Ash is back, literally. Trapped back in the middle ages, the Evil Dead hero must not only do battle once again with the merciless deadites, he must also take on the savage Army of Darkness.
          Bruce Campbell returns as Ash, the only surviving member of the first two Evil Dead movies. This story pretty much takes up where the last one left off, with our hero trapped in the dark ages. Only instead of being revered as a hero, Ash is beaten and shackled by an army of men who believe him to be a member of a rival army. Quickly Ash is put to the test by once again doing battle with an evil deadite when the army throws him in to a pit. However, what they didn't expect was for Ash to defeat the deadite, which he does, and thus they render him a salvation. Our hero is then brought back to their town, and asked to journey out in search of the illustrious Necronomicon, so the evil can be destroyed once and for all. Reluctantly he agrees, but just like Ash, instead of finding the book and destroying the evil, he finds the book and not only creates an evil Ash, but an entire army of undead skeletons. Now the real battle begins and it's up to the living to stop the dead.
          Army of Darkness stars the excellent Bruce Campbell in the role that was tailor made for him, and once again, he does his job perfectly. Watching the punishment this poor man takes is really a reason to rent this movie in itself. He is really the main focus, and there isn't a lot of screen time for anyone else, except for Ash's maiden love interest played by Embeth Davidtz. But to the fans of these films ,I'm sure that's just the way they like it.
          Also returning is Sam Raimi the director/writer who has carved his name in Hollywood with these movies. This is a great re-telling of sorts of the Jason and the Argonauts story, only with a little more schlock, however in some scenes, like the skeletons giving Ash three stooges treatment, there is a little too much schlock. Don't get me wrong though, the film is funny and does have some great one-liners, such as Ash introducing his sawed off shotgun as his "boomstick", and calling some of the men "primitive screw-heads". The effects are great, and the direction is superb, especially scenes of the Army of Darkness riding horseback and attacking the castle.
          However, being a huge fan of zombie movies, I was hoping to see a few more deadites and a few less skeletons. Although I know Raimi did this on purpose so he could put a different spin on his story and keep it original. Of special note, on DVD there is the actual original ending that was not shown in theaters. It's a great ending that keeps a little more in tow with the story, and does an interesting job of setting itself up for a sequel.