Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness (1993) is the third installment of the Evil Dead film trilogy, written and directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell. This movie takes a more humorous bent than its predecessors; as a matter of fact, to refer to this movie as comedy would not be inaccurate.

Trivia

The mystical phrase Ash is supposed to speak when he takes the Necronomicon, "Clatto Verata Nicto" (As it is in the script) is a reference to the classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. In the film, the phrase "Klaatu barada nikto" is used to cancel the robot Gort's attack.

Related Topics:
Necronomicon - Science fiction - The Day the Earth Stood Still - Klaatu barada nikto

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bruce Campbell sustained an injury on the set when a piece of armor made a gash in his chin. When he was rushed to the emergency room, he was still in his costume and make-up. The physicians had to ask which cut was the real one!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The film was mostly shot in the Nevada desert near Las Vegas.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The plot of the film was originally meant for Evil Dead II. During pre-production, the plot of Evil Dead II involved the evil force from the end of the first film hitting Ash and sending him back to 1300 AD where he would destroy the book. Promotional drawings were created and published in Variety during the casting process before the budget was deemed too little for the plot. The working title at the time? Evil Dead II: Army of Darkness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the opening scene when Bruce tells the story so far, you can see the support cable he was attached to as he was being sucked into the portal from the cabin. This was obviously overlooked by the film's editors and can still be clearly seen on television (on rotation on the SciFi Channel.) to this day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The film was edited into multiple cuts to meet with the motion picture standards which differ around the world. The original ending, which can be seen on some special edition dvds of the film was deemed to be depressing by the movie studio, and so a new happier ending was written for the film, to the dismay of the director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Anyone who has played the successful Duke Nukem 3D can see the uncanny similarities it shares with various cult movies, such as They Live and Army of Darkness. The vast majority of the game's main character's lines were clearly taken from the movie (lines such as 'groovy,' 'gimme some sugar baby,' 'hail to the king,' 'come get some,' and others). The official movie poster, when compared to the game's box cover, is also a dead giveaway. These obvious take-offs were not seen as homages by star Bruce Campbell, but more as a rip-off, according to comments printed in IGN for Men: "...they're rip-off artists. Let them get their own damn material. It's called hiring a writer. They're blatantly ripping it off and if I was any kind of litigious guy they would've gotten a phone call by now. It's depressing and I think it's wrong. That's why will kick little Duke's ass any day." --Bruce Campbell

Related Topics:
Duke Nukem 3D - They Live - IGN for Men

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Texas, there is an actual S-Mart store, where you can ask for the "Army of Darkness" tour which is a tour of the store, including Ash's specialty, housewares.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The christian band Dogwood have a quote of Ash's speech at the castle in the title track off the album 'Building a better me' from 1:46 ? 1:55 (?Go ahead and run. Run home and cry to mama. Me! I?m through runnin??)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~