31 Days of Halloween: How humorous is Army of Darkness?
I never knew Army of Darkness was so divisive. Some people think it’s really funny, and then some people think it’s not even as funny as Evil Dead 2. Why? It seems as if director Sam Raimi made Army of Darkness for the censors, so in that way it has a more general tone and humrous approach. I’m not sure what could be so bad as to compromise your art, but the hassle must have really got to Raimi, because Army of Darkness couldn’t be more different than Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. Most of the grusomeness has been replaced by more campy humor and other gags. That’s not to say there wasn’t humor in Evil Dead 2, there’s just more of it in Army of Darkness. Personally, I think Army of Darkness is more creative and more fleshed out than Evil Dead 2, with better characters and more for Ash to do than wander around one room.
The mini Ash scene is maybe the campiest but it’s a really idea and gives birth to Evil Ash. The group of mini Ash rodents outsmart the dimwitted Ash, and there’s all kinds of slapstick humor that harkens back to the Three Stooges. After the minis run around for a while, they trip up Ash and tie him up so one of them can jump in his mouth for some odd reason. They seem to be on some sort of possession trip, as swallowing that mini whole has some adverse effects on Ash, and no contagion holds a candle to what he comes down with. A copy of himself, complete with with identical shirt and pants, grows out of his shoulder and splits off on its own. It’s ridiculous. Later, Evil Ash returns from getting shot in the face with a shotgun and leads the evil dead army in the battle to take the castle and find the book. That’s one of the things that’s bothered me over the years. How does Evil Ash survive getting shot in the face with a double-barreled shotgun? Maybe it misfired? Afterward, Evil Ash has some scarring and doesn’t look all that bad, though he runs around like a skeleton after being burned and thrown off the top of the castle. Most of these effects are a lot of fun.
Overall, this is a good movie but I think I like Evil Dead 2 a little better but not by much. There’s still humor in Evil Dead 2, and I especially like when the severed hand flicks off Ash but Army of Darkness undoubtedly has better one-liners and more of em. I still can’t see why people think Evil Dead 2 is funnier, though maybe they enjoy Ash fighting his own hand. I also forgot to mention the Pit scene in Army of Darkness, which is very good and has plenty of action. I think the movie also has a lot of little things most people overlook and so I can tolerate the stupid slapstick for the many moments like that. The Pit scene is the highlight, also when Ash shoots King Arthur’s sword into pieces, that was hilarious and awesome. Arthur just looks at it in a dumbfounded way that’s great. Many of the great moments in Army of Darkness are like that, with a good punchline to make them memorable.
Evil Dead (as a series and the first movie) started out as a somewhat campy, but not very humorous schlocky horror film. It took itself the most serious of these three films.
When Evil Dead 2 arrived, Raimi decided to inject humor as a driving factor; something that wasn’t a big part of Evil Dead. Adding humor was an odd play, but it worked for Evil Dead 2. The humor also wasn’t so over-the-top that it detracted from the overall film.
When Army of Darkness was being conceived, I guess Raimi saw that the humor aspect went over well enough in Evil Dead 2 and decided that it needed to be pumped up and expanded. Army of Darkness honestly took the comedy routine too far and it finally went over-the-top. Meaning, Army of Darkness felt more like an ‘Airplane’ type spoof than it did an ‘Airport’ film. No longer was Army of Darkness serious about anything.
In other words, Army of Darkness felt exactly like a spoof of a horror film. Spoofs are fine as long as you go into the theater knowing that it’s a spoof. If you go in expecting a horror film and find that you’re watching a spoof, that’s a bit jarring and potentially a letdown. This is where Raimi misjudged his audience.
Eventually, Army of Darkness did find its audience, but long after it had left the theaters, not before.
Is Army of Darkness a bad film? No, but only if you go into the film knowing that it’s mostly a spoof. If you go into this film thinking it’s going to be anything like Evil Dead in its horror seriousness, you’ll be sadly disappointed.
LikeLiked by 1 person