Depressing as it is to admit, it was a struggle for me to make it through the one time I watched Army of Darkness. Which seems odd, because, on paper, this love letter to Ray Harryhausen movies, sword and sorcery fantasy, and Three Stooges slapstick should have worked.
I expected and wanted Army of Darkness to work, because I loved The Evil Dead, Crimewave, Evil Dead II, and Darkman. With a track record like that, how could I have any doubt abut it working?
Two things, though. First, the version of Army of Darkness I watched was a bootleg of the Director's Cut, the one with the Rip Van Winkle ending, and it just felt slow to me. The entire movie just seemed to sit there. Which felt off-putting and wrong.
Second, and this was the real deal breaker for me, is that I grew to dislike the character of Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell). How could the hapless everyman character from the first two films turn into such an unlikeable dunderhead? It got so bad that I began to root for the bad guys!
The version of the soundtrack I have is Varèse Sarabande's 2020 reissue, which is a presentation of the score as it heard in the theatrical release prints that screened in the United States.
While I might not have liked the movie all that much, Joseph LoDuca's score for it is incredible. As is the single track composed by Danny Elfman, March of the Dead. I've had so much fun listening to it, I might try giving Army of Darkness a second viewing.
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