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Chad
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Posted: June 16, 2004 at 12:00am
We start out with a brief recap of the first two films in the series, which shows Ash and his girlfriend Linda going out to a cabin in the woods, where they're assaulted by demons. Some quick cut-scenes later, and Ash is being sucked into a portal, where he ends up falling, along with his Oldsmobile, into the fourteenth century. As usual, luck isn't on Ash's side, and upon picking himself up off the ground, he finds himself caught between two medieval groups; Henry The Red's group, and the main group whose name I didn't catch. The main group is taking Henry's group as prisoners who will be sentenced to death, and they also assume that Ash is one of them. After a great scene, Ash ends up becoming top man in this kingdom, but the fun doesn't end there; a wise man says that Ash is the promised one, who will rid the land of the undead forces that have been sweeping through. Ash will have none of that, until he finds out that the only way to get back to his time is to recover the Necronomicon (remember, from the first movie?). While recovering the book, Ash fucks up the words that he was told to say, and unleashes a huge army of the dead that intends to wipe out the measly humans.
While the storyline does follow some typical horror elements, don't let the above description fool you into thinking that this is a horror film. No sir, this is almost a pure slapstick comedy throughout, but it does work out nicely, even though I'm not normally a fan of movies that mix horror and comedy. The thing that made this particular effort work out nicely, in my opinion, is the fact that the comedy doesn't seem like it was trying to be funny... and by that, I mean that all of the comedic aspects of the film come from some of the greatest one-liners to be found and the facial expressions / mannerisms of Ash and his crew. Let's hope that last line made some sense, because it's a bit hard to describe if you haven't seen the film; so suffice it to say, it's a comedy that doesn't try to be funny, and in doing so, comes off being quite hilarious.
Ash (Bruce Campbell) is by far one of the greatest movie icons in history, due to his mix of average-joe klutz and badass. This film is no exception to the rule, as Bruce manages to mix those aspects together flawlessly. When a zombie / skeleton / deadite comes after him, you never quite know whether Ash is going to get his ass handed to him, or break out some serious boomstick on the poor creature. This take on the hero character works out quite nicely, as opposed to the "Terminator" style of films where the main guy can wipe out a small city in the blink of an eye.
All of the things that normally make or break a movie are in check here. I think I've sufficiently jocked Campbell enough, so you should have a guess at how he does on the acting side of things. The rest of the cast is also great, but nowhere near the level of Bruce. Over on the effects side of things, most scenes tend to work out excellently; however, there is a few that ended up looking a bit rough. Those can be excused though, since the scenes they pop up in aren't vital to the storyline, and though they are roughly done, they don't come out looking like total ass. Just think along the lines of the monkey from Dead Alive, and how awful those effects were, and how it didn't hurt the movie one bit.
Overall, a worthy film in the series, though I do hope it's not the end of it. Maybe someday, part four will drop... but until then, this one will serve nicely as the closure of the series. Definitely worth the viewing. 9/10.
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Ginose
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Posted: September 7, 2005 at 2:58pm
This was the best horror comedy I've seen in years... Hail to the king, baby...
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bluemeanie
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Posted: October 20, 2005 at 6:42pm
This is my BOOMSTICK! One of the greatest lines in the history of horror. 9/10.
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Dametria
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Posted: April 24, 2007 at 11:00am
If chins could kill....
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MerrysMiko
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Posted: July 31, 2008 at 10:54am
Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell are the masters of making campy look fabulous. I've noticed that in every film Raimi directs, Campbell and Sam's brother Ted Raimi make guest appearances. (Go watch the Spiderman movies again, they're in all three.) Ted actually plays four different cameo roles in \"Army of Darkness\" and he and Campbell went on to have recurring guest roles when Raimi directed Xena: Warrior Princess. For campy goodness at it's best, you can't beat this team.
Hail to the kings, baby. 10/10
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Shakes
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Posted: January 22, 2009 at 1:18pm
I met Bruce years ago and he signed my copy of If Chins Could Kill...he wrote \"STAY GROOVY!\" He's just like you'd expect him to be, sarcastic as hell, actually a little dorky though. What a badass motherfucker. 10/10
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Shakes
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Posted: January 23, 2009 at 6:33am
Too bad Raimi sucks now, though.
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Hellknight03
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Posted: July 2, 2009 at 8:22pm
Brilliant movie.
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Lucid Dreams
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Posted: May 30, 2010 at 9:50pm
I doubt there will be a part four, but they ended it pretty damn good. 10/10
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