Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness (4 Stars)

This is my sixth horror film in November 2019. It's questionable whether it qualifies as a horror film. It's more of a medieval action comedy. Its main claim to being a horror film is that it's the third part in the Evil Dead trilogy. There's a progression in the trilogy. "Evil Dead" itself is a pure horror film. "Evil Dead 2" is a horror film mixed with comedy. "Army of Darkness" is a comedy film with occasional touches of horror.

"Army of Darkness" is often referred to as "Evil Dead 3", but its real name, based on the opening credits, is "Bruce Campbell vs Army of Darkness". That's a strange name, mixing an actor's real name with the mythical characters in the film. Most people shorten the film's name to "Army of Darkness", and I'll do the same.

Once more the recap is bad, although it could be argued that the final scene of "Evil Dead 2" is the weak link that needs to be removed. At the end of "Evil Dead 2" Ash (Bruce Campbell) fell from the sky and slew a monster, causing everyone to kneel at his feet. In the recap he just falls from the sky. That's it. He's accused of belonging to an enemy army, so he's made a slave.

Another problem in the recap is that Ash is once more shown going to the cabin in the woods alone with his girlfriend Linda. I praised the second film for finding an actress who looked similar to Linda in the first film. Unless you're paying close attention you'll hardly notice it's a replacement. The actress playing Linda in this film's recap doesn't look remotely like the first two actresses.

I can still imagine that it's possible to edit all three films together, using only the original footage, to make a logically cohesive complete film without any contradictions. All you need to do is remove the recaps and the final scene of "Evil Dead 2". Has nobody with any weight in the film studios ever thought about it?

After winning the trust of his captors, Ash is sent to retrieve the Necronomicon, because this book is the only way to defeat the evil demons that they call Deadites. They seem to be less powerful than they were in the first two films, and they need assistance from an army of skeletons.

In the second film we see a drawing of Ash in the pages of the Necronomicon. These pages must have been drawn after the events of the third film. Maybe they were drawn as an addendum to the original book, which would explain why the pages were separate.

Incidentally, "Army of Darkness" was the first film I ever bought on DVD. It was a good choice. The first film I ever bought on videotape was "Plan 9 From Outer Space". The first film I ever bought on Blu-ray was "Red Cliff".

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