ARMY OF DARKNESS (1993)
Starring Bruce Campbell and Embeth Davidtz
The sequel to "Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn," once again picks up at the end of that feature, with Ash landing in 14th-century Europe with a chainsaw and a truck. It turns out he's destined to be a hero that saves a local kingdom from an army of the same demons he fought back in a cabin in the United States, circa 1980.
Not a horror masterpiece by any means, but a great slapstick adventure film. Many people who saw it didn't even know it was a sequel to two of the sickest horror films ever made.
Although not as
profitable as its low-budget predecessors, the film had enough of mainstream
success to turn Bruce Campbell into something of a comedy star. He got his own
western TV series,
"The Adventures of Brisco Country Jr." Going beyond the
Three Stooges-style humor from "Evil Dead 2," Campbell does battle
with an evil version of himself in this movie. He also has one of the funniest
line in action cinema history: "Give me some surgar, baby."
A number of different versions of this film have floated around on bootleg VHS tapes and, now, legal DVDs. There's an "official bootleg" DVD, special editions, director's cuts and presumably more unofficial bootlegs. The reason is that a version with an alternate, doomsday ending was released in Japan. I prefer the humor-laced U.S. ending. Here's hoping they make another sequel.