Army of Darkness : The Medieval Dead (Evil Dead 3)

Army of Darkness : The Medieval Dead (Evil Dead 3) title

AKA: Army of Darkness, Army of Darkness : Evil Dead 3.

Tag Line : Trapped in time, Surrounded by Evil, Low on gas.

Army of Darkness : The Medieval Dead (Evil Dead 3) The third of the Evil Dead Trilogy picks up where Evil Dead 2 Left off, Ash is sucked back in time to medieval England 1300 AD, where he is captured by King Arthur. Arthur has been fighting a bloody war with Duke Henry the Red and is not happy about this, as he is already waging another battle with the deadites (The Evil Dead), and believing Ash to be one of Henry's men, sentences him to death.

Ash ends up being thrown into a pit containing deadites, along with some of Duke Henry's men. Fortunately for our hero, his trusty chainsaw saves the day and he manages to escape. Arthur's men then believe him to be the "chosen one", talked of in the "book of the dead", but Ash isn't really interested and only wants to return to his own time, and so a deal is struck.

Ash is told that if he can retrieve the "Necrinomecon" (the Book of the Dead) from the deadites, they can return him to his own time. To do this, he has to recite the magic words "Klaatu Barradda Nikto", before removing the book from its resting place. Unfortunately Ash, who's not the brightest of hero's, gets the words wrong and although he retrieves the book he also awakens the army of the dead.

Arthur's men prepare to flee for their lives, but Ash convinces them to stay and fight, showing them how to make gunpowder and explosives, and teaching them self defence. As the deadites attack the castle, a hilarious battle ensues, consisting of crudely made explosives being thrown about, with deadites exploding everywhere. There's slapstick sword fights, punch ups and, in a highly amusing twist, we see Ash driving around the castle grounds in a steam powered car, literally mowing the deadites down.

As you can probably gather, the sense of humour in this film is more prevalent than in the other Evil Dead Films. A lot of fans who liked the previous 2 movies where sadly disappointed by the comic twists in this third instalment. I personally thought the extra humour worked very well, and believe Army of Darkness to be the best in the Trilogy. When you look at this film, you can see where Sam Raimi and producer Robert Tappert got the idea for their "Hercules" and "Xena" TV shows (which not-so coincidentally also star Bruce Campbell).

Overall marks : 8/10.

Other Information.

Although a sequel to Evil Dead 2, the beginning of Army of Darkness is slightly different to the ending of the previous film. If you've seen it, you'll know what I mean.
The Sub-Title "The Medieval Dead" was tagged on for its UK video release only.
The UK theatrical and video versions contained extra scenes not featured in the US theatrical print. These included a love scene between Ash and Gwendaline, Ash giving the men a pep-talk before the main battle and a slightly longer take where evil Ash and good Ash fight during the windmill scene. The UK video version also contained a completely different ending to the theatrical release. The only other release to have included these extra scenes was a special directors cut DVD which is only available in the US.
The UK version also contained different dialogue to the various US releases. When Ash shoots evil Ash outside the windmill he says "I ain't that good" in the UK print. But in the US version he says "Good?, Bad?, I'm the one with the gun!". During the end battle Ash exclaims "I need more men" in the UK version, but for the US releases his line is "Maybe my men can hold them, and maybe I'm a Chinese airline pilot!".
Other scenes filmed but not included. Ash going to ask Duke Henry for help in fighting the deadites. Extended scenes where Ash confronts King Arthur, and where Ash is in the windmill, and a different opening montage. These can be found as extra's on the US directors cut.
As mentioned earlier, there are two entirely different endings for this movie. The original theatrical version (called the S-Mart ending), shows Ash being given a magic potion, and told to say the words "Klaatu Barradda Nikto" to enable him to wake in his own time. We then see him back at his old job at the S-Mart, boring his co-workers with his stories. Then suddenly, one of the customers turns into one of the Evil Dead. Ash Grabs a rifle from the gun counter and another hilarious, slapstick battle ensues, ending with the words "Hail to the King Baby". For the alternate ending (the apocalypse version ), when Ash is given the potion he is told "Take seven drops and you will wake in your own time". We then see Ash miscount how many drops he's taken, and wakes up in the distant future, following a Nuclear War.
The theatrical "S-Mart" ending version was shown at UK cinema's and on Sky Movies. The alternate ending version has only ever been released on UK video, Japanese laserdisc, and on a special "directors cut" US DVD. although it has also appeared as an extra on the US theatrical version DVD. The UK video was later reissued, with the theatrical ending tagged on after the end credits following the alternate version. However, this misses out the different scene where Ash is given the potion, making his opening line in the next scene ("I just said the words swallowed the juice and here I am") somewhat confusing.