266: Army of Darkness (1992)

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Let's get down to business to the feet the bones.

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Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Buckle up Bonehead because you're going for a ride. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

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A total joke? A waste of time.

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Or a slash.

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Totally killer.

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Unintended.

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We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

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Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.

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And the classic horror connoisseur Sean.

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Klato Virata.

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This week we're checking out the final film remaining for us in the Evil Dead franchise. Before we get down to business though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Let's follow up on some stuff. Okay, so we've been talking about our meetup for a little bit now, right? So next month we're gonna start planning for this year's spooky season. Now, if this is your first time hearing about our spooky season, every October we do something kind of kind of special to commemorate the spooky season, like publishing two episodes per week some years, you know? We also do something special for our birthday, which is October 13th. This year, though, will be the first Friday, the 13th of October since our show began back in 2017. So this is like an ultimate diamond platinum anniversary for us.

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Honestly, I can't imagine it getting any better than this.

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But it gets better because not only is it this amazing anniversary, it's also episode number 300, a massive milestone.

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How the fuck have we made it this far? I simply don't know, but I'm so excited.

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It's our powers of time travel.

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It's a lot of episodes. 300.

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Bro, I've edited 300 episodes of this fucking podcast by the time we get to that night. It's insane. That's also not including the bonus episodes either. That's just straight up regular content. That's it.

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Chris has spent approximately two lifetimes editing audio just for the show.

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You know what? Someone told me once I wouldn't be able to. Fuck you, man. Here we are.

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Okay, so we have a lot to celebrate this year. So to celebrate, we're gonna have our first ever meetup and live show on Friday, October 13th, 2023, in Orlando, Florida.

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Hell yeah. And I'm so excited because I know so many of our patrons have actually already started booking their hotels.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Oh, it's gonna be a good time.

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I think it's gonna be a blast. And people are are stoked, we're stoked. It's gonna be so much fun. And you can start buying tickets on April 1st. Don't worry, it's not April Fools. You'll actually be able to. And you're gonna want to act now before pricing increases as we get closer to the big day. So if you're interested, visit hackerslash.

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Get it while it's hot.

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And to wrap up, we want to give a big thanks to our newest patron, Ashley L. Ashley, welcome to the HackerSlash family. Your chair's right there at the end. We'll bring you your plate and your silverware. Feel free, load up, eat as much as you'd like before you go. Just make sure to take some leftovers. And that's our follow-up.

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When last we visited this franchise, we saw a retcon of Ash Williams' journey to a cabin where he unknowingly used the Necronomicon to awaken Kandarian demons hell bent on swallowing his soul. At the end of that film, Ash found himself transported back to the Middle Ages, staring down a group of knights. Following the success of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead in 1987, producer Gino DiLorentis was willing to finance a sequel. It was clear they wanted to continue exploring Ash's journey outside the cabin in the woods and unpack his medieval dilemma. Raimi originally wanted to call the film the Medieval Dead, but the studio wanted this film to have clear separation and stand alone in the series. In addition to a departure from the Evil Dead naming convention, the film also leans into camp and dark comedy even more than its predecessors. The film ultimately grossed more than four million dollars in its first weekend and doubled its budget and earnings from its worldwide release. This week we're talking about Army of Darkness. Who's seen this one before?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

So we have covered the Evil Dead 1981 in a rewind recently, right? We also reviewed Evil Dead 2 not that long ago either. So you all know that I'm a big fan of the franchise, and this installment is no exception by any means. I loved watching this back in the day with my friends, so this is going to be a very nostalgic movie for me.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

And yeah, I was introduced to Army of Darkness by high school classmates. So for me, long time coming. But um, I instantly loved this movie when I was introduced to it. I've seen it probably, and this is no exaggeration, like two dozen times.

SPEAKER_03 4:40

Two dozen times is a lot, my man. That's a lot of commitment. That's a lot of love. I think it's maybe one twentieth of the amount of times I've seen Halloween 1978, so I guess I can't talk shit, right? But listen, if you've been following the saga of us covering this franchise, especially leading up to Evil Dead Rise, you're now aware that I haven't seen this film before. This is a very fresh watch for me. My experience with this film exists only in what Mac and Sean have shared about it, and also knowing that there's a super dope army of dark chocolate coffee from Bones Coffee Company. And I thought that like play on things was super cute. That's literally the only fucking thing I know about this movie. So going into it, I expected it to be batshit crazy. I expected it to be super campy. I expected it to have plenty of gore, and I expected it to be more charming and more of a fun ride that I could really invest in after the shock and disappointment that I got with Evil Dead 2.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Wow. Those are some very different expectations here. I it's been a couple years, you know, since I watched this. I think actually before the podcast, before I started doing the podcast, is the last time I watched it. So I figured, you know, having all this experience under my belt with reviewing things and looking for details, you know, I'm I'm gonna find something that makes it seem a bit more aged or a bit cheesier than I remembered.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Yeah, that's fair. I think having seen this one countless times over, I'm expecting this one to be even more over the top, nonsensical, and campy than either of its predecessors. I would expect to see Bruce Campbell at his finest in this one. If you're into Monty Python and the Holy Grail and silly comedy like that, I would expect you to have a pretty good time with this one.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

See, here's the thing, I love Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and for some reason I didn't think for a second, hey, I should expect some of that shit in here. Which now in hindsight seems so obvious. What was I thinking, honestly? But let me tell you, settling in for this one, you all remember how I felt about Evil Dead too. You all remember how I felt when they had to do the whole fucking previously on Evil Dead, and then they changed the beginning of the movie. Two seconds, it felt like, into this movie, and obviously it's more than two seconds. My first note was, God damn it, are we really getting the third fucking rendition of the beginning of this goddamn movie? Once again, we're here changing the opening instead of just picking right up from where we left off. And at least this one is less of a change, so it wasn't as jarring for me as Evil Dead 2 felt, but I still fail to understand why that part was necessary. So, you know what, Army of Darkness, you really did not start off on the right foot for me. I will say that there are other moments in here that had me feeling like I was charmed. So that's fun. I laughed a little bit, giggled a bit. I was really feeling some kind of way seeing Miss Honey from Matilda in here. That was great. Haven't seen her since we did 13 Ghosts, so hi doll. I think overall I felt such a wide variety of things that had what felt to me like nothing in common with my experience watching Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

I have to say my expectations for this were completely wrong because I didn't find any details that made me feel soured. Um, I think I was just entertained the entire time while watching this. I I like I can't think of a negative moment. There was some where you're just like, okay, like I know exactly what happens. I can turn my head and I can picture it because I've seen it so many times. But otherwise, I just it was just a fun time.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, absolutely. To your point, Chris, you get a lot of different feels in this one, right? Like you get comedy, drama, romance, action, horror. You get so many different things. Like this one really felt like a slapstick action comedy set in a horror backdrop this time around. It it really feels like it's more fun for the whole family than its predecessors. It really felt almost like a parody poking fun at a variety of different films across multiple different genres, which was just super entertaining and super fun to watch. One of the strongest feelings I had was the score was so epic throughout the movie. Uh, it kind of took me off guard the first time that I watched it, and every time I watch it, I just love it even more. Like I was getting some Batman Returns vibes from the score in some parts, which we'll talk about a little bit later, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Okay, I wrote down the exact same thing because it's something I never paid attention to before. Yeah. There's a freaking Danny Elfman song.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

In in an Evil Dead movie, there's a Danny Elfman song, and still the rest of the film is scored by the same person who scored the f the other movies, which is impressive because you're watching this movie going, okay, like I know I've seen this a bazillion times, but like when did the music suddenly become really good?

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 9:35

Well, that's awkward. I didn't pick up on an ounce of Epic, not Batman Returns, not even Batman Begin, not even Batman the Animated Series. I didn't get none of that. Obviously, Danny Elfman is an absolutely brilliant musician, and I love so many of the scores that he's done for several films. However, maybe it was just me, but I couldn't find myself super dialed into the music. I think because I was so caught off guard by how much of a non-horror movie this felt like to me. You know, you really pointed out, you know, if you like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you'll love this. I would I would venture to say that I could have believed that going in, but even now, this feels like such a departure from both that and the Evil Dead franchise that I I just really found myself shocked by the whole thing. I had a really hard time with that. And honestly, like there's points where I found myself having a really difficult time keeping up, not because the plot is complicated, but because I was almost disinterested at some points. And again, that sounds super harsh. And I know that you guys love this movie, and I'm not trying to yuck your yum, but there was just something about this that did not scratch the itch for me as a horror film. Not even like a weak watered-down horror movie, not even like a give me a horror-adjacent comedy. Something about this just felt like family fun adventure.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Yeah, I think you're right here. This you know, watching it, I never thought about this as being a horror movie. I'll I'll be honest. It just isn't in the genre. It's it's obviously related to Evil Dead and then Ash versus Evil Dead, which comes later, which goes like back into horror. But it's it's it feels like I don't know, The Princess Bride in a way, you know, it's got that like 90s adventure kind of feeling to it. I don't have a problem with that, but if you're rating it as a horror movie, like one, it's just not scary unless you're really young and some of like the skeleton stuff scares you, I guess. But yeah, it's it's it's action, it's adventure, it's it seems kind of family friendly in some parts, but in others it's definitely not. So I don't think you're off in any way, and I think that was probably on purpose.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Yeah. I I think one, I would say I was surprised to see a Danny Elfman song appear in this movie, but I'm not really surprised because Danny Elfman's literally in every fucking movie that's ever been fucking made. Uh, but you know, to your point, like I I'm always so surprised when I watch this film by how different this one feels than the first two films. I I know that this film had an uphill battle from start to finish, right? Like, not only was this intended to be the sequel to the Evil Dead, which didn't happen because it couldn't get the green light, and wasn't until Sam Raimi made Darkman that he was able to use this success of that film as leverage to get this into production. Um, but I also I also can't see how they could have made this one as a direct sequel to the first one, anyways, because it would have been so drastic of a change. Uh, where Evil Dead 2 seemed to be like the perfect bridge as we progressed from campy to a full-on fucking campground. Um, the film also actually struggled with like its release date. They they wanted this to release in the summer, but got put on the back burner by Hannibal, which is a long story in and of itself. But it's funny that the film didn't even end up getting released until 2001, nine years later. So I was surprised that this one couldn't be released in the summer as intended, but here we are.

SPEAKER_03 13:21

So listen, there's a whole lot of complication. This this film has a checkered past, it feels, for I don't know what reason really, but I think the other thing that I that I struggle with in terms of A, like just experiencing this whole movie, but then B trying to find a way to enjoy so many parts of this movie is guys, I think lightsabers ruin sword fights. I used to love sword fights, you know. I was a fucking Zorro kid growing up. I loved that shit. I used to, you know, fantasize about having my own sword and being a swashbuckling person of the night. I don't know. But I found myself so bored by the sword fighting in this that I just could not really engage. You know what I mean? I'm like, Ash, just fucking focus on the chainsaw, man. Like, I like I wanted to see no swords whatsoever with how absurd some of this stuff was.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Well, that's impossible because they're in medieval times.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

I know, I know, I realize how difficult I sound right now. I'm sounding very particular, but give me a remake of Army of Darkness with, you know, the the same level of pizzazz we get in some lightsaber fights, and maybe, maybe I'll be in it. But I think another thing for me is we think about, okay, there's rights again, a challenge with the rights. How does Sam Raimi find so much difficulty holding on the rights to his own fucking creation? I don't know, man. I feel bad for this guy because he's constantly having to hit the refresh button, and I feel like he doesn't deserve it. But my question is, why the fuck again change the the the approach into this? Like in the end of Evil Dead 2, he's hailed as a hero and like okay, he's here to save us. He's the one that we've prophesied. And then in this one, he's just kind of arrested and treated as if he's a slave. And I'm like, what the fuck is this? He's a prisoner. I just it makes that experience really difficult. And I know that people often praise how easy it is to watch Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, and and Army of Darkness all together. I know that people love that, but I just find this so distracting.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah, the con the continuity is tough, but the thing is, is that you know, when you look at the Evil Dead, right? Then you look at Evil Dead 2, and yeah, there's rights issues and whatnot, and like so that became kind of like a remake in a way, but then you you have Army of Darkness, and I think where the refresh, if you will, and and I'm I'm just I'm just going off of things that I've that I've read and things like that could be not a hundred percent truth, but from what I've seen, you know, the refresh, if if you will, on that point is you know, the the studio or whatever wanted this to be a movie that stands on its own, right? Like it didn't want they didn't make this Evil Dead 3 for a reason. Like they wanted this to be a movie that stands on its own. And so maybe from from that standpoint, he was kind of forced to kind of refresh and just jump right back into it. But here's the thing logic, it just doesn't just don't bring logic into this franchise.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Motherfucker, I cannot bring logic in because I think at some points it relies on, okay, hold on. This man is out here talking about science, and you want me to abandon logic as it pertains to this franchise? One of the best quotes from this film is we can take them with science. And you want me to just ignore the logic? I don't know. Man, it's a little bit of a stress for me, but okay, I think we can acknowledge that this movie in no way, shape, or form is trying to be scary. We know that. It's a dark comedy. But let me tell you, I think even in that regard, this movie still manages to be putting shit in Nash's mouth, and I still find it frightening.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Worse worse stuff than last time.

SPEAKER_03 17:12

It's just gross. It's just gross, honestly. Okay, I will say like the the effects in this movie, I don't think it's anything that's gonna scare anybody. I think honestly, even some small children would not really have a rough time with this, in my opinion. I know the kids in my family would like think this is a cakewalk, but I think the quality of the effects and the grossness of the effects is not as gross as the previous films, but it still kind of maintains a certain level of ugh.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

I think you can give it that credit, you know, the man gets fish-hooked by a skeleton, so that's that's the thing that happens. I mean, there's there's some good effects for sure, but it's it's not it's not scary. It's it's fun, it's adventure.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm with you. Like the movie is most certainly not scary. It's not even like I dare say, to your point, Chris, like it's not even really scary for people that don't like horror movies or maybe even kids, I don't know. This one is so campy, so over the top that it really does take away from any actual fright that the movie may have had. But you know, the movie is jam-packed with action and fun scenes, so I feel like you can still have a good time with it.

SPEAKER_01 18:16

But I have to say, I think you need to think about this film differently because if you go into it thinking I'm gonna see like a horror film with a very kind of kind of kooky plot, you're gonna have kind of a mishmash of experiences. I think you need to think about this as a kind of quirky, swashbuckling western set in medieval times with a time-traveling demon slayer. Now tell me if you've seen this movie somewhere else, because if you have, I need to watch it. Otherwise, I think this is something that completely stands on its own.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

It for sure stands on its own because no film would have the audacity to have the amount of fucking nerve this movie does. Not in a bad way. And again, I realize I sound really down on this movie. I laughed a lot. I have a lot of positive things to say in the second half of the episodes, and once we're in the spoiler zone. But for sure, this this movie is distinct. It is unique. It is to be applauded for the lengths that it goes to to stretch your fucking imagination.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Yeah, for sure. Like this one is original in the way they approach the film. It I mean, it does, you know, it does feel like a mashup of a lot of different films and stories you may have seen, but it's like bits and pieces that pieces it together and and it and it does its own thing with it. So it definitely has its originality set in stone with that. Like it, I think it pulled from a lot of inspiration when making the film, but it's just original in the way it layers in its own story or backstory from the previous film into this familiar story or blend of stories that we have all seen or heard before. So, like, it's not like there's there, there's definitely hints of things that you may have read or watched growing up as a kid, adventures and different things like that, action and all that. But um, but it's definitely original in how it put it all together.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

And there's there's a threshold, there's this line, and it's it's like the climax of the movie where it really firmly pushes it into that whole like action, comedy, drama, adventure movie like camp. But I think the final scene though is really good about like bringing us back to hey, there's this evil lurking all around. It's still fun, it's still zany, it's still you know, action and stuff, but it like grounds us in the fact that this all started back in the horror days.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

Okay, which is exactly why I liked the end of this movie more than 98% of the movie.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Yeah, I I mean I absolutely loved the ending of the film. I think it was jam-packed with action, it gives you that final scene, and it was just a really fun way to end the film.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

I would agree it's a fun way to end the film, but I think what I'm curious to see is how I'm even gonna be able to sort out my own feelings on how fun or not fun some parts of this movie was. While I struggle to decide, let me just buy myself some time here. Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_00 21:01

So surprisingly, this one has arguably less gore than either of the two films that came before it. Uh, don't get me wrong, there's a ton of kills in this film. There just isn't a ton of blood or gore in most of these scenes. So um, you know, I feel like there's enough, so I would have to say I would give this one a medium gore score overall.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

And what about the animal report?

SPEAKER_01 21:26

Yeah, I think we're pretty safe here, but the film does depict brave horses galloping into battle, so PETA would probably be pissed.

SPEAKER_03 21:32

Listen, man, we just got some working horses here. And employed horses supporting the economy. Let's go ahead and get into our ratings then. Army of Darkness from 1992. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_01 21:43

Okay, so I know you might be hard pressed to classify this as a purely, you know, horror movie, but this is the absolute definition of slash for me. First off, I just love it. It's up there with Princess Bride for like the whole nostalgia factor. But secondly, it's a good time. It's a masterclass in camp. It's got action, adventure. Excitement, a castle siege, better and worse at some points. Special effects in the first two films, a fantastic score, and the best one lighters of any movie, period. This is one of my favorite movies, and I hope that everyone else, of course, had a great time watching it, just as I do every single time. It's a slash.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Yeah, I mean, this is just a fun movie to watch. It's a total joke, but not in the way you might think. Like it's meant to be silly. Its slapstick uh approach to campy horror melded with over-the-top action and romance delivers a like a truly wild and entertaining film from start to finish. Like it's definitely a different feeling than the previous two installments in the franchise. It's not my favorite in the franchise. I still think I like the previous two more than this one, but it's unique and really does stand on its own. It's a cult classic and it's a slash for me.

SPEAKER_03 22:52

Speaking of a total joke, listen, this franchise is one that started on a strong note with our first old versus new episode covering the Evil Dead and then Evil Dead in 2013. Since then, though, it's almost gotten worse every time, except for me feeling even better about the Evil Dead, like the original one. While I'm still able to find charm in the humor and camp of Evil Dead 2, I'm having a lot harder time doing so now. I think because I walked into this with the expectation of okay, Mac and Sean prepared me for how different this was gonna be. And I feel like you guys really did a good service in that regard because if I had no preparation, I feel like I would have been very closed-minded to this experience. And it's one of those where I had such mixed feelings about Evil Dead 2 because I wasn't expecting how rough the opening was for me and how much that carried on through so much of the film, and I really thought that this would be like a clean slate. Like, okay, this is different, respect that it's different, and just move on with your life, Chris. And I think where it comes down to for me, this movie is not a waste of time, but it is a total joke. Shaun, and you said it, right? It's campy, it's funny. Unfortunately, it's just not the kind of joke that I find very funny personally, so for that it's a hack. And with that, Army of Darkness from 1992 has earned two slashes that are unsurprising and one hack. Now you can find this movie available online. Check the links in our show notes for where you can find it now. Check it out, then join us in the second half so we can unpack this together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

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SPEAKER_03 25:22

Welcome back, folks. You're now entering the spoiler zone for Army of Darkness, which has earned two slashes and one hack. Now we have a lot to get to here, but before we break down the specifics of our ratings, let's go through the kills.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Alright, let me start by saying that it was really hard to keep up with the kills in this one because let's face it, there are a lot of kills in this film. So here's what I got. We have a total of 104 kills throughout this movie. The real question is, did Ash have more kills than the Deadites in this one? He had something like 34, 35 kills, and then there's evil Ash on top of that. Crazy.

SPEAKER_03 26:05

Honestly, the body count. Actually, the skeleton per capital is absolutely absurd. There's a lot of bodies in this, and then you have to think do you count just the skeleton's death, or do you count the fact that they are skeletons as an initial death? You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Yeah, then it gets even crazier.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

It's just bad math.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Just put an infinity symbol on there and we'll be done with it, you know?

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Absolutely, absolutely. But I gotta know what were your favorite kills.

SPEAKER_03 26:34

Okay, let me just throw this out there right now. It was the first soldier into the pit who turns into a blood geyser by the pit dead-eyed, the pit witch, the pit bitch herself. It was the seller moment from Evil Dead 2, it was the Kool-Aid Man moment, it was the Gusher. Ah, so good.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Oh, it was so great. It was so absurd the amount of blood that just shot out in that blood geyser. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

That's an that's a that's an easy one to root for, I think so. Because you know, it's just so like Bam, first thing in the movie, let's get a good kill. We're gonna shoot a mountain of blood into the air. And there's nothing really as as epic as that, I don't think. There's lots of little funny skeleton deaths, though. You know, I I love the one where we get the like weighted rock thing that was holding that rope just crushing a little skeleton dude. Like that's just that's just a fun way to take out a skeleton warrior. There's I don't even know how you would describe them, but that was a lot of fun. I feel like Ash did not shoot very accurately in this movie, though, so his boomstick was kind of wasted in in many cases, which was unfortunate.

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Which really, when it comes down to it, a boomstick, you don't even need to be that accurate, right? Put it in the general vicinity and you're fine, and this motherfucker keeps missing everything. But I just have to say it. Nothing says get wet like a blood geyser.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

It had to be said. You make this point that Ash in his boomstick and he's not accurate in a lot of these, you know, scenes or kills or whatever, but somehow, somehow, this guy manages to shoot a sword with a fucking boomstick. Now that's some precision right there.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

That's true. I'm actually curious if we could get like Mythbusters level breakdown of that shot. Like one, would that work?

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Is it possible?

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Yeah, would you break a sword with a shotgun like that? Two, would you have actually just destroyed the sword or would you have killed the dude next to it? That's I just there's so many questions.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

Yeah, come on. Somebody's getting hit with shrapnel.

SPEAKER_03 28:38

Maybe if his sword wasn't so impotent, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

I gotta say, I love the final kill, right? Where Ash is in or is at the S smart or whatever and shoots the Dead Eye multiple times with his boomstick. I think that was a great kill. Another great one was when Ash gets his chainsaw and decapitates the pit witch in the in the pit. That's it's also one of my favorite scenes, so we'll talk about that further. But let's talk about like the mini ash and getting speared with a fork. What a great kill.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Honestly, the mini ash moment was one that started out feeling real fucking weird, and I wasn't really into it. And then it did get a little bit better as it went, particularly the point of mini ash getting stabbed by a fork. That was a chef's kiss moment that almost bought me back into the movie.

SPEAKER_01 29:28

I used to not be a big fan of that whole like sequence. Um, for some reason, it just I don't know, it was like different from the rest of the movie for me. But watching it this time, I was not bothered, and I did find myself laughing at it a bit more because it's so ridiculous. Like it's so next level ridiculous that it's it's actually really enjoyable. And I I forgot, like, I was like, how did he how did he end up killing them? Does he try to like step on them? Well, he tries. Um, but I think the fork was was very effective. I think he missed an opportunity to get one of them caught under a cup and play with it a little bit though.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Oh, yes, absolutely. I mean, there's so much you can do. There's so much you can do, but like you gotta think of runtime here.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

That's true. And they kept it, they kept it nice and tight and somehow squeezed in hundreds of kills somehow. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

Okay, but can we also just acknowledge the fact that yet again we have a movie where more shit's going into his mouth and this time it's a fucking person?

SPEAKER_01 30:17

He he took an entire body of a miniature version of himself into his mouth and then grew another version of himself off of his body.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

I will say, speaking of growing another Ash out of himself, one of my favorite visual elements in this film was the practical effects in the film, right? Like the the flying like demons were great. I loved the practical effects with that, but specifically that eye coming out of Ash's shoulder and then growing that other Ash out of that shoulder. It's just visually, visually really cool, especially for like the early 90s. It was just such it was such a cool shot, right there.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Okay, it was a cool shot, but let me tell you, I was a little spooked when we just see an eyeball on the fucking shoulder. That was intense. It was gross.

SPEAKER_01 31:08

It was, but it was so fucking cool. I forgot how long that whole sequence was where like he's splitting off the evil version of himself, because I remember it happening, obviously, but like I didn't remember that it took so long. He's like wiggling, you know, he's fighting it, and it goes from eye to body pretty quickly, but still it takes like three minutes to happen. It's extended, but it's it's gnarly to imagine an entire other version of yourself growing out of yourself. Although it it did seem backwards at one point, I was like, isn't the the the chainsaw arm on the arm that splits off? But somehow that's not how it worked out in the end.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:43

It's okay, it's just a a copy, you know? It's not perfect. It's a clone of the original. It's like going back to a previous save file, if you will. But let me tell you, post him separating from his original body, and we had the showdown of Ash versus Ash, I really could have used more gore when Ash shoots himself with a shotgun. We just gotta put a pitiful little like head tilt back a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

Yeah, for sure. I I mean I think when you just look at like uh you know the effects, right? Like I think that um even even some of the different things that they did throughout the film, like Bruce Campbell, I think said that like even to make it appear like his chainsaw was always running, he had they had to use like tobacco smoke that was pumped through a tube that was like slid up into his right pant leg, up his shirt and into the chainsaw to appear like it was running, which is like, man, the innovation that goes into like making this stuff feel real, like that's this kind of stuff like what a what a dream job that would be to like think up random shit like this all day to make shit appear like it's real on screen. So cool.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

It's kind of funny that this dude is subjected to so much crazy crap in the movies that he makes just for the simple little small effects.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah, absolutely. And speaking to the things that he's subjected to, there's that scene where Ash is being pelted with rocks, and fake rocks were used in that scene, but to get a more realistic reaction out of Bruce, and partially this was like a prank, but you know, we talked about this, I think, uh, in previous um installments in the franchise. Sam Raimi loves to pull pranks, especially on Bruce Campbell, and so he started pelting him with potatoes, and that was the cut that was used because he was getting real reactions out of them. I mean, come on. Bruce Campbell just went through the ringer on these films.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

That that is a real bond right there. That's some friendship where you'll be subjected to potatoes being thrown at your head, and when you find out you know you're still friends with the person, that's that's closeness.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

Well, I guess the real question is do we all love each other enough to throw potatoes at each other? It seems like it's just a waste of food to me.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Yeah, wash it off. You can you wash it off, bake it, cook off all the germs, you're good to go. Now you got a meal.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Boil them, mash them, put them in a stew.

SPEAKER_03 34:00

All right, well, ignore the potato sack because in the back of my car when we go to the meetup.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

Just a test, a test of our love.

SPEAKER_03 34:06

Okay, but one thing that was a test of my love in this movie was the entire approach to the skeletes. One, I absolutely fucking loved them. Two, their dialogue, hilarious. Three, the tone of their voice, amazing. I just wish we had almost gotten more of them. Yeah, evil Ash, I wish he was more skell-like. And I I get it, like he has to be distinguished, he has to be different, he has to be bigger, battery, he has to be the nemesis and the counterpart to Ash himself. So I understand why he's not, but damn, I just found the rest of those fucking skeletons so cute. Arguably, better title for the movies, spooky scary skeletons.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

It is kind of funny because you would imagine that like that is the height of cheesiness. Like, that's the type of camp that you probably would go, oh man, this is so cheesy. Yet it's not. Yet it's endearing and charming and amazing and hilarious.

SPEAKER_03 34:58

It was the death of the mortholes for me that really set me over the edge.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

I just love when he they're like throwing skeletons at him to simulate them attacking him, and they're like completely still and not moving, obviously. And he just like picks them up and snaps them over his knee or picks them up and throws them off of him to kill them. And they're just like stationary objects. One one effect though that I really loved, we obviously got to see the chainsaw hand for a little bit, this this uh this film. But Ash needed an upgrade, he needed a real working hand that somehow they made in medieval times. Right. Don't know how they did that, but that whole sequence there was so amazing. Uh, that whole like quick cut, fast montage thing, typically used by like Guy Ritchie in a lot of hill his films, that sequence is so much fun to look at. And I hope that the new Evil Dead movie coming out, I hope that they have some kind of scene like that, even if it's like gathering spoons or or knives or something. But quick cuts are are hilarious because it makes it seem so serious. It's like an 80s action movie. Things are about to go down, and yet we're building a fake hand for a man in the medieval times.

SPEAKER_03 36:05

Okay, first, you obviously know how they did it in medieval times. They did it with science, which is the knowledge and the gift that he brought them from this crazy future time. But the other element of this and we'll get into like favorite scenes in a little while. I loved how much that moment and that whole sequence that followed was giving I'll make a man out of you from Mulan. Let's get down to business to the feet, the bones.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

When they when they when they're like learning that their moves, you know, they've got the the long sticks, whatever those things are, and they're like learning all in a group, and they're just like bearing their faces, they're they're in it, right? They're just accepting whatever he tells them. And I'm like, dude, none of you thought this was ridiculous looking at all?

SPEAKER_03 36:51

100% it did. Okay, and the other thing here, I laughed when they talk about like, okay, we're only 60 men, what are we gonna do? And and one guy says, You can count on my steel. Absolutely funny, because it obviously reminds me of Lord of the Rings and just all that.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

But the other part of it, when they're practicing their moves, I thought of another animated film, and it was the Seminole Classic, Anastasia, and I was thinking about little Bartok the Bat saying, I'd give her a ha and a ha yeah, and then I'd geekurse her. And I just like had that playing in my head, which I think added comedic value to the movie that I wasn't getting from the movie immediately in that moment.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

Yeah, for sure. But then also they're practicing those moves, right? And then it comes down to like really doing it, and then they do the move, and then they're too far back, and then they have to do the move again, and then they hit the enemy.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Just a little extra, extra practice right at the end.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Yeah, it's great.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

All right, I gotta go back to the other crazy visual though. I gotta go back to the mini ashes running from the mirror. That whole scene I used to hate so much. I don't know why it just bothered me. Watching it this time, it was kind of my favorite scene. Because like his tone is so different, like the angles of the camera are so different. But when we get to that part where it's like London Bridge is falling down, and he's got that like aggression, like he's gonna easily take them out. But we of course end up with him falling down and you know, them finishing the song. Hilarious. But him stepping on a nail, the reaction in his face was so much like it was so real. It you just felt it, you know, that the second they show the nail, I'm I'm thinking, what is that movie we get? Um Quiet Place. Yeah, that's that's that's the movie where they do that too, right?

SPEAKER_00 38:32

Mm-hmm. Home Alone. Home Alone does it too.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

Yeah. Several movies with nails and foots.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Anytime you're putting a nail in someone's foot, oh, I hate it and and yet I love it. Because you know you know that pain, even if you've never stepped on a nail because you've stepped on Legos.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

Okay, so the mini Ash scene is such a darling moment, and I think it parallels obviously what we get in Evil Dead 2 when he's fighting his own hand, and really Bruce Campbell is just so great that some of the best moments we get in his movies are when it's just him stealing the show, and in this case, fighting himself. No need for anyone else on the fucking screen, just give us Bruce Campbell. And while that moment was a great one, I think one that really stood out for me was actually following that, and it's the skeletons fucking around with him and stretching his face and like putting their fingers in his mouth, the little bony skeletal hands, and then obviously we get this really cool moment of effects work where his face is all drooped down. Chef's kiss.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Oh yeah, for sure. And even just leading up to that, where he's walking through or Ash is walking through the graveyard on his way to get to the books, I believe, right? Like the lighting, the music. It felt like Tim Burton a little bit for sure. I'm not gonna lie. Like trying to figure and then trying to figure out which which book to take. It was just hilarious leading up to that scene that you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

It was given Beetlejuice, handbook for the recently deceased.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

Absolutely. You know, there there's so many good scenes to pick from in this film. I have to talk about the scene where the skelet army is marching towards the castle, and they're playing the one skelite is playing the fucking femur flute. What the hell? That was just so great. It was such a good, a good visual there, and the score was so epic, right? And I know we were talking about this before, and I I mentioned that I was getting those Batman Return vibes, and then we were talking about Danny Elfman, and it just makes a lot of sense because Danny Elfman, who composed the scene for Darkman, wrote the March of the Dead theme for Army of Darkness, and that's why we're getting those vibes, right? Like it was such a good scene, like the visuals that you get, the score that matches it. It was so epic and so adventurous and so great. It would just built up so much, I don't know, good energy for that, for that uh battle to ensue.

SPEAKER_03 41:02

I wish I had gotten such value from that moment that you did based on the musical score alone. I will have to go back and maybe just listen to the soundtrack for this one and see what I can pick up on and appreciate. But I'm telling you, that skeleton playing the flute is exactly why those skeletons are one some of the best characters in this whole fucking movie. Every single one of them has some cute shit to say.

SPEAKER_01 41:26

They seem like they were the most fun to like either play or like I don't know, puppeteer in a way, but do the voices for get dressed up into armor, move around. That had to be a blast. I hope it was a blast for the people making the film because that's what came onto the screen. It's like this is so silly, but fun. And they did have some really great one-liners. They had like, I don't know, like Mandalorian stormtrooper level of of humor going on where it was, you're like, I just want honestly, I want more of them, like you said earlier.

SPEAKER_03 41:59

Yeah, it was also Attack of the Clones and the Battle Droids, just like talking trash to one another in the background, which I mean, granted, the quality of that dialogue was nowhere near as good as the stormtroopers and the Mandalorian, but I think what you just pointed out there is pretty significant, Mac, and I think that's the characters and the presence in this movie. In retrospect, this feels like it was the most fun movie to make. I don't know that. That's probably not even a fact, right? But there's something about the comedy in this movie and the charm from a lot of these actors that makes this feel like it would have just been an absolute blast to participate in, even though it personally doesn't translate to something that's super successful or particular or styled to like my tastes.

SPEAKER_00 42:40

Yeah, for sure. And if we're talking, you know, we're talking about characters, right? Like I I love to see my boy Bill Mosley in this film as the Dead Eye Captain or the new captain of the army of the dead, but that's just way too long of a title. So I'm just gonna go with Deade Captain. He's just been in a lot of horror films, including Rob Zombies, House of a Thousand Corpses, Devil's Rejects, Three From Hell, as the infamous Otis. I just love to see my boy Bill Mosley in this film. So good.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

You do have to wonder how like how that casting came into being. Like, did he know some people, you know? Because that's such like a very different sort of like sequence of movies than this one is.

SPEAKER_03 43:19

You know what? I don't know anything about Bill Mosley's casting, but the casting I do have to wonder about why the fuck is this the third different Linda we have?

SPEAKER_00 43:27

Okay. Listen, I was gonna mention it earlier for sure as one of the surprises. Because is it a surprise? I don't know. Because by now I think we should be used to the fact that we just get a whole new rendition of everything that happened before, right? But yes, man, can we just keep the same Linda just one time? Just one time.

SPEAKER_03 43:46

Okay, actually, I have something. It's a vision, it's coming to me now. This might change all my scoring retroactively for every single movie, including this one. What if The Evil Dead, the Evil Dead 2, an R. Army of Darkness is nothing more than a senile tale that Bruce Campbell as the Elvis impersonator in Bubba Hotep is telling to his nurse in the nursing home. And the reason why it's so different from every fucking movie that came before it, and there's 17 different Linda's, is because he's redescribing it every time, and it's just getting more and more exaggerated. Actually, I could fuck with that. Maybe I'll change this one. This might be my redact the hack at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_01 44:31

I I think what really is going to turn things around is if you get a chance to watch any of the Ash versus Evil Dead episodes. I think that's going to pull you further into that territory of appreciating this more.

SPEAKER_03 44:42

I heard Samara Weaving was in them, at least three episodes from what I heard.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

I can't remember, but Zena's in them. This is, I think, the film that really cements who Ash is as a character. I think in the first one he's kind of shy, yet still like a little bit brave. In the second one, he's closer to this version of Ash. And in this one, he is just throwing out one-liners everywhere, being super duper macho, except for the times where he's a little wimp, of course. The way he talks to Sheila and like explains away the pillow talk, and then she guilts him into sticking around. It's just like, where did Ash from Evil Dead OG go? He was so loving. And now he's just he's haggard. He's worn in and he's just looking for a good time, not a long time.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

Yeah, that's just what we call pillow talk, baby. Uh yeah, I mean, Ash, I mean, when you look at the character, right? Like definitely this is Bruce Campbell playing Ash at its finest for sure. Like this is him coming, you know, into his own, super comfortable with the character. I think we see the progression on the three films, right? Like, I think we see kind of like a conservative ash, if you will, in the Evil Dead. I think you see a little bit more of that ash that we know and love from Army of Darkness in Evil Dead 2. And then when you get Army of Darkness, it's just Ash just going full throttle, and it's just great. Like he's so over the top and it's so great in this film. So yeah, you gotta you gotta give uh a big shout out to Ash in this film for sure. He carried it.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

He's just here to to kick ass and take names and uh chew bubble gum and all this, all that sort of stuff in this movie. And honestly, that that might be the worst part of the movie for me, since I have to pick one. The fact that we're missing balance here. We get all of this machismo. It's fine and everything, I guess. It works for his characters, but I think when you if you if you watch Ash vs. Evil Dead and you get Lucy Lawless in the mix, you get a proper balance. It's not too heavily skewed to one side.

SPEAKER_03 46:47

That's interesting. Because for me, Ash and his one-liners are the best part of this movie. Not his machismo at all. Not the way that he interacts with Miss Honey. I will not call her anything but Miss Honey. But honestly, 90% of my notes are just quotes from him, like, Well, hello, Mr. Fancy Pants. First you want to kill me, then you want to kiss me. Blow. I don't want your book. I don't want your bullshit. Yoshi bitch, let's go. Like, he just really fucking nails it every step of the way in this movie with his one-liners, which I think adds enough for me to have almost questioned giving this a slash.

SPEAKER_00 47:25

Yeah, that's fair. I'm not mad at any of that at all. I think it's tough for me to pick a worse part in the film. I think that if I had to pick a worse part of this movie, it would probably have to be that it leaned really heavy into the comedy and the parody of it all. Like I think it could have been just a tad darker, a little less silly, and that might have made it a perfect balance. So I mean, that being said, obviously I still love the movie, but if I'm picking a worse part, I think if that was if I'm making my own remake of this movie, I'm bringing a little darkness into it.

SPEAKER_03 47:58

Ooh, okay. See, a darker version of this movie, I could re-watch. I don't know that I care to re-watch this anytime soon unless it's in the capacity of watching the whole franchise with someone who hasn't seen it or preparing for like a rewind.

SPEAKER_01 48:14

I would watch this again tomorrow if I had time to do so. I was sitting here eating my my pizza before we started and started watching the last scene again while I'm typing in some notes. Because I could I could just watch it all the time. Maybe that's why I've watched it like two dozen times though.

SPEAKER_00 48:30

Yeah, for sure. This one will always find its way back into the rotation at some point for me. It's very nostalgic for me, and it's just a good time. So uh it's definitely something that I will revisit time and time again.

SPEAKER_03 48:42

Well, I'm glad you'll both revisit it, and maybe you can just watch it a few extra times for me instead. But for now, there you have it, folks. Army of Darkness from 1992 has earned two slashes and one hack. Now we certainly had a lot to talk about here. We've had a robust discussion, but it doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_00 49:00

Yeah, we want to know what you think. Was it a necktie? Was it nectar? Let us know and join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_01 49:11

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SPEAKER_03 49:22

We'll see you next time, folks, and remember, we're all scared, but that doesn't mean we're cowards.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

Welcome back to the land of the living.