MovieChat Forums > Army of Darkness (1993) Discussion > Rewatched this, after two decades...

Rewatched this, after two decades...

posted 8 years ago by ralph_2ndedition
37 replies | jump to latest

I saw this when it came out... Had an illegal copy with so-so picture quality (at the time it wasn't banned per se in my country, but it would be quite a few years away from being released).
I was a real fanboy who simply could not get enough Evil Dead in my life, so I just sucked this one up like it was liquid gold!

A few years later I ditched the crappy vhs-copy I had, and never really got around to aquire it again, and thusly I haven't seen it since......until tonight, when it suddenly became available on Netflix!
Me and the missus sat down to watch it - me for the first time in 20 years, she for the first time ever.
About 15 minutes in she simply said "You know what, this is really, really bad!".
"Uh, ok... You want me to turn it off?" said I.
"No, you go ahead and watch, I'll go do something else."

So, she clicked around on her computer, while I watched the rest of Army of Darkness, trying my absolute best to really get in to it, enjoy it and get that feeling again.
Alas, it just didn't work. I couldn't get over how most parts of this movie felt like a comedy - and not a good one, a really, relly BAD one! The jokes fell flat, the action (what little of that there was) felt stupid and it couldn't even pick the odd point for costume or sets.
During those first 15 minutes she was still watching it, the missus asked me if it was a movie or a tv-series, and while watching the rest of it I really got why she had asked. Because that what Army of Darkness feels like to me now. A cheap tv-series. The really bad kind, that you definately will turn off after the first episode, if you even sit through that one.

It's a bit sad that age and maturity (my own) kind of "ruined" this one for me.
Still love part II though, and the often played tin-can edition of it sits proudly on my shelf. :)

[–] Karl Aksel 8 years ago

Hey, I posted just about the same thing in a different thread here a couple minutes ago! This is my experience almost exactly. I can still watch it because I used to love it, but it is cringe-worthy in almost every aspect.

[–] kmags84 8 years ago

Nope, Nope and NOPE.

This is not a Females Film. This is pure Slapstick Gold. It's laugh out loud hilarious. I enjoy it NOW at 31, more than I did at 21.

[–] ralph_2ndedition 8 years ago

This is not a Females Film.

As if there would ever be such a thing!
The mere fact that you think there are "female films" at all renders anything you wrote after that completely uninteresting.
Is that comment perhaps directed at the fact that my girlfriend didn't enjoy it?
Perhaps you assume this is a trending thing...in which case I could tell you that it is not. We both enjoyed Evil Dead II (which was another movie she had never seen before we met). I introduced her to Tucker & Dale VS Evil, she introduced me to Taken.
I'd rather watch Grease than Game of Thrones, she'd rather watch The Fifth Element than Dirty Dancing. None of us enjoyed American Pie, but we both follow The Walking Dead like it is scripture...
The last movie we saw in the cinema was Spotlight, the last movie we watched at home was For Your Eyes Only.

In short; At 31 years of age you should know better than "female films". Period!

[–] sharebear42019 8 years ago

Grease over game of thrones? LOL so pathetic

[–] Midnight_Blues 8 years ago

I'm female, although not a very typical one, especially when it comes to movies, and I still love it.

If I think about it rationally, it's full of plot holes (or rather, just holes really... where's the plot?), it's silly and it's mostly dumb slapstick, which I usually consider a very low form of comedy and beneath me. And yet, I love it. It's true that, for better or worse, I hardly ever stop loving the things I did love back when I was a kid; if for nothing else, because I can easily remember the feelings I got back then and they hit me like no time has passed. AoD was my go to movie when I needed a bit of cheering up and I needed it quite a lot.

But, while there are other old favourites of mine of which I'm a bit more critical now, I can still find many things I love about AoD. Ash, for one. Silliest, most inappropriate (anti)hero I can think of. He's quite original as far as characters go and I just can't resist the one-liners, there's a reason why Duke Nukem and many other characters from movies and games have been copying or paying homage to those one-liners ever since. I also love the old school special effects, they have a charm no cgi will ever match. Maybe that's because cgi fx are too close to my own line of work and that destroys the magic, but I find the old way of animating stuff, like the skeletons, so much more interesting. I actually have a great time imagining/seeing/learning about how it was done and seeing them come to life on screen never ceases to fascinate me.

[–] ftremblay379 8 years ago

" it's mostly dumb slapstick, which I usually consider a very low form of comedy and beneath me."

Beneath you? Lol go f yourself. You just insulted decades over decades of movie-making. Whatever.

[–] Midnight_Blues 8 years ago

I may, thank you for the suggestion.

Slapstick is the lowest form of comedy, it's primal and childish, requiring from the audience almost no knowledge or comprehension. It also stems from one of the worst traits of mankind, the will to laugh at other people's misery. Sure, probably no one will get seriously hurt due to a pie on the face or tripping over a bunch of plastic bony arms, so laugh all you like, but the premiss is the same. It can take lots of work, commitment, intelligence and imagination to create good slapstick, but of the audience it requires the absolute minimum.

If it's any good to you, I love mindless action movies. Not just the good ones that stood the test of time; I mean the cheesy, almost carbon-copies of each other that were so common in the 80s and early 90s. If you can name it, I probably watched it. And enjoyed it. But I don't give them the credit of being more than what they are: a cheap, easy thrill for an adrenaline junky with a sheltered life. People often tell me that those movies suck. I nod and agree.

[–] chad_farr_21 8 years ago

I actually watched this year's back when I was a teenager, and I thought it was stupid. But, it came on today, and although I in no way consider it a horror film, and the special effects are terribly dated, I really appreciated the production as a whole. It is a B movie, just as the evil dead movies were. It's not meant to be taken so seriously.

That being said, I find it interesting that you referred to it as a t.v. series. Did you realize that just last year an ASH VS THE EVIL DEAD tv series was released??? I had little to no interest in it until I accidentally stumbled across the first episode. And you know what??? It was AWESOME! Same Bruce Campbell/ Ash, with updated special effects. It feels like a direct continuance of what was established in the previous films. I highly recommend it!

[–] ralph_2ndedition 8 years ago

Oh, trust me - I know about the tv-series alright. :)
I saw the trailer for the series a while back, and it was hard not to start salivating...

I do not however have access to whatever channel runs this series (I live in Sweden), but I am whole heartedly intent on buying it on dvd as soon as it becomes available.

[–] chad_farr_21 8 years ago

Ash vs Evil Dead: http://m.imdb.com/title/tt4189022/

[–] ftremblay379 8 years ago

Yet the show they based on the series was renewed for a second season. So I guess people didn't turn it off after the first episode. You either get it or you don't.

[–] sharebear42019 8 years ago

You and your wife have horrible taste, so please forget about evil dead and move on.

[–] Necronomicon2016 8 years ago

You and your wife have horrible taste, so please forget about evil dead and move on.

I agree.

[–] SlyStallone (72) 4 years ago

Amen!

[–] revterry 8 years ago

Mourn the part of you that has died and hope it wasn't the best piece of you.

[–] Steamboy 8 years ago

What's the copy like on Netflix? You need to see a proper cinema copy to really enjoy the film. Also, be careful not to let yourself influenced by your gf's views. Seems to happen a lot.

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[–] ralph_2ndedition 7 years ago

Netflix-copy was pretty good. But then again, my only reference point is a crappy illegal copy with pretty awful picture quality.
And about my taste being changed by my gf's views, don't you worry about that. :)