Army of Darkness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Army of Darkness | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Sam Raimi |
| Produced by | Dino De Laurentiis Robert Tapert Bruce Campbell |
| Written by | Sam Raimi Ivan Raimi |
| Starring | Bruce Campbell Embeth Davidtz Bridget Fonda Marcus Gilbert |
| Music by | Joe LoDuca Danny Elfman (March of the Dead) |
| Editing by | Bob Murawski |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  February 19, 1993 |
| Running time | 83 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $21,500,000 |
| Preceded by | Evil Dead II |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Army of Darkness (also known as Evil Dead III, The Medieval Dead, Bruce Campbell vs. the Army of Darkness, Captain Supermarket (in Japan only), and The Ultimate Experience in Medieval Terror) is an American comedy horror / adventure film, released in 1993. The film is a sequel to The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. Army of Darkness was directed by Sam Raimi, written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, produced by Rob Tapert, and starring Bruce Campbell once again as protagonist Ash Williams. Despite being a sequel to the two Evil Dead films, it is not as violent or gory, relying more on slapstick.
The movie had a considerably higher budget than the prior two Evil Dead films. The budget was estimated to be around $11 million; Evil Dead II had a budget of $3.5 million and The Evil Dead a budget of $350,000. At the box office, Army of Darkness was not a big success, barely making back its budget with a gross of $11,501,093 domestically. After its video release, however, it has obtained an ever-growing cult following, along with the other two films in the trilogy.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Ash, discovered the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis[1], or "Book of the Dead" and unleashed demonic forces in the films The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. After reading a spell to defeat the demons, he is sucked into a time vortex with his Oldsmobile and is transported back to AD 1300 ("As near as I can figure"). The end of Evil Dead II shows Ash being hailed as the "Hero from the Sky", the man destined to deliver salvation to mankind from the "Deadites", or undead.
There are some differences between the ending of Evil Dead II and the beginning of Army of Darkness. Instead of being praised, Ash is at first suspected of being one of Duke Henry's men, a Scott at war with the English knights who found Ash. He is enslaved, his gun and chainsaw confiscated, and is taken to a castle. A priest keeps Ash's weapons, believing the "strange one" to be a redeemer, foretold in prophecy to be the one who shall deliver mankind from the terror of the Deadites. Ash is thrown in a pit where he fights off a Deadite, regains his weapons, and uses his "boomstick", a Remington double-barreled shotgun, to frighten the inhabitants of the kingdom into helping him return to his own time.
The only way to return to his time and stop the Deadites, according to the priest who gave Ash back his weapons, is to retrieve the Necronomicon - which contains both spells. Ash is supposed to speak a mysterious phrase when he takes the Necronomicon.[2] While preparing for this, Ash becomes romantically involved with a local woman, Sheila.
Ash then journeys for the Necronomicon, along the way passing into a haunted forest. Some unseen creature pursues Ash through the woods, which the camera shows from the creature's point of view. At one point the camera passes between two trees, and a face (or perhaps a mask) appears on the lefthand tree. It is unclear what the face is about, but interviews with Raimi suggest that there is no particular significance to it.
While running from the unseen creature, Ash ducks into a windmill where he crashes into a mirror. The small reflections of Ash climb out from the shattered mirror and torture him. After knocking him unconscious and tying him down, one of the little Ashes dives down his throat. Ash attempts to kill the little Ash by drinking boiling water, but before any effect can be assumed, "Evil Ash" begins to split off from his right shoulder. Ash panicks and runs back out through the woods, where Evil Ash completely splits off of him. Ash shoots Evil Ash in the face, slices him to bits with his chainsaw, and buries him alive.
When he arrives at the book's location, he sees three books instead of one. After a painful experience with the two fake books (one had bit him and the other one sucked him into the book), Ash finds the real one. He attempts to say the magic phrase, but realizes he forgot the end of it. Ash tries to trick the book by mumbling the missing word, but that re-releases the Evil Dead. He simply grabs the book and rushes back to the castle, while the dead rise from graves all around. During Ash's panicked ride back, Evil Ash rises from his grave and unites the Deadites into the Army of Darkness.
Despite causing the predicament faced by the Medieval humans, Ash initially demands to be returned to his own time. Sheila is captured by a flying Deadite, and Ash becomes determined to lead the humans against the skeletal Deadite army. Reluctantly, the people agree to join Ash. Using scientific knowledge from textbooks in the trunk of his Oldsmobile, plus enlisting the help of Duke Henry (whom Ash saved after his conflict in the pit), Ash successfully leads the humans to defeat the Deadites and save Sheila. After this, he is brought back to his own time using a potion made from the book. The final scene begins with Ash back at the S Mart, telling a co-worker how he could have been king. After this, a deadite starts wreaking havoc on the store, and Ash destroys it. The film ends with Ash saying, "Hail to the king, baby", and kissing a female co-worker.
[edit] Production
Plans to make a third Evil Dead film had been circulating for a number of years, even prior to the production of Darkman. Director and script writer Sam Raimi drew from a variety of sources, including literature with A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and films like The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts and The Three Stooges. Evil Dead II, according to Bruce Campbell as quoted in Bill Warren's book, The Evil Dead Companion, "was originally designed to go back into the past to 1300, but we couldn't muster it at the time, so we decided to make an interim version, not knowing if the 1300 story would ever get made." Promotional drawings were created and published in Variety during the casting process before the budget was deemed too little for the plot. The working title for the project was Evil Dead II: Army of Darkness.[3] The title "Army of Darkness" came from an idea by Irvin Shapiro, during the production of Evil Dead II.[4]
The screenplay was mostly written in 1988. After filming Darkman, Raimi took the script out and worked on it with his brother, Ivan Raimi, who he had enjoyed collaborating with on Darkman and Easy Wheels. Raimi says that Ivan, "has a good sense of character", and that he brought more comedy into the script.[5] Campbell remembers, "We all decided, 'Get him out of the cabin.' There were earlier drafts where part three still took place there, but we thought, 'Well, we all know that cabin, it's time to move on.' The three of us decided to keep it in 1300, because it's more interesting."
Evil Dead II made enough money internationally that Dino De Laurentiis was willing to finance a sequel. Raimi had been disappointed by his dealings with Universal Pictures during the production of Darkman. The initial budget was $8 million USD but during pre-production, it became obvious that this wasn't going to be enough. Darkman was also a financial success and so Universal decided to contribute half of the film's $12 million budget. However, the film's ambitious scope and its extensive effects work forced Campbell, Raimi, and Rob Tapert to put up $1 million of their collective salaries to shoot a new ending and not film a scene where a possessed woman pushes down some giant pillars.
Principal photography took place between soundstage and on-location work. Army of Darkness was filmed in Bronson Canyon and Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park. The interior shots were filmed on an Introvision stage in Hollywood. Raimi's use of the Introvision process was a tribute to the stop-motion animation work of Ray Harryhausen. Introvision uses front-projected images with live actors instead of the traditional rear projection that Harryhausen and others used. Introvision blended components with more realistic-looking results. Raimi explained its benefits in an American Cinematographer article: "the incredible amount of interaction between the background, which doesn't exist, and the foreground, which is usually your character."
The shooting for Army of Darkness began in mid-1991, and it lasted for about 100 days.[6] It was a mid-summer shoot and while on location on a huge castle set that was built near Acton, California on the edge of the Mojave Desert, the cast and crew endured very hot conditions during the day and very cold temperatures at night. It was a difficult shoot for Campbell who had to learn elaborate choreography for the battle scenes, which involved him remembering a number system because the actor was often fighting opponents that weren't really there. Mesa remembers in John Kenneth Muir's book, The Unseen Forces: The Films of Sam Raimi, "Bruce was cussing and swearing some of the time because you had to work on the number system. Sam would tell us to make it as complicated and hard for Bruce as possible. 'Make him go through torture!' So we'd come up with these shots that were really, really difficult, and sometimes they would take thirty-seven takes."
After the shooting was completed, Army of Darkness' score was composed by Joseph LoDuca, although the theme was composed by Danny Elfman.
[edit] Post-production
While Dino De Laurentiis gave Raimi and his crew freedom to shoot the movie the way they wanted, Universal Pictures took over during post-production. Universal was not happy with Raimi's cut because they did not like Raimi's original ending for the movie and felt that it was "depressing". So, a more upbeat ending was shot a month after Army of Darkness was made. It was shot in a lumber store in Malibu, California over three or four nights. Then, two months after Army of Darkness was finished, a round of re-shoots began in Santa Monica and involved Ash in the windmill and the scenes with Bridget Fonda done for very little money.
In addition, Raimi needed $3 million to finish his movie, but Universal wasn't willing to give him the money and delayed its release because they were upset that De Laurentiis would not give them the rights to the Hannibal Lecter character so that they could film a sequel to Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs. The matter was finally resolved, but Army of Darkness' release date had been pushed back from its original summer of 1992 release to February 1993.
Raimi ran into further troubles with the Motion Picture Association of America over the film's rating. The MPAA gave it an NC-17 rating for a shot of a female Deadite being decapitated early on in the film. Universal, however, wanted a PG-13 rating, so Raimi made a few cuts and was still stuck with the MPAA's R rating. In response, Universal turned the film over to outside film editors who cut Army of Darkness to 81 minutes in length and another version running 87 minutes that was eventually released in theaters. Eventually, Army of Darkness ended up with an R rating.
[edit] Reaction
[edit] Box office performance
Army of Darkness was released by Universal Pictures on 19 February 1993. Opening in 1,387 theaters in the US (its widest release), the film grossed $4,424,535 (38.5% of total gross) on its first weekend. In total, the film earned $11,502,976 in the US and $21,500,000 worldwide.
[edit] Awards and critical reception
Army of Darkness won the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Award (USA) for Best Horror Film (1994). It was also nominated for Best Make-Up. Army of Darkness was nominated for the Grand Prize at Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, and won the Golden Raven at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film in 1993. The film also won the Critics' Award at Fantasporto, and was nominated for the International Fantasy Film Award in the category of Best Film in 1993.
Army of Darkness received 78% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.com, which made it critical reception above average but is slightly lower than the previous films The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II, which received 100% and 98% critical approval, respectively.[7]
[edit] Director's Cut
A Director's Cut exists in various DVD releases. Although not officially Sam Raimi's Director's Cut of the film, it is actually the International Cut of the film that was released around the world. It runs at 93 minutes compared to the theatrical 81 minutes, and includes numerous new scenes and extensions. Among the changes are more violence in the pit, a love scene between Ash and Sheila, an extended windmill scene, different dialogue between Good and Bad Ash, an extended speech on the castle roof and a vastly different ending.
The theatrical release picks up after Ash has returned to the present, in which he stages one final confrontation with the "she-bitch" in the S-Mart Housewares Department. The alternate ending, which was favored by Raimi and Bruce Campbell, depicts Ash as he sits in his Oldsmobile in a cave, the entrance caved in by some of the black powder he made earlier. As he drinks the magic potion (given to him by a person that may or may not be Merlin - the king's name being "Arthur"), he is distracted by a falling rock and takes one drop too many. Ash sleeps well beyond his time, not aging but growing a very large beard, and shouts "I've slept too long!!" after awakening in a post-apocalyptic England.
When test audiences didn't approve of Raimi's original cut, he cut the film down to the International cut that now exists on DVD. When it was again rejected by Universal, Raimi was forced to edit it again to the U.S. Theatrical version. The original cut had an opening that was more in tune with the Evil Dead series (included as a deleted scene on Anchor Bay's Director's Cut DVD).[8]
The MGM Hong Kong Region 3 DVD edits together the U.S. Theatrical, European and Director's cuts into a final, 96-minute cut of the film. The film is digitally re-mastered, compiled from original source prints (not from VHS sources as the Anchor Bay Entertainment releases are).[9]
[edit] Pop culture
Army of Darkness has garnered a cult following since its release. Among other things, the one-liners Ash speaks are often quoted by fans, and have made their way into other media. For example, in the PC game Duke Nukem 3D, the title character Duke Nukem has several direct quotes from the movie throughout the game, such as "Hail to the king, baby!", and is also reportedly inspired (at least partially) by the character of Ash. Campbell did not entirely approve according to interviews on the subject.[10] The Finnish rock band Lordi has a song entitled "The Deadite Girls Gone Wild," which may or may not be a reference to the film. Also, the video for "Blood Red Sandman" appears to be a deliberate Evil Dead reference. The song "Dead by Dawn" by Showbread, which was written about the Evil Dead series, quotes Ash's line, "Hail to the king, baby!" The popular internet writer Maddox had a tribute on his site to this movie. The Boston-based horror-rock band Bad Ash takes its name from this film.
- "Hail to the king, baby." can be heard In the video game Twisted Metal 4 as sound your custom car can make
- In the acoustic version of the song "Junesong Provision" found on Coheed and Cambria's Delirium Trigger EP, the line "All right you primitive screwheads, listen up! See this?! This... is my boomstick!" is played during the intro.
- In the MMORPG Guild Wars a quest is based on when Ash finds the Book of the Dead and raises an undead army by an accident.
- The Stiletto Formal named their second EP This Is My Boomstick after the line from the film.
- In the video game Blood, Caleb states "I live...again!" at the start of the game when his tomb opens.
- In the video game Blood, Caleb states "Good..Bad...I'm the one with the Gun.", "You're pissing me off, you ugly son of a bitch!" and "Give me some Sugar, baby".
- In the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, the rifleman unit delivers the line, "This... is my boomstick!" if clicked continuously.
- In the video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a half-dead necromancer says "I live...again" upon having his hand rejoined to him and becoming an evil spirit.
- In True Crime: Streets of LA, when a shotgun is equipped Nick Kang yells: "You see this?! This... is my boomstick!"
- Dance music producer Scott Brown sampled the boomstick scene for his massive UK hardcore track "boomstick"
- The Cyberpunk 2020 GM's Guide is titled "Listen Up, You Primitive Screwheads!"
- Pop-Punk band The Gamits titled their first EP This is my Boomstick!.
- Thrash Punk band Common Enemy released a 7" entitled Groovy in which all four songs are based on the Evil Dead series.
- In the weekly video-game review series, Zero Punctuation, Ben Croshaw describes it as "A glorious celebration of boyish fantasy violence."
- In the video game World of Warcraft, there are 2 characters named Klatu and Barada but no Nichto, probably due to the fact that the word is never said properly by Ash.
- In the video game Sacrifice, words Klatu, Barada and Nichto are shouted by wizards in random order, with combination of other words (like Kazaam, Vermitrax, Vlaam), during spellcasting.
- Also in the video game World of Warcraft, the Dwarven race saying "This is my Boomstick!" when you type /silly repeatedly.
- In the video game Army of Two, if you kill 250 enemies with the shotgun you get the achievement "This Is My Boomstick."
- In Strapping Young Lad's music video for their hit song "Love?", the entire video is Evil Dead-themed, including a solo being playing by a possessed hand and a chainsaw dripping blood.
- Ska-Metal band from Massachusetts named Skarmy Of Darkness.
- In the video game Mass Effect, your teammate Ashley Williams can be heard saying "Nothing like a relaxing stroll on the beach...blasting bad guys with my boomstick!"
- The phrase "It's a trick. Get an axe." could be read at the bottom of the Friend Game page on Facebook.
[edit] Comics
Army of Darkness has had several comics adaptations made of it.
- Army of Darkness (movie adaptation)
- Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes
- Army of Darkness: Shop Till You Drop Dead
- Darkman vs. Army of Darkness
- Army of Darkness vs. Re-Animator
- Army of Darkness: Old School
- Army of Darkness: Ash vs The Classic Monstersl
- Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness
- Army of Darkness: From the Ashes
- Army of Darkness: Long Road Home
- Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash
- Army Of Darkness / Xena: Warrior Princess: Why Not?
[edit] References
- ^ The Necronomicon was originally created by horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote an entire history for the forbidden book.[1]
- ^ "Klaatu barada nikto", a reference to the classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, the phrase as spoken in The Day the Earth Stood Still is "Klaatu barada nikto." Ash repeats it as "Klaatu varata nicto", straying even further from the original. Warren, pg. 239.
- ^ Warren, pg. 107.
- ^ Sam Raimi. DVD audio commentary, 3:12.
- ^ Warren, pg. 142.
- ^ Warren, 147
- ^ Army of Darkness at Rotten Tomatoes.com.
- ^ Sam Raimi. DVD audio commentary.
- ^ Rewind @ www.dvdcompare.net - Army Of Darkness AKA Evil Dead 3 AKA Army of Darkness: Evil Dead 3 (1993)
- ^ Interview with Verbosity, http://verbosity.wiw.org/issue7/bruce.html
[edit] Bibliography
- The Evil Dead Companion, Bill Warren. ISBN 0-312-27501-3
- If Chins Could Kill, Bruce Campbell. ISBN 0-312-29145-0
[edit] External links
- Army of Darkness at Box Office Mojo
- Army of Darkness at Rotten Tomatoes
- Army of Darkness at Metacritic
- Army of Darkness at Yahoo! Movies
- Army of Darkness from Deadites Online.
- http://www.edenstudios.net/aodrpg/products.html Army of Darkness RPG] from Eden Studios.
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
