Best Horror Movies

Army of Darkness (also known as Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness) is an American horror-comedy / adventure film, released in 1993. This movie is rated R and 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 $11.5 million domestically. After its video release, however, it has obtained an ever-growing cult following, along with the other two films in the trilogy. Army of Darkness was more well known than The Evil Dead and its sequel.

After a brief flashback to Evil Dead II, which explains the Necronomicon and how Ash got to where he is, Ash is at first suspected of being one of Duke Henry’s men at war with the English knights who found Ash. He is enslaved, his gun and chainsaw confiscated, and is taken to a castle. Ash is thrown in a pit where he fights off a Deadite and regains his weapons from the priest.

The only way to return to his time, according to the priest who gave Ash back his weapons, is to retrieve the Necronomicon. Ash then journeys for the Necronomicon, along the way passing into a haunted forest. An unseen force (the camera presenting its point of view) pursues Ash through the woods. Fleeing, 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. One of the reflections climbs down Ash’s throat and becomes a lifesized copy of Ash. Ash kills him and buries him.

When he arrives at the book’s location, he sees three books instead of one. Ash eventually finds the real one and attempts to say the magic phrase, and 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, Ash’s copy 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 then raped by Ash’s copy, making her a force for the deadites.

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 store, telling a co-worker all about his adventure back in time, and how he could have been king. After this, a deadite starts wreaking havoc on the store (it is implied that he again raised the dead by saying the wrong words needed to travel through time), and Ash defeats it. The film ends with Ash in voice over saying, “Sure I could have been King, but in my own way, I am a king. He then says out loud, “Hail to the king, baby”, while kissing a female employee.