand and

it went back. So I locked it off at the rest, but that

didn't stop it. It came back big time. In nineteen eighty one,

a little heralded independent supernatural horror film about a group of college students camping in

rural Tennessee that find the Necromonicon, otherwise known as the Book of the dead

and unwittingly bring forth demons from al that take their lives. Captivated audience is

However, at the end of that film there was one survivor. That survivor

would go on to star in two additional sequels and a cable television series.

It is the third film of the series that is most known and our subject

for this week's Classic film review. Directed by Sam Raimi, released in nineteen

ninety three, Army of Darkness is the third film in the Evil Dead series.

The film continues directly where nineteen eighty seven's Evil Dead two left off.

Our everyman hero Ash Williams Bruce Campbell, in his career defining role, is

transported through a demonic portal to medieval times. We're in order to get back

home, he must retrieve the Necromonicon, but in doing so unwittingly Unleash's demons

of hell on the land and must help the Kingdom ward them off in a

climactic final battle. Our opening clip was the voiceover that starts this film.

Ash explains the story of the past two films and where he is at now.

Our next clip sets Ash up as an unlikely hero of the Kingdom after

defeating the infamous pit Witch, where he was thrown into a pit to die.

He uses his unknown technology to the people a shotgun lovingly known as his

boomstick, to ward off the Witch and gets the people of the kingdom to

rally behind him and get him home. For that arrogance, I shall see

you dead. Yeah, all right, you primitive screwheads. Listen up.

See this. This is my poodstick, the twelve gage double belled Remington s

Smart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department.

That's right. This week baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Retails for about one hundred and nine to ninety five. It set a walnut

stock, cobalt blue steel and a hair trigger. That's right, Shop Smart,

Shop s Smart. You got that now, I swear the next one

of you primates even touches me. Now, let's talk about how I get

back home. It could be argued, and I would even get behind the

argument that the original Evil Dead is one of the greatest cult classics ever.

A great deal of the credit has to go to Campbell and his performance of

Ash. This is because, in a way, like many great movie characters,

Ash can be seen as all of us. We have all been in

positions where situation of possible heroism or the requirement to help have been thrust upon

us, and we have to accept it against our own intuition. That is

Ash in a nutshell. Our next two clips show this. First is a

short clip that has Ash being given specific instructions on what words to say by

the village wizard, the great Ian Abercrombie better known as mister Pitt from the

great TV series seinfeld In. The words are a homage to the original The

Day the Earth Stood Still. Ash proclaims he will remember those words. But

then our next clip shows us that despite Ash's best intentions, he once again,

through his own inability to do things the right way, brings deadites unto

the world, and that is due to his own dim witted nature. This

path will lead you to an unholy place, a cemetery. They're the necronomica

that waits when thou retrievest the book from its cradle. You must recite the

words platu verratackto clatu verrata nto. Okay, well repeat them clatu verrata nickto

again. I got it, I got it. I know your damn words.

All right now, Ash attempts to recite the words when he retrieves the

n acromonicon o. Wait a minute, the words right, right right,

say the words plato, mm hmm, necktie, nectar, nicol, nodle.

It'said word, it's different in word, it's definitely inward, clato,

rada. Okay, then that's it. Hey, wait a minute, everything's

cool, I said, I can't. This film is such a phenomenal array

of genres. It has comedy, This is largely due to Ash and his

many quotable one liners. It has horror, science fiction, fantasy, action,

and even old style special effects that will even warm the heart of the

most hardened cinemaphile. With so many elements of film at play, it's easy

to see why so many, no matter what they are a fan of,

simply adore this film. To this day. This film lives on you.

Hear Ashes quotes regularly. Hail to the King, baby, groovy, you

got really ugly really quick, that was only pillow talk baby, and this

is my boomstick, among many others, are a part of pop culture vernacular

to this day. Campbell is one of the most highly regarded and best beloved

b movie actors of all time, a role he relishes and welcomes at comic

book and film conventions to this day. That is why this film is a

classic. It doesn't take itself too seriously. It doesn't allow itself to get

put into one genre. Forget about talking about awards, box office numbers,

or even critical analysis. If you want a great film that serves anything you're

in the mood for, this is that film that will do that for you.

It is one of the best films to watch, and much like all

the films covered this month, the time of year does not matter. I

hope you join me next week when we conclude our Halloween slate of films,

within my opinion, the greatest slasher film of all time, John Carpenter's Halloween.

To close this week's review and a rarity for classic film reviews, I

want to share the final scene of Army of Darkness and let Ash have the

final word and for you the audience to hear how once again Ash is Ineptness

brings doom to the world. For WMNH and Matt Connorton unleashed, this has

been a classic film review with Eric Culture. I thought about staying they offered

me the chance to lead them, to teach them to be king. Uh

huh, but my place is here, So I swallowed the Jews said the

words, and here I am. Did you say the words right this time?

Well maybe I didn't say every single, tiny little syllable no, but

basically I said him, yeah, basically. You know that story about how

you could have been king. I think it's kind of cute. Yeah,

lady, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the store HOODI

name's that Housewares. I'll swallow your soul, come get some m hm.

Sure I could have stayed in the past, could have even been king,

but in my own way, I am king. Hail to the King, baby m