Army of Darkness (Screwhead Edition) – Blu-ray Review

By Dana Rae Oct 7, 2009, 20:35 GMT

All primitive screwheads, listen up! Cult superstar Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) reunites with director Sam Raimi (Drag Me to Hell, Spider-Man) to battle the deadly forces of evil in Army of Darkness - the outrageous, effects-fueled action epic that will make you scream with fear and laughter. Forced to lead a makeshift Dark Ages army against the demonic Deadites, who possess all the deadly magic of hell, the shotgun-toting, chainsaw-armed, ...more

Sam Raimi’s third installment of his Evil Dead series comes to Blu-ray, and just in time for Halloween.

This is my favorite out of the Evil Dead movies, and probably because it is just so campy and so much fun (I saw this in its 81 minute theatrical release way back when). If you are not familiar with the Evil Dead movies (before director Raimi went on to direct the Spiderman movies), you are missing out.

And for those of you who are familiar with these cult classics, this ‘screwhead’ edition comes light in the special features area and it is not the director’s edition that has also been put out for the consumer’s consumption (the difference being this is the 81 minutes when released in the theaters, as opposed to the director’s cut which has 15 extra minutes). The title ‘Screwhead’ is in reference to one of Ash’s snazzy one-liners, of course.

I love Ash (Bruce Campbell), king of the campy one-liners. He is the anti hero’s hero, reluctant, loud-mouthed, but quite willing to use his boomstick and chainsaw for the greater good of all.

We see Ash in our world, working at S Mart, and then he is transported back to medieval England where he has to save the day, get the girl (in this one, played by Embeth Davidtz). There is also the small matter of the Necronomicon, the Book of the Dead that Ash has unleashed on the medieval world he finds himself in.

In typical Ash-fashion, he screws up getting the Book of the Dead, and goes through several zany adventures, including fighting a copy of himself, and being tied down and tortured by little Ashes (another nod to Gulliver’s Travels).

On Blu-ray, the campy-ness really comes through, but that is part of the charm. No CGI effects here, baby. No, we get real honest to goodness stop motion action when the evil demon thing carries away Sheila (Davidtz).

Despite the throw-back special effects (a nod, in my opinion, to the classic Ray Harryhausen movies), the 1080p picture looks really good and sharp on Blu-ray when Ash is not encountering any of the ghastly undead, or when you see some of the split screen effects, for instance. But, as earlier stated, the special effects are part of the charm of the movie aficionado will understand and appreciate that.

Special features available on the Blu-ray Screwhead edition that are exclusive to Blu-ray are a U-control with production photos and a BD live which allows you to download more bonus content. Other special features include a featurette on Creating the Deadites, those undead creatures that Ash encounters, and an additional feature that includes an alternate ending.

With a bigger budget than the first two, Army of Darkness was banked by Universal, whereas the first two films were low-budget. However, with all of the DVDs releases (including Boomstick and the director’s cut version), and now the Blu-ray versions, this movie has been over-marketed. There have been at least nine different versions put on DVD and Blu-ray!

My point is that for whatever money spent on the actual movie, it has made money I am sure, by being over-marketed. And this might upset some fans. Is it worth the money? In my opinion, the 96 minute director’s cut, which had more special features, is probably your best bet, and if you already own that, you might not want to replace this edition for that one. However, some fans like the movie in its pure form, and this is that edition, in all its theatrical glory.

Army of Darkness (Screwhead Edition) [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon. Visit the DVD database for more information.