Army of Darkness is the third movie set in the Evil Dead universe and my personal favorite. Filled with many memorable lines and hilarious action scenes, this horror-comedy set in the middle ages has something for everyone. Directed by Sam Raimi and starring the great B-movie hero Bruce Campbell, Army of Darkness continues to be a movie I revisit again and again. Let's dive in and see what it took to make it!
Army of Darkness was only green-lit because of the success of Darkman. The idea of a third Evil Dead movie had been floating around for years and after scoring a production deal with Universal Sam Raimi and his long time friend Bruce Campbell had the funding source they needed to make it happen. Originally intended to be the premise of Evil Dead 2 the story had to be shelved as the budget was not nearly enough to bring the medieval world to life. Sam Raimi enlisted the help of his brother Ivan to write the script and they began to storyboard the production. Initially they believed the movie could be made with 8 million dollars but that soon went out the window and they knew they would need at least 12. Unfortunately for them Universal was unwilling to give them anymore money. Eventually through cutting a few effects heavy scenes and Raimi, Campbell, and one of the films producers kicking in a million dollars worth of their own salaries they raised enough money to proceed.
Filming was fairly uneventful other than the choreography of the fight scenes being a nightmare for Bruce Campbell to learn. The real production problems began in the editing room. While the production company backing the project De Laurentiis Productions had given them a free hand to make the movie, Universal was not so kind. They demanded re-shoots, re-cuts, and an alternate ending. Even after all of that they demanded the film be made PG-13 and assigned an editor to try and make it happen. Spoiler alert, they couldn't and it was released a year late( and almost not at all because of a rights battle over Hannibal Lecter between Universal and De Laurnentiis Productions). All in all not the worst production in the world but studio headaches would become a running theme for Raimi over the rest of his career.
I love this movie because it blends horror and comedy in a way that makes you still interested in the story. It's not a pretentious atmospheric art film, but it's also not a parody movie like Scary Movie or similar titles. Army of Darkness succeeds in walking the line between campy horror comedy and action that few movies do. Good horror comedy seems to be extinct, so if you want to see some you can't go wrong with Army Of Darkness.