Evil Ash

Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.

Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness is the third and final installment(or is it?) of the Evil Trilogy. This film was made with a budget of 30 million allowing Sam Raimi use larger scale sets and more elaborate special effects. Army of Darkness takes place where Evil Dead 1 & 2 left off. Ash gets transported to the year 14 AD and lands in psuedo King Arthur world. Ash is captured by Arthur's men and sent to the pit. He manages to escape the pit after fighting two deadites. After getting out, Ash doesn't take crap from anyone since all the trauma he had to go through in the first two films. All he wants to do is get home and so doesn't care much for the primitive screwheads. Ash learns from the wiseman that in order to get home he must retrieve the Necronomicon. In order to retrieve the book one must recite the words Klatoo, Verata, Nicto. Of course Ash screws up and unleashes the army of darkness. Ash makes up for his bumbling by helping Arthur's people defend their castle.

Army of Darkness is not much of horror movie, but more of the three stooges meets Jason and the Argonauts adventure film. The film is filled with swashbucking slapstick and one-liners. The film also contains a variety of special effects in the film from a massive army of undead skeleton puppets to blood gushing geysers. The gore factor of this film isn't as much as the previous two films, but the film is still great to watch.


Interesting Facts

  • The original intended opening for the movie had Ash speaking in the shadows in a dark serious tone and only his eyes and some of his long beard could be seen, Ash explains the events leading up to Army of Darkness showing various clips (some re-filmed) from Evil Dead 2 and the end of clip is the same as the used ending with Ash being dragged into the vortex and ending up in 1300AD. When the ending was changed in post production this opening was scrapped as it was inconsistent with the rest of the movie.
  • Originally titled Evil Dead 3, producer Dino De Laurentiis needed a wider audience for the movie and not just Evil Dead fans so as a compromise between himself and Sam Raimi the movie title was changed to Army of Darkness: The Medieval Dead.
  • The budget for the film was an estimated $11,000,000 the highest budget out of the Evil Dead films.
  • Army of Darkness is named Captain Supermarket in Japan.
  • This was the first Evil Dead movie were Tom Sullivan did not create the book of the dead, after having creative differences between himself and Rob Tapert, Rob asked the KNB effects crew to create a new Book of the Dead much to the dismay of Tom Sullivan.
  • The words that the wizard makes Ash memorize when retrieving the book of the dead from the graveyard are "Klatto Verata Nicto" this is a reference to the sci-fi movie The Day the Earth Stood Still were the words "Klaatu, Barada, Nicto", are used to command the robot Gort.
  • That beat-up Oldsmobile that goes through time with Ash belongs to director Sam Raimi. He has included it in all of his movies, each time more banged up than the last and this film it was turned into the Death Coaster from the final battle.
  • The items in the trunk of the Oldsmobile in the movie (with the exception of the chemistry book) were not product placements but were the actual contents that Sam had in the car at the time.
  • To give the appearance that Ash's chainsaw was always running tobacco smoke was pumped through a tube that went up through Bruce Campbell's trouser leg and out through his shirt sleeve and into the chainsaw.
  • The effects crew originally created huge suits for the horses to wear which against a black background would give the appearance of skeleton horses, the idea was scrapped when it became to difficult to the achieve the shots required.
  • The skeletons which make up the Army of the Dead in the film are a reference to the movie Jason and the Argonauts.
  • According to Sam Raimi in the original first draft of the film Ash was to lose an eye in the final battle sequence.

Cameos:

  • Bridget Fonda has a cameo as Linda as the beginning of the film.
  • Ted Raimi played four characters in the movie; they are the Cowardly Warrior, the Second Supportive Villager, the knight with the eye patch and the S-Mart Clerk at the end of the film.
  • Director of Maniac and Maniac Cop William Lustig has a cameo as a fake Shemp.
  • Scott Spiegel plays a knight during the Ash/Pit sequence.
  • Bruce Campbell's father has a cameo as the knight with the grey beard who is seen screaming after being stabbed in the final battle.
  • Sam Raimi can be seen running down the hill as Henry the Red's men turn up to do battle (Sam is the one wearing sneakers).

There are many references to the three stooges in the film, they include:

  • The use of the fake Shemps.
  • Ash calls the Wiseman "spinach chin," which is a clear reference to the classic Three Stooges short Malice in the Palace in which Moe calls a man with a long beard the same thing.
  • In the extended version of the windmill scene a bucket of goop falls on Ash's head and onto the floor and he slips on it in a comical way in which similar to one of the stooges acts.
  • In the original ending that's was filmed for the movie, Ash swallowed 7 drops instead of 6 and wakes up 100 years later than he intended, Ash awakened to find a post apocalyptic London ravaged by nuclear war. This ending was scrapped in the US but was still used as the ending for the UK version.
  • The US version of the film ends with the alternate ending with Ash awakening in his own time and working back at S-Mart wear he takes on a deadite in the house wares department.
  • The cave from the end of the movie which Ash uses to sleep in and awaken in his own time is the same cave used as the entrance to the bat cave in the original Batman TV series.