6 Nights of Horror - Army of Darkness

As I've mentioned in a previous post Anthony and I have been hosting a weekly event called, Six Nights of Horror. It's basically a weekly movie night where we introduce a new horror movie to our friends for the six weekends that lead up to Halloween.

I've been having a blast, and it seems our friends have been too!

I've decided it would be a good idea to blog about each movie we watch. Since I just had this idea, I'm already a bit behind, so I'll have to post double time to catch us back up to the present!

The first weekend in our Six Nights of Horror we watched a Sam Rami/Bruce Campbell classic, Army of Darkness.

How do you NOT want to watch a movie with a poster like that?!

This movie could really be argued to be more of a horror comedy, but there are plenty of spooky elements that keep it from firmly landing it in that category. We thought it would be a good idea to start out the series with a film that would be fun for people to watch and would help them ease into things. Army of Darkness was the perfect choice.

I hadn't seen Army of Darkness in a good long while. Once upon a time I actually owned the collectors set that came in it's own book of the dead. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Army of Darkness is the third installment in a series called The Evil Dead, directed by Sam Rami, staring Bruce Campbell. In Army of Darkness our hero, Ash, has been sucked into a time portal that has sent him back to 1300 AD. He lands in a village tormented by evil forces. After a bumpy start with the locals, it is discovered that Ash is the savoir spoken of in prophesy who can find the Necronomicon. The Book of the Dead.

Aww! It's so cute when it's sleeping...

Why would anyone want a book that looks like that you might ask? Well, the Necronomicon has the power to dispel all the evil spirits that have been plaguing the village, finally allowing them peace.

Ash runs into a little problem when he finally finds the Book of the Dead. He forgets the magic words he's supposed to say and accidentally releases an army of skeletons dead set (heh heh) on storming the castle and taking over the village!

Is it too weird that I think they're kinda cute?

The film ends with an exciting battle between good and evil, the 14th century and the 20th century, alive and dead. Do the good people of the village triumph? Does Ash ever get home? You'll have to watch the movie to find out.

I have to say that this was the best choice to begin our movie marathon. Everyone was laughing and having a great time, even those of us who have seen the film many times before. There was at least one exclamation from a new viewer of, "this is my new favorite movie!" That's the mark of a good film, it keeps both new viewers and returners equally entertained.

It would be my suggestion to watch the whole series starting with, The Evil Dead, and working your way to Army of Darkness, but we learned that it's not necessary. The evening that we watched Army of Darkness we had one viewer who had only seen part 1 and another who hadn't seen any of the films at all, and they were able to follow along just fine.

And who wouldn't want to follow Bruce Campbell?

It seems that Army of Darkness can stand on it's own just fine. It's a horror movie classic that will give people joy for years to come.




:: Edit ::

People often ask me where I find all the movies that I watch. Sometimes I do rent films online. Let's be honest, it's convenient, and when you live in a rainy city like this one sometimes a very specific kind of laziness can over-take you.

However, much more often I visit my local video store, Scarecrow Video. It's one of the most amazing, comprehensive film rental stores I have ever seen. If you live in the Seattle area I highly suggest you rent from there. If you don't live in the Seattle area, do some research! Go to your search bar and find a local video store near you. Let's keep our local business alive, eh?