Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness
(1993)

"I ain't that good."
- Ash (to Bad Ash)

FORMAT: Limited Edition DVD (Woooo! I got #09520 of 30000!!!)

PRESENTATION: Widescreen (1.66:1)

COMPANY: Anchor Bay

DELETED SCENES: 14

COMMENTARY: Director (Sam Raimi), co-writer (Ivan Raimi), star (Bruce Campbell).

BEHIND-THE-SCENES: "The Men Behind the Army" featurette, narrated by Bruce Campbell.

TRAILERS: Original theatrical trailer

MUSIC VIDEOS: None.

OTHER FEATURES: Director's storyboards, talent bios.

After the "Renaissance Pictures" logo appears on screen, we are treated to a new opening sequence with Ash, draped in shadows, telling us how he came to the cabin and encountered the evil that lurked in the woods.

ASH: I know now that there is such a thing as a living evil. A dark and shapeless thing that lives not in the spaces that we know, but between them... in the dark... in the night. Now listen carefully because there isn't much time. Listen and believe, because it's all true...

What follows is not too much different from the original opening. Ash describes how he and Linda went to the cabin, found the book, and were attacked by the demons in the woods. He tells us how his hand went bad so he lopped it off at the wrist, and he then read the passage from the Necronomicon that opened the vortex that sent him back in time.

COMMENTS: A very cool opening, foreshadowing Ash's ultimate fate in the future, with some nice archival footage from Evil Dead 2 to bridge the films.

As his men close in on Ash, one of the charges him with a horse. Ash knocks him off with the butt of his shotgun, and is then blindsided by Arthur who knocks him to the ground.

Ash, we learn, hates to be sucker-punched, and disarms Arthur. He then makes the mistake of giving the man his sword back, assuming all knights are chivalrous, and putting too much stock in his "This is all a mistake, I'm not supposed to be here" shtick.

Arthur orders his men to apprehend Ash and we move into the existing film we all know and love.

COMMENTS: The scene in the screenplay is actually much longer, and has Ash stealing a horse, resulting in an action-packed chase sequence. Too much, too soon? Perhaps, but it's still worth the price of admission, especially to see Ash's hero sword catch. Classic stuff.

According to Raimi, most of this footage (you can tell by the quality of the stock) was leftover stuff from 1982, and was supposed to set up Ash's hatred for Arthur when he climbs out of the pit.

As Ash is led into Arthur's castle, we are treated to a quick exterior shot that wasn't included in the regular cut.

COMMENTS: Not so much a deleted scene as a deleted shot, but what a nice one it is!

The rating demons made sure Army of Darkness didn't have too much blood, but DVD breaks all those boundaries, showing us all of the bodily fluids the filmmakers meant for us to see.

In this case, we are treated to an extra splash of black blood as Ash cuts the pit deadite to ribbons.

In an unusual twist, Raimi decided to include a love scene--shot tastefully--between Ash and Sheila.

COMMENTS: Probably the one scene that could've been left out of the director's cut without much of a fuss from the fans.

A longer and explanatory cut of the scene where Ash holes up in an old windmill.

Opening with a nice shot of Ash with the windmill in the background, we are given more insight into the evil lurking around the area, and how it's stalking Ash.

After settling inside, strange shadows filter through the cracks in the walls. Ash goes outside to investigate and is startled by his horse in the woods. Looking back at the windmill, Ash sees someone inside and runs to investigate.

This goes into the scene where Ash walks into the mirror, shattering it, and creating all the tiny Ashs.

COMMENTS: The commentary bit in this scene is really great, with Sam Raimi asking Ash if he knows whatever happened to the horse. First, he makes a joke about seeing him in a dog food commercial, then he muses sadly that he and the horse haven't spoken since shooting the film.

The scene where Ash battles the pint-sized versions of himself is longer, with Ash going after them with a hammer.

One of the little Ashs dumps a slop bucket on his head before he can get the chance, and the rest trip him up with a broom, causing him to fall back--this time ass-first--onto the hot plate.

Ash then elbows one of the little fellas, pushing him into the fireplace where he pops like a charcoal briquette.

COMMENTS: Just some superfluous slapstick that doesn't really add much to the scene. I think it works better cropped down like it is in the regular cut.

ASH: What are you? Are you me?
BAD ASH: What are goo? Are goo me? You sound like a jerk!
ASH: What is this?
BAD ASH: Oh, you wanna know? 'Cause the answer's easy: I'm Bad Ash and you're Good Ash.

COMMENTS: Raimi thinks that the line in the existing cut is better than this one. So do I.

After Ash receives the support of Arthur's people, he travels to Henry the Red's kingdom to enlist his help.

Henry's men capture him, and are about to kill him, when Henry calls them off, identifying Ash as the man who saved his life.

Ash asks for the other man's help, calling in the favor he's owed, and telling him that if he doesn't help now, the army of the dead will be after his people once they're done with Arthur.

COMMENTS: Bruce Campbell's commentary here is quite amusing, especially when he points out how horrible he looks riding a horse. Rob Tappert, one of the film's producers, also has a cameo in this scene has one of Henry's men.

ASH: I know you're scared, we're all scared, but that doesn't mean we're cowards. We can take these deadites. We can take them... with science!

This goes into the construction of the Deathcoaster, with more footage showing Ash and the blacksmith putting it together.

COMMENTS: Ash's speech is classic, but you're not missing much from the Deathcoaster scene.

Whilst plotting their world domination, Evil Ash takes time out to adjust his hair (what little there is), while Sheila picks her fingers with a dagger.

Various shots were added to the final battle, making it much longer than the original version of the film.

A good junk of the Deathcoaster scene was cut, showing various deadites getting cut to ribbons, and the car ultimately getting trashed.

There's also some explanatory scenes, showing how the deadites entered the castle at various points.

COMMENTS: Bruce Campbell makes a great remark on the commentary track, where he jokingly asks Sam Raimi about whether George Lucas offered to buy the Deathcoaster (Sam's beat up car that he used for all three Evil Dead films) for another American Graffiti film.

Army of Darkness had a much different ending than the existing cut, which concludes with Ash killing a deadite at S-Mart.

In the director's cut, Ash drinks a potion that will let him sleep through the centuries. In typical Ash-style, he drinks too much and wakes up in an apocalyptic post-holocaust future.

Ash is left in much the same way he was at the end of Evil Dead 2: scared out of his mind and screaming to the heavens.

COMMENTS: It's a pity that Universal thought this ending was so downbeat. Not only does it fit in with the existing series of films, but it leaves things open for a much more interesting sequel than the existing cut.

FINAL WORD: A very kick-ass DVD that should be in the collection of every cinephile. This is the ultimate Army of Darkness set, with both the regular cut (who's really going to watch it now!) and the director's cut. Not only does this have footage scene in foreign releases of the film, but it includes never-before-seen footage sure to make you drool.

Most of the scenes were cut here (with Sam Raimi's imput) by Universal for pacing. They felt the film was too long and the ending too gloomy.

Do you have any information, links, or, trivia that isn't listed here? Do you want to post a review of your own?

Send any info and reviews to ian@plastic-iguana.com

Back to the main menu

This site is best viewed with the TW Cen font.