Fishing in the Discount Bin - Army of Darkness

Boldly marching along on Fishing in the Discount Bin, watching the movies I own, blogging about them, attempting to give my life meaning.  Time for the cult classic Army of Darkness.  This is in my logs at January 15, 2017.

 
Army of Darkness was the first DVD I ever watched.  WATCHED, not owned.  It was the late-1990s.  I was at college.  A lot of my friends were computer science majors, and as such, their computers were always top-of-the-line.  That fall, they all had the hot new peripheral:  DVD-ROM drives, so gathering in one of their dorm rooms to watch a DVD started becoming common.  And the first one:  Army of Darkness.

I had remembered watching the TV commercials for it when it came out five years earlier or so.  I remember watching that opening sequence and going, "Wait a minute...this is a sequel?"  And my friend explained how it was a follow-up to Evil Dead 2.  I had vague memories of Evil Dead 2.  I had never seen it, but every time at the video store, I'd see that video box, with the skull with eyeballs glaring at me, and it kinda weirded me out. 

But no worries.  I know some current friends were amazed when I bought the Blu-Ray, because I've never been big on horror films.  But I really wouldn't call Army of Darkness a horror film.  It gets too goofy at times to be horrific.  I'd almost call it an action-comedy, or a fantasy-comedy, given its setting.  But yeah.  I almost wouldn't call it a horror film.  It's as much a horror film as Ghostbusters is, how about that? 

So Evil Dead 2 ended with our hero, Ash, opening up a portal to vanquish the evil dead to another time and place.  Ash got sucked in as well, and wound up in medieval times, where he's mistaken for "the chosen one" and must save the kingdom from the evil dead. 

This...this is where Bruce Campbell really gets his reputation.  He's suave, cool, quick with the quips...my God, have you ever known a more quotable movie?  "Good.  Bad.  I'm the one with the gun."  Love that line. 

Again, it's goofy.  We get a goofy skeleton army.  Even the evil twin of Ash that leads the army is goofy.  And the low-budget nature of it gives it a Monty Python and the Holy Grail kind of feel. 

And needless to say, I think it has one of the best movie endings of all time.  The original ending, not the director's cut ending.  This Blu-Ray came with the director's cut, so I think I'll have to watch that next. 

Army of Darkness is just a fun movie.  Can't say much more about that.