Army of Darkness

"Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas."

1992 1h 29m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

🍅

68%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

7.4

IMDB

★7.3TMDB · 3,708🍅68%Rotten Tomatoes●59Metacritic★7.4IMDB · 206,363

FantasyHorrorComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Ash, a handsome, shotgun-toting, chainsaw-armed department store clerk, is time warped backwards into England's Dark Ages, where he romances a beauty and faces legions of the undead.

“Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.”

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Cast

Bruce Campbell
Ash
Embeth Davidtz
Sheila
Marcus Gilbert
Arthur
Ian Abercrombie
Wiseman
Richard Grove
Duke Henry
Michael Earl Reid
Gold Tooth
Timothy Patrick Quill
Blacksmith
Bridget Fonda
Linda

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: Sam Raimi, Ivan Raimi, Matsune Suzuki
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

89 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

34 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Evil Dead Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Sam Raimi, shot by Bill Pope. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Joseph LoDuca. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Bob Murawski shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Bruce Campbell and Embeth Davidtz and Marcus Gilbert carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Sam Raimi directs. Bill Pope behind the camera. Joseph LoDuca scores. Bob Murawski cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

189 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
234 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Evil Dead Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Sam Raimi, shot by Bill Pope. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Joseph LoDuca. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Bob Murawski shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Bruce Campbell and Embeth Davidtz and Marcus Gilbert carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.".
9IMDB entry: tt0106308 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10The top-rated still from this film on TMDB has 5 community votes — a signal the frame composition stuck with viewers.
11Classified under 36 themes, including "witch", "skeleton", "swordplay", "supermarket".
12Released under 24 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Bill Pope
Original score: Joseph LoDuca
Editing: Bob Murawski
Production design: Anton Tremblay
Makeup / hair: Tony Gardner
VFX supervisor: Richard Malzahn
Sound: Matthew Iadarola
Stunt coordinator: Christopher Doyle
Runtime: 89 min · 1h 29m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $11,000,000
Box office: $21,502,976
Return: 195% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Army of Darkness (1992)
Rotten Tomatoes: 68% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 59/100
IMDB rating: 7.4/10 · 206,363 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

12 wins & 6 nominations total

Part of

Evil Dead Collection

Supernatural horror-comedy franchise revolving around the Necronomicon and the demons summoned once its incantations are read.

Also by

Sam Raimi

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-10-18
★ 7/10
My name is Ash and I am a slave. Close as I can figure, the year is thirteen hundred A.D and I'm being dragged to my death. Army of Darkness is directed by Sam Raimi and Raimi co-writes the screenplay with his brother Ivan. It stars Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie, Richard Grove and Timothy Patrick Quill. Music is by Joseph LoDuca and cinematography by Bill Pope. Ash (Campbell) is transported to 1300 A.D., where he must battle an army of the dead and retrieve the Necronomicon so he can return home. Unofficially it's Evil Dead III, but as the fans will atest, this is a very different animal to the two films that preceeded it. Blending high energy jinks in medieval times with comedy horror staples, it's a riotous idea that mostly works. Of course one has to accept it on its riotous terms, this for sure isn't a pic for the highbrow crowd. Though it should at least be given the chance to brighten a dark day. Campell as Ash is put through the mangler once again, with some nifty physical comedy nestling nicely with that of Ash's anachronistic verbalities. It's all breakneck stuff that's performed with a wonderfully self mocking attitude that's easy to warm to. It's a comic book brought to life and it never sags, but some of the cartoon sequence beasties sadly do look a little flat. Great fun if prepared for what type of pic it is, it's not hard to see why it is so beloved in Evil Dead fan circles. 7/10 Footnote: There are alterante ending versions, of which I have only seen the downbeat time potion one - but being the miserable sod that I am, I love this ending.
misubisu2022-10-01
★ 9/10
Bruce Campbell at his "gimme some sugar Baby" best. Klatu Verada mumble mumble... What could possibly go wrong!?!? This is just a fun, entertaining movie.
CinemaSerf2023-04-14
★ 7/10
"Ash" (Bruce Campbell) is a bit of a loud-mouth hardware salesman who somehow manages to get himself, and his car, transported back seven hundred years and into a mediaeval combat zone! "Lord Arthur" (Marcus Gilbert) is his new master and together with his fellow prisoner "Duke Henry the Red" (Richard Grove) is soon facing doom at the bottom of a deadly pit! Luckily, he has a few useful things in the boot of his car, and the timely use of a chainsaw helps him escape and become the designated saviour who will retrieve the "Necronomicon". His quest will involve a treacherous journey through the land of the "Deadites" in search of a sacred book. Only the immortal words of Michael Rennie himself: "Klaatu Barada Nikto" can save the day... Well, needless to say, none of this grand plan actually works. He forgets half of his magic phrase and only succeeds in resurrecting a somewhat narked army of dead folks who are determined to lay siege to their castle and retrieve the book for themselves. Enemies soon become friends, arrows become strapped to dynamite, trebuchets start lobbing high explosives and all are now hoping to defeat, well, the already dead! This actually benefits hugely from not having a star. The whole ensemble cast join in to create a quickly paced, "Camelot" style action adventure that borrows heavily from twentieth century references (I'm sure the script has a bit of Jack Hawkins from "Ben Hur" here too) and Ian Abercrombie does a fine job as the wiseman. There's plenty of pyrotechnics and swordplay, a generous amount of rather daft humour and, for my money, is one of Sam Raimi's better, more entertaining features. Derivative? Yes - it is, but that doesn't stop it being an enjoyable romp through history and legend that is well worth an afternoon in front of the telly.