Army of Darkness (1992)
Directed by Sam Raimi
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.
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6 films that influenced Army of Darkness
What critics say influenced Army of Darkness
The movie uses classic special effects (like the homage to Jason and the Argonauts in the skeleton battle) along with practical special effects.
While the humor mostly works quite well, for me the most enjoyable aspect of “Army” is its unpretentious homages to the low-budget effects extravaganzas of the 60s and early 70s, most especially Ray Harryhausen’s animated skeletons in “Jason and the Argonauts” and the kind of effects favored by Roger Corman when he felt like spending a few extra dollars.
Borrowing a lot from the old Ray Harryhausen classics, especially Jason and the Argonauts, it involves Bruce Campbell getting transported to King Arthur's time in the 14th Century where he raises an army to battle evil.
One scene will echo the quick banter of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975), and the next will replicate the Three Stooges' eye-poke block, with Ash deflecting bony hands that also try to pick his nose.
With its glorious effects — not to mention a robust Bernard Herrmann-esque score by Joseph LoDuca — this film is first and foremost a tribute to Ray Harryhausen, though Raimi also finds room for shout-outs to William Shakespeare, The Day the Earth Stood Still and especially The Three Stooges.
As the reluctant hero, he's a walking anachronism who shoots up ghouls, turns his Chevy into a tank, and can't remember how to pronounce a series of magic words that pay homage to Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still.
It was one of the first U.S. pictures to be influenced by the new wave of Hong Kong movies like A Chinese Ghost Story (1987).
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A pastiche of sci-fi flicks, sword-and-armor epics and monster movies, "Army of Darkness" also draws from, and one-ups, "An American Werewolf in London," the 1981 film that engineered the genre of horror comedy.
Imagine a woodland remake of The Exorcist starring the Three Stooges, and you'll have an idea of Raimi's demented talent.