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May 8, 2012

The Mike's Top 50 Horror Movies Countdown: #36 - Army of Darkness

Previously on the Countdown: Number 50 - Happy Birthday to Me  Number 49 - Prince of Darkness  Number 48 - House on Haunted Hill  Number 47 - The Monster Squad  Number 46 - Hellraiser  Number 45 - The Fog  Number 44 - Creature From the Black Lagoon  Number 43 - Zombie  Number 42 - Tales from the Crypt  Number 41 - Bubba Ho-Tep  Number 40 - Phantom of the Paradise  Number 39 - Dog Soldiers Number 38 - Pontypool  Number 37 - Dark Water
Army of Darkness
(1993, Dir. by Sam Raimi.)
Why It's Here:
Are you freakin' kidding me? Any list of any kind of movies that has to do with me has to include Army of Darkness.  It's pure, unadulterated, awesomeness.  It's pretty much the most fun movie to watch.  Ever.  I don't really have to explain Army of Darkness, at least not to myself.
The Moment That Changes Everything:
When that chainsaw gets tossed into that pit and Bruce Campbell leaps into the sky and everything clicks into place...well, that's when my soul really starts dancing.  Of course, there's about 97 moments in the short film that create the same feeling, but that's the first one that comes to my mind tonight.
It Makes a Great Double Feature With:
Well, there's two films that OBVIOUSLY go so well with this one - but I just might end up talking about them later in this list.  So, if we're gonna pair something else up with Army of Darkness, we're gonna need something funny, exciting, monstrous, and good looking.  Something like....Tremors.  Yeah.
What It Means To Me:
I think I've written about my evolving favoritism in regard to the Evil Dead series before, and how my appreciation of each film differs by the year.  (Yup, I have.) But Army of Darkness has always won me over as the most accessible film of the trilogy, the kind of flick I could put on even with my least horror-friendly friends and still get plenty of smiles and laughs.  It's gotten me through a lot of bad moments, too, and no amount of age and recognition of the film's lesser qualities will ever take that from me.

3 comments:

Marvin the Macabre said...

I actually saw this one first, and wasn't aware it was a sequel to anything. And it still worked. Sure, I didn't get a lot of the references, but it didn't matter because it was so goofy and endearing.

Bruce's Ash perfects his badass/dumbass duality in this one, which is a surefire formula for movie greatness.


I saw Evil Dead 2 second, and loved it. Saw The Evil Dead last and thought it was stupid, an opinion I held for years. Of course, gaining a greater sense of horror history has allowed me to appreciate it much more.

Franco Macabro said...

My love for this one is never ending as well, my favorite moment is when he's about to open the three magical books and one of them is a void that sucks him into god knows where...

Michele (TheGirlWhoLovesHorror) said...

Haha, I had a feeling that your explanation under "Why It's Here" would say something like "Well, OF COURSE it's here!!!" Definitely the most fun and accessible of the series, one where you can just sit back and enjoy every single moment of it.

This reminds me that I have a poster for this movie somewhere that needs to find a home on my wall soon. Gosh, I love how beefy Bruce looks on that thing.