Classic Movie Review Army of Darkness

Army of Darkness (1993) 

Directed by Sam Raimi 

Written by Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi 

Starring Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz 

Release Date February 19th, 1993 

Published June 20th, 2023 

Army of Darkness is a direct sequel to Evil Dead 2 but, in the tradition of Evil Dead 1, continuity between the two is not necessary. The basic elements are enough to marry one film to the other. Ash (Bruce Campbell), survived a fight against the Deadites, zombie demons from another dimension, only to find himself sucked into another dimension. In this dimension there are Kings and servants, warring clans, and an ancient evil that Ash happens to have some experience in defeating. After demonstrating god-like powers in surviving against a Deadite at the bottom of a well, Ash is welcomed into this bizarre world. 

In classically Ash fashion, he immediately flirts with and gets the girl, Sheila (Davidtz), who is then subsequently stolen away and corrupted by the Deadites. In order to free this cursed land from the evil of the Deadites, Ash must go on a quest to retrieve the Book of the Dead, the very book that got him into this mess in Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. The book was sucked through this dimensional portal along with Ash and has now fallen into the hands of the Deadites who've placed it in a cursed cemetery. The Arthurian touches in Army of Darkness are inspired gags. 

The key to Army of Darkness however, is a spirit of anarchic invention. Director Sam Raimi and his star, Bruce Campbell show off a childlike glee as they workout different bits and gags they can do with the larger budget and platform they were given following the modest but notable success of Evil Dead 2. If you ask Raimi, he would say that he didn't need the budget that was given to him but he also then felt obligated to spend it since he had it. With that, we get both improved special effects and the kinds of practical effects that Raimi developed a remarkable talent for in the Evil Dead movies. 

The combinations of Harryhausen inspired practicality, music, and slightly more expensive effects, are used to create a low budget atmosphere on a relatively large budget. Raimi's homemade aesthetic somehow survives the move to a big studio feature and there is a wonderful charm to how Army of Darkness combines big effects with the kind of inventive, chaotic, weirdness that drove Raimi in his early career as a filmmaker. The delight Raimi and his collaborators take in creating comic gore, and paying tribute to low budget effects movies of the past is wonderfully infectious. 

Bruce Campbell however, is perhaps the best special effect in the movie. Campbell's ability for physical comedy, his willingness to put his body on the line for a gag, and his more than willingness to be silly, is an incredible asset to the charm of Army of Darkness. His Ash may talk like a cross between the tough guy banter of Bogart and the suave charm of Errol Flynn, but Campbell has a comic quality that neither of those legendary performers has. It's a sly ability to ride the razors edge between silly camp and action movie star that is a one of a kind combination. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review: The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead (1983) 

Directed by Sam Raimi 

Written by Sam Raimi 

Starring Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker 

Release Date April 15th, 1983 

Published April 20th, 2023 

The Evil Dead is inspired and inspiring. A group of friends in Michigan used the limited tools they had at hand to make one of the most incredible DIY horror movies of all time. With plenty of makeup, innovative small scale special effects, and chutzpah, Director Sam Raimi, Producer Rob Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell crafted a series of iconic scenes from what they were able to scrape together. The Evil Dead launched a million imitators as anyone with access to a camera the ability to make fake blood and bile, began making horror movies in their backyard. And yet, there is still only one The Evil Dead. 

Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods is now a trope for a horror movie. That was not a trope until The Evil Dead. Ash (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend, Linda (Betsy Baker), his sister, Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), his best friend, Scott (Richard Demanicor), and Scott's girlfriend, Shelly (Theresa Tilly) have come to this remote cabin, in the middle of nowhere, to get away from the world, drink some beer, and generally have a good time. Unfortunately for our weary travelers, the previous denizens of this cabin accidentally unleashed an unimaginable evil. 

One by one Ash and his friends are attacked by the demon, possessed, and are subsequently befouled by the demons before having to be dismembered by Ash, our de facto 'Final Girl.' It's actually on the women who end up being subjected to the demonic possession. Scotty is briefly taken but not until he's already dead. Ash meanwhile, is tormented for most of the film by having to dismember his girlfriend and his sister in order to survive this inconceivably insane situation. 

The key to the appeal of The Evil Dead is a dedication to DIY, low budget special effects. Director Sam Raimi brilliantly demonstrates how to make the most of what you have by thinking of ways to maximize his location and use the tools of filmmaking to his advantage. One standout example is how Raimi uses his camera to portray the film's villainous demons. When he wants us to see the demons in action, Raimi's camera becomes the demon as it rushes around the woodsy location running at or after our protagonists. 

It's a simple idea rendered ingenious by Raimi's skillful and economic deployment of this device. But the inventiveness doesn't end there. As Ash's friends are picked off one by one in gruesome fashion, the low budget gore effects take center stage and dazzle you with how cleverly staged they are. It's a wonder how Raimi and his team pulls off having two dead bodies rapidly decompose in a fashion that is both hilarious and gruesome. Your stomach turns at the sight of a seemingly once human body turning to mulch but the gruesomeness of the sight is also comically grotesque making it an absurd joy to watch. 

The blood and guts of The Evil Dead is wildly over the top and the perverse comedy of the gore makes The Evil Dead so much ridiculous fun. Reanimated corpses are punched, stabbed, and chainsawed, buckets of blood cover our heroic Ash, and the fact that he is being forced to decimate the people closest to him in the world adds another perverse layer to the horror comedy at play in The Evil Dead. All the while, Bruce Campbell is ragdolled from one side of this cabin in the woods to the other, all for our unending amusement. 

Campbell embraces the silliness of his stunts. For Campbell, physical comedy seems to come as naturally as breathing. What the star lacks in gracefulness he more than makes up for in hustle. Campbell throws himself wholeheartedly into every bit of physical business thrust upon him and his dedication to the gags is charming and hilarious. Campbell has a huge personality, an expressive and handsome face, and a strong sense of the absurd. It's a rare combination of traits and one that should have made him a major Hollywood star. 

That Bruce Campbell never became one of Hollywood's biggest stars baffles me. I imagine that it had to do with being pigeonholed as a horror guy. But, I can also see where he seemed to only want to work with Sam Raimi and with Raimi struggling through the 80s just get Evil Dead 2 made, followed by the tepid box office of their big gamble, the cult favorite, Army of Darkness, Campbell missed his chance to become a massive Hollywood star. Don't get me wrong, I consider us all lucky that Campbell didn't get big in the mainstream, we'd miss a whole lot of great cult cinema and TV without him, but I can't help but wonder what might have been, just a little. 

The Evil Dead is most assuredly eclipsed by its sort of sequel, Evil Dead 2. That film, with a slightly larger budget, featured the elements that would make the franchise iconic. Evil Dead 2 has Ash fighting his demonically possessed hand, Ash's chainsaw, and his one word catchphrase, 'Groovy.' The Evil Dead however, doesn't completely suffer in comparison. It still has the honor of having introduced the style that would be cemented into cult movie history in Evil Dead 2. The moving camera and the dedication to grisly, absurd gore, each came from the success of the original, The Evil Dead. For that, I will always have a soft spot for the film that kicked off the franchise. 

Movie Review The Ant Bully

The Ant Bully (2006) 

Directed by John A Davis

Written by John A, Davis 

Starring Zach Tyler Eisen, Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Regina King, Bruce Campbell

Release Date July 28th, 2006 

Published July 29th, 2006 

Is Hollywood killing the golden goose? A recent explosion in computer generated cartoons threatens to saturate the market for a genre that came to prominence based on its lovely uniqueness. In the summer of 2006 we have already seen Over The Hedge, Cars and Monster House and soon Barnyard will open. In the midst of all of this frenzy of computer animation comes The Ant Bully, a forgettable but lovingly rendered kiddie flick from the creative minds behind Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius.

Adapted from a book by John Nickle, The Ant Bully delivers perfunctory kids movie messages about friendship, family and working together in a terrifically crafted computer animated universe.

Nine year old Lucas Nickle (Zack Tyler) has been the target of neighborhood bullies for years. His only solace from the constant humiliation is taking his frustrations out on the ant hills in his yard. Little does young Lucas realize that he is not just bullying ants but nearly destroying a very real society of families and friends. With each squirt of Lucas's hose or stomp of his foot years of progress for the large in number but small in stature ant colony is lost.

While the leaders of the ant colony debate how to react to Lucas, whether to pick up and move away from the hill or find some way to retaliate, the ant wizard Zoc (Nicolas Cage) has a plan of his own. Zoc has developed a potion that will shrink Lucas, known to the ants as 'The Destroyer', to ant size. The potion works and Lucas is taken prisoner and put on trial.

Sentenced by the ant queen (Meryl Streep), Lucas is given the opportunity to prove himself. Rather than the ants eating him, Lucas will become part of the colony and if he can work together with the ants and find his place in the colony he will be returned to his family. Aiding Lucas will be Nurse Ant Hova (Julia Roberts) who volunteers to mentor Lucas over the objections of Zoc, her boyfriend.

Obviously from my plot description there is very little suspense in The Ant Bully. If you don't know the valuable lessons about friendship, teamwork and family that Lucas will learn then you have never seen a kids movie before. The story of The Ant Bully, adapted by director John A. Davis from the book by John Nickle, is neither original nor all that humorous. It works because it is comforting, familiar and the animation is absolutely gorgeous.

Because John Nickle's book is a slight 32 pages much had to be added and those additions include a nasty bug exterminator voiced by Paul Giamatti. The exterminator character leads to the film's climax, a bug war with the exterminator that is a visual marvel if only a story convenience. The war with the exterminator as well as ants angst over how to deal with Lucas, leads to an interesting, if not well explored, idea of the doctrine of The Ant Bully.

John A. Davis considers for a moment an idea of an anti-war movement amongst the ants. Many ants oppose confronting Lucas in a war-like fashion. Later when threatened by the exterminator there is talk of whether striking the exterminator before he strikes the ants is a proper course of action. A cartoon debating the ethics of first strike capability, even as briefly and simplistically as The Ant Bully does, is rather ambitious for such a little movie.

The animation of The Ant Bully is some of the best non-pixar computer animation I have ever seen. John A. Davis, whose previous effort was the imaginatively unattractive Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius, here crafts lovely, lush visual landscapes. The characters are candy colored browns, greens and fleshtones that really pop right off the screen. The action is animated so spectacularly that you nearly forget how unnecessary these scenes are.

The voice cast lead by Nicolas Cage and Julia Roberts is first rate. Cage strikes just the right balance of strength and vulnerability in his vocalization. Roberts, honey voiced and beatific, communicates motherly wisdom and a sensuousness that really draws you to the character of Hova. Bruce Campbell as Fugax does most of the film's comic heavy lifting with his tough guy bravura often punctured by pratfalling cluelessness. Finally, Regina King as Kreela is as always the queen of smart sass.

A better, funnier, more innovative plot could have turned The Ant Bully from a typical kids flick into something worthy of the Pixar canon. As it is I can still comfortably recommend The Ant Bully because of it's artistry and good intentions. John A. Davis has a bright future ahead of him in computer animation if he can in the future combine the gorgeous visuals of The Ant Bully with telling a real good story.

Movie Review: The Woods

The Woods (2006)

Directed by Lucky McKee

Written by David Ross

Starring Agnes Bruckner, Patricia Clarkson, Bruce Campbell, Rachel Nichols

Release Date September 26th, 2006 

Published December 29th, 2006 

Lucky McKee's debut feature May should have made him a star director. With rave reviews from Roger Ebert, Ainitcoolnews and several other high profile outlets the film had killer buzz and somehow never made it past a couple hundred theaters. The botched release of May did no favors for McKee's follow-up a boarding school set creepfest called The Woods.

Havng been completed in 2004, the film was shelved when M. Night Shyamalan briefly considered the title The Woods for his own film which later changed to The Village. The Woods ended up temporarily without a studio home until MGM snapped it up. Then the film was lost in that company's collapse. Two years later the film is now found dumped unceremoniously on DVD and another brilliant example of talent of Lucky McKee goes unnoticed.

Agnes Bruckner (Blue Car) stars in The Woods as Heather a troubled teen who finds herself being dumped into a creepy all girls school after she nearly burned her house down. The Falburn Academy is located in the middle of a forest that has a creepy legend attached to it. It is alleged that some years ago three girls were found in that forest and taken to the school. There; the girls were suspected of being witches and were subjected to horrible taunting.

Somehow, after escaping back into the woods, the three girls turned their classmates into their co-conspirators and returned to the school late one night to murder the headmistress with an axe. Even before hearing this legend; poor Heather has seen this story play out in her dreams. Heather isn't the only one hearing voices; her bitchy rival Samantha (Rachel Nichols) and her only friend Alice (Emma Campbell) hear them as well.

All of this is somehow tied to the creepy faculty lead by headmistress Ms. Traverse (Patricia Clarkson). The headmistress pulls Heather and two other scholarship students out of class often to work privately. These private lessons often lead to inexplicable supernatural occurances all of which are somehow linked to the legend of the woods that surround the school.

The story of The Woods is rather convoluted and often misunderstood. Working from a script by David Ross, director Lucky McKee seems far more interested in his directorial toys than with telling a creepy compelling story. The difference between the Lucky McKee of May and the Lucky McKee of The Woods is this time McKee did not write the script. First time screenwriter David Ross has a good sketch of a horror movie idea but it never comes together.

This may be why McKee throws himself so much into the technique of filmmaking and ignores some story aspects. There are gaping holes in this plot and occasions when the younger actresses, Agnes Bruckner especially, seem lost. That is as much McKee's fault as Ross's

There is no denying that McKee's direction is first rate. The look he achieves for the film, with the help of cinematographer John R. Leonetti, eerily evokes the 60's and 70's work of Dario Argento and Roman Polanski. Pay close attention to the clever and creepy way McKee uses sound in The Woods. Listen to how certain effects are used, how footfalls are occasionally louder than need be, the way wind and rustling leaves so deftly mix with the film score. Sound design is an underappreciated art but in the hands of a master like Lucky McKee it certainly gets its due.

Kudos to Lucky McKee for hiring Bruce Campbell to play Heather's father. Just when you think its only a cameo, McKee brings the greatest B-movie actor alive back into the action late in the film. If only he had access to a chainsaw; I might have found fanboy nirvana.

The one actor who thrives in The Woods is Patricia Clarkson whose perfectly measured gentility never boils over into cackling villain overkill. Clarkson's headmistress is far more intriguing for being serene and eerie and that is just how Clarkson plays it. The oscar nominee brings gravitas to an otherwise B-movie cast and her presence raises the level of the actors around her.

The Woods is a rare example of how great direction can be a form of popcorn entertainment. For fans of the techniques of filmmaking a movie like The Woods is as enjoyable as any average good movie. Lucky McKee's little filmmaking touches, his use of sound, his evocative visuals, his numerous homages to genre veterans, all of these things are so clever and entertaining that I can forgive the rather mundane story he's telling.

Not nearly the masterpiece that was May, The Woods is an example of the talent and potential of Lucky McKee. He should probably stick to self generated material from now on in order to keep himself interested in all aspects of filmmaking. His storytelling in The Woods suffers mostly for lack of attention as much as not having great material to work from.

Flawed but still quite engaging, I am recommending The Woods but be sure to see May first. That way you will have a full understanding of just how talented Lucky McKee really is.

Movie Review: Bubba Ho-Tep

Bubba Ho-Tep (2002) 

Directed by Don Coscarelli 

Written by Don Coscarelli 

Starring Bruce Campbell, Ossie Davis

Release Date June 9th, 2002 

Published April 20th, 2004

Bruce Campbell made his name with arguably the best B-movie horror films series in history, Evil Dead. Army Of Darkness cemented his legend but since that film’s 1993 release, Campbell has not been able to rise to that level of genius.

Until now that is.

With the release of Bubba Ho-tep (it was released in late 2002 and just reached my small hole in the universe in April 2004), Campbell has recaptured that vibe that made Ash a legend. Playing an aged King of Rock N Roll fighting a mummy, Campbell reaches a level that flies well past camp and into a realm that only a Bruce Campbell B-movie could reach.

Just before Elvis Presley was found dead in his Graceland mansion, the real Elvis visited a man that was believed to be the best Elvis impersonator in the world. His name is Sebastian Haff and the deal he made was to become Elvis, allowing the real King to go into hiding, pretending to be an Elvis impersonator. Part of the deal the two men made was that Elvis could switch back whenever he wanted. Before he could though, Sebastian Haff died and the real Elvis fell off a stage during a performance and landed himself in a Texas old folk’s home where he's been laid up for more than 20 years.

Elvis fell into a drab, depressing routine of watching roommates pass away and unexciting sponge baths from the bitchy nursing staff. All the while lamenting the loss of his fame and fortune. Elvis's only friend and the only man who believes he really is Elvis is a man who is convinced that he himself is John F. Kennedy. This despite being a black man (Ossie Davis plays the unusual role). According to Jack, they dyed him after they shot him.

It is Jack that first becomes aware of a peculiar series of deaths in the home. Peculiar because they are precipitated by the appearance a huge cockroach-looking thing and electrical surges. Soon the two friends discover that the real peculiar thing is that there is a mummy in a cowboy hat that is sucking the life out of old people to keep itself alive. Now these two legends must find away to save their home and themselves from a creature that Elvis dubs Bubba Ho-tep.

Just the concept alone, Elvis and JFK vs. a mummy, is brilliant enough. Then, as directed by Don Coscarelli, the man who directed Phantasm, it reaches another level of cheesy brilliance. Coscarelli only knows one way to direct a film and that is with as minimalist a palette as possible. He’s a veteran director but he can never be confused for an artist. However, it is exactly that lack of precision and skill that so perfectly captures such a strange weird movie. It is my honest opinion that in this case, it takes a bad director to make a bad movie transcend its badness into something wholly brilliant.

Campy, kooky, over the top ridiculousness abounds in Bubba Ho-tep. From the gutter mouth dialogue to the cheeseball look to a mummy in a cowboy hat, Bubba is an ingenious B-movie that returns Bruce Campbell to his so-bad-it's-good brilliance. This is a film that has to be seen to be believed. 

Movie Review Serving Sara

Serving Sara (2002) 

Directed by Reginald Hudlin

Written by Jay Scherick, David Ronn

Starring Matthew Perry, Elizabeth Hurley, Bruce Campbell, Amy Adams, Cedric The Entertainer

Release Date August 23rd, 2002 

Published August 22nd, 2002 

Matthew Perry has long been my favorite member of the Friends cast. Unfortunately I've only ever liked him on Friends. In movies Perry tries really hard to not be Chandler, but comes off as if he were conscious trying not to be Chandler. The result is often forced physical humor and strained vocal and physical affectations that are simply not funny. The trend continues with Serving Sara.

In the film, Perry portrays a process server attempting at first to serve divorce papers on the gorgeous trophy wife of a Texas millionaire played by Bruce "Ash" Campbell. Things change when the trophy wife hires Perry's process server to serve her husband first. Elizabeth Hurley, continuing her attempt to make sure everyone knows she can’t act, plays the trophy wife. She proved that in Bedazzled, and reaffirms it here with a tremendously unfunny, damn near hard to watch performance. Are there any more frightening words than model/slash actress?

As for Perry once again you can see the effort. Perry, in the classic football sense, leaves it all on the field. Pratfalls, bad impersonations, and various wacky setups put Perry through his paces. Unfortunately none of this is funny. Serving Sara serves up a film that might work as an episode of a bad sitcom but as a two hour movie it's dull and feels much longer than it actually is.

I can say one good thing about the film. It's always good to see Bruce Campbell on screen, this man doesn't work enough. Check out his book If Chins Could Kill, this guy is hysterical.