Army of Darkness – Primitive Screwhead Edition

When I first saw this in the theater, I hadn’t seen the series and didn’t get it. I later went back and watched The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II and became a fan. The slapsticky moments that turned me off are still in this cut of the Primitive Screwhead Edition (it really goes over the top at the windmill) but I can now enjoy it for being the delicious cheese that it is. Not really scary, but Raimi is a master of creating tension, and some of the deleted scenes here add to that. A lot of the special effects are really obvious by today’s standards and don’t hold up, but Bruce Campbell remains glorious.

There are 3 cuts assembled for this one fan-edit! I watched the "Overdose" edition that has the alternate ending, which is pretty sweet. The army of the dead and Evil Ash weren't as threatening as I remembered, and the ending of this really becomes quite cheesy (it's pretty much downhill from the Necronomicon sequence) but it's a fun popcorn watch nonetheless. Ridgeshark's editing does improve the film I believe, helping to flesh it out a bit more, although I wish something could be done about the very obvious difference in visual quality from some of the sources. This assemblage generally cuts out things that you won't miss and includes nice bits to fill out the story, so I can heartily recommend it. I'll edit this review as I watch the 2 other cuts available on the "disc", but I believe they are only small differences.