Army of Darkness - Dark Lord's DVD Collection.

"My name is Ash, and I am a slave. Close as I can figure it,
the year is 1300 AD and I'm being dragged to my death.
It wasn't always like this. I had a real life, once." - Ash

Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness Year of Release - 1992
DVD Release - MGM - 2003
Region 4 - PAL - M15+
Running Time - 85:07

Director: Sam Raimi
Starring: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie, Richard Grove.
Music: Joe LoDuca with Danny Elfman

This review bears similarities to my Region 2 & Region 3 Army of Darkness reviews.

After after the successful Evil Dead II, Dino De Laurentis commissioned Sam Raimi and Co. to film another sequel. At one stage, titled The Medieval Dead because of it's setting, it was later dubbed Army of Darkness for it's release. I would assume that it's connection to The Evil Dead was intentionally omitted from the title to attract a wider audience. And rightfully so, because this movie is vastly different to the previous Evil Dead films.

SYNOPSIS - "Gimme some sugar, baby!" - Ash

At the end of Evil Dead II our reluctant hero, Ash (Campbell), is sucked though a time-vortex to medieval England. Taken prisoner by Lord Arthur (Gilbert), Ash meets fellow captive Duke Henry the Red (Grove) and they are dragged in chains back to Henry's castle. Sheila (Davidtz) asks Arthur if her brother has returned, but he tells her that her brother faught valliantly, but fell in battle with Henry's men. Believing Ash to be one of Henry's, she spits on Ash and slaps him around a little.

Arthur condemns his prisoners to be thrown into "The Pit" - of which houses a Deadite - part of the evil that has begun to plague the lands. After winessing the bloody demise of one of Henry's men, Ash is thrown into the Pit. The Wiseman (Abercrombie), believing that Ash is "the Chosen One" assissts him by throwing Ash's Chainsaw down the pit with him.

After defeating the Deadites in the Pit and scaring the hell out of the people with his "Boomstick", the Wiseman is convinced that Ash is the Chosen One, but Arthur is still sceptical. Sheila falls for Ash and although Ash is not quite as forgiving, he falls for her too.

To get Ash back to his own time and also to rid the land of the Deadites, the Wiseman sends Ash on a quest to retrieve the Necronomicon from it's resting place in the Cemetary. Before he can remove the Necronomicon, Ash must recite the words, "Klaatu Barrada Nikto", otherwise a great evil will be awoken.

On the way, Ash is chased by the "evil force" and he takes refuge in a Windmill. He is assaulted by an army of "Little Ash's". One of them jumps down his throat and Evil Ash (also Campbell) is born. Ash blasts Evil Ash in the face with his Remington and buries him.

Ash reaches the Cemetary, fails to recall the words, but takes the Necronomicon anyway. Evil Ash rised from the grave and "lives" again!

Evil Ash rounds up the Army of the Dead and prepares to assault the castle to retrieve the Necronomicon, but first he sends one of his winged minions to kidnap Sheila to make her his Queen.

Can the cowardly Ash rally Arthur's men, defeat the Army of Darkness and save Sheila? Or will the Deadites recover the Necronimicon and plague the world for eternity?

VIDEO - "Hey, uh... what's that you got on your face?" - Ash

The tranfer is in 1.85:1 and enhanced for 16:9 TVs. What else can I say about the transfer? Well, I can start by saying that it has not been cleaned up or re-mastered. This is Region 4 after all. Some scenes look quite clear and clean, but then there are several scenses which are plagued by instances of artefacts. For example, at 24:48 as Ash rides out, you can see various artefacts - black specks, white specks, you name it. The transfer is watchable, but had there been any effort involved, it could have been better. The layer change occured at 53:35 and was reasonably well placed.

AUDIO - "Say hello to the 21st Century! Yeah!" - Ash

This DVD has five Audio tracks. The English and German tracks are in Dolby Surround 5.1. The French, Italian and Spanish are in Dolby 2.0. The audio is more than servicable, in fact it is very good. The dialogue is clear, the music and sound effects, while vibrant, doesn't swamp it at all. There is nothing more amusing than watching Army of Darkness in German. Actually, you could switch the language to French for the Good Guys and German for the Bad Guys and pretend you're watching a WWII film. Maybe not. I have a sad existance.

Evil Dead veteran, Joe LoDuca, again scores the film's soundtrack with the input of Danny Elfman, who provided the main theme - "The March of the Dead". LoDuca is an underrated composer used often in Television, but I'd like to see him score some more films.

EXTRAS - "I got a bone to pick with you!" - Evil Ash

Deleted Scenes - 13:52

All of these deleted scenes were taken from a video of a work print, so the quality of these are terrible. The 4 deleted scenes are not separated - they are all played together.

Original Opening - The origninal opening was a lot darker and spookier than the one that was eventually used. It utilises a lot more footage from Evil Dead II and it suits the original ending a lot better, too.
Ash Confronts Arthur - This scene is quite good and sets up Ash's hatred of Arthur, but assumingly it was cut for time reasons.
Original Windmill Scene - A lot spookier and reminiscent of the first Evil Dead film, this scene featured Ash leaving the Windmill and searching the forest. He then sees himself standing in the door of the Windmill. Ash runs in to confront the figure, but crashes into the mirror. Cut purely to quicken the pace of the film, I'm sure, but is fantastic.
Ash Recruits Henry the Red - After Arthur's men pledges allegiance to Ash, this scene sees Ash searching for Henry the Red in an attempt to recruit him and his men to the cause. I assume this was cut to make the arrival of Henry's men in the final battle more dramatic.

Original Theatrical Trailer - 1:58

This is the original theatrical trailer. The same trailer that is on the Region 1 Army of Darkness and Disc 1 of Army Of Darkness: Boomstick Edition and Disc 1 of the Region 2 The Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness - Double Disc Presentation. It is of a reasonable quality.

OVERALL - "All right you primitive screw-heads, listen up!" - Ash

The Evil Dead is a Horror with a touch of Comedy. Evil Dead II is a Horror/Comedy. Army of Darkness is an Action/Adventure/Comedy. Dropping the "audience unfriendly" burden of a Horror movie, and indeed The Evil Dead in the title, Army of Darkness was intended to reach a wider audience. What they found however that the mass audience didn't like the main character, Ash. Much like Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China, Ash is not your typical movie hero. Clumsy, abraisive and cowardly, Ash was a hard character for them to become attatched to, especially if they hadn't seen the previous Evil Dead films. As such, the film did not do very well at the box office.

But don't let that put you off. Army of Darkness, while still having flaws, is a minor classic of a film. Sure, the Medieval England in the film looks remarkably like the arid regions of California. Sure, the special effects look "primitive" by today's standards. But considering it's pedigree, it's budget and the intended "good-fun" feel of the film, these flaws are forgiven very quickly and you go on to enjoy the film immensely. And if you don't enjoy Army of Darkness, then you'd have to be an extremely pretentious film critic, have a heart of stone, or you are lying.

This Region 4 DVD is what can be termed the Australian Theatrical cut of the film. It was the cut of the film that was shown at cinemas in Australia and that was released on Video. Personally it is my favourite non-Director's cut of the film. It has about 10 minutes more than the US Theatrical cut, but is about 6 minutes less than the Director's Cut. The good thing about the Australian cut is that it combines the best of both the US Theatrical and the Director's Cut. It has the better line when Ash shoots Evil Ash in the face, the scene in which Evil Ash tears down the top of Sheila's dress before he kisses her, the better timing of the arrival of Henry the Red in the final battle, and the S-Mart ending.

Both the US and UK releases of Army of Darkness by Anchor Bay do not have the scene with Evil Ash and Sheila (where he tears down her dress), while the Region 3 and Region 4 releases by MGM does.

This DVD is vastly different to all of the previous DVD releases of Army of Darkness. I will do my best to compare the different versions.

Compared to the Region 4 Army of Darkness...

The Region 1 "Boomstick Edition" from Anchor Bay misses out on:

The Australian Theatrical Cut of the film
More specifically - The scene in which Evil Ash tears down the top of Sheila's dress before he kisses her.
A PAL Transfer
German, French, Italian and Spanish Audio and a multitude of subtitles
Many film artefacts...

The Region 2 "Double Disc Presentation" from Anchor Bay is identical to Region 1's "Boomstick Edition", but in PAL.

The Region 3 release from MGM misses out on:

The Australian Theatrical Cut of the film
A PAL Transfer
German, French, Italian and Spanish Audio and a multitude of subtitles
Many film artefacts...

Compared to the other releases of Army of Darkness...

The Region 4 release from MGM misses out on:

The US Theatrical Cut (Region 1 & 2)
The Director's Cut (Region 1, 2 & 3)
Original Ending - On the Discs with the US Theatrical Cut, you can view the Original "Apocalypse" Ending from the Director's Cut (Region 1 & 2)
Featurette - The Men Behind the Army (Region 1 & 2)
Biographies - Sam Raimi & Bruce Campbell (Region 1 &2)
Audio Commentary - Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell & Ivan Raimi (Region 1, 2 & 3) - The Commentary is over the Director's Cut.
Storyboards (Region 1 & 2)
Creature Concept Drawings (Region 1 & 2)
A flawless Transfer (Region 3)
A DTS Track (Region 1 & 2)

To be perfectly honest, I find it difficult to recommend one version over another, as they all have their good and bad points. Cost-wise, obviously the Region 4 release is favoured, plus it is the Australian Theatrical Cut - a very good cut of the film. However the transfer could be better. Also it misses out on a very highly entertaining Audio Commentary.

The Region 3 release has a flawless film master transfer, but only the Director's Cut is available.

Region 1 & 2 have both the US Theatrical and the Director's Cut, but the transfer is taken from a VHS master. The print quality suffers as a result.

Bruce Campbell, again hits the ball out of the park with his portrayal of Ash and the rest of the cast are fabulous as well. They get the joke and play their roles very seriously which highlights the "cowardly bravado" of the larger-than-life Ash.

With an over-the-top main character and an over-the-top story, Army of Darkness is one of the most oft quoted films of all time. It has a well deserved cult status and is often an entry point into people viewing The Evil Dead for the first time and consequently other Horror pictures. It pays homage to the films of Ray Harryhausen, the Three Stooges and a dash of Indiana Jones. Consequently it is a highly enjoyable film experience not to be missed.

This Region 4 DVD is good, but sorely lacks Special Features. It has a very good cut of the film - different to both the US Theatrical and the Director's Cut - a combination of both. If price is an issue, then this DVD is satisfactory. If you already have the US Theatrical and Director's Cut as imports, then this DVD is a fine (and inexpensive) addition to your collection, simply for the Australian Cut.

The Film:
The Disk: