Army of Darkness Turns 25!

MaidOfKandar

MaidOfKandar

I May Be Bad But I Feel...Good....
Staff member
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Today marks the 25th Anniversary of the American release of AOD (I think it was released in Europe in the spring?)! To celebrate, I guess we can post our favorite parts, pictures, quotes, what we like best about the movie or talk about which version of the ending we like best.

I'll start out with this 90s-tastic trailer for the movie:


And Bruce's commemorating Tweet for the occasion.
 
I was thirteen when it came out and expressly forbidden from seeing it. Ended up seeing it eight years ago and falling in love!
 
Was three when it came out. I saw it for the first time on TV about 10 years ago, and because it was European TV, it had the postapocalyptic ending. When I then downloaded the US version couple years after that, I was pretty confused about what the hell is that S-Mart scene supposed to be.
 
It was the first one in the trilogy that I watched and the one responsible for making me a fan. Saw it on TV in the mid to late 90's and needed to watch it again straight away, so I started ransacking video stores looking for it and found a copy with the original ending attached. It was clearly a sequel, so I went after the first two movies and the rest is history. I've been a fan for at least 20 of those 25 years. I like the theatrical ending for what it is and as a standalone scene, but the editing in the director's cut and the original ending make the movie so much better. To me, it's the only way to watch this thing. I always knew it was a lost cause, but I always wanted a fourth movie or any continuation of the series to follow the original ending.
 
Ahh, one of my favorite moments!
 
I was 16, and I went to my local theatre alone. It was the International Cut which featured the longer and better "Kandarian Demon chasing Ash" sequence ever filmed in human history.
It was a fantastic movie, fantastic! The final battle was exciting.
I just didn't like the "Skeleton Hands" sequence which, mind you, was much longer in the International Cut. Today, I admit it was a brilliant and totally crazy sequence anyway and learnt to love it.

In Italy, AoD is still the most popular Evil Dead movie among "casual viewers".
 
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I guess I was 13 years old when I discovered it on German TV late at night. I was flipping though the channels and tuned into it when Evil Ash grew out of Ash's shoulder. I was totaly disturbed and flipped to another channel. But being a young dumb teen my couriosity was way stronger than my fear. So I tuned in again ... just at the right time to see Evil Ash's blown up face meeting the roaring chainsaw. Of Course I changed the channel again. Back than I was not brave enough to watch the whole thing. I only consulted the TV guide and read something about a handsome supermarket clerk tormented by the undead. So I thought it was some sleazy, ultra violent shlockfest with body horror elements like a Troma Movie :D
 
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In 1993, I was 13 and that movie is what started it all for me. I saw it when it was released on VHS. At this time, I used to play a board game called "Hero Quest", and when I saw that movie, I started to call it... "the Hero Quest movie" (yeah, shame on me...). Anyway, 2 or 3 years later, it was playing on TV and I noticed that the TV Guide indicated that it was a sequel to the two first Evil Dead movies. The same day, I ran to the video store, then I watched the two first movies. I instantly fall in love all over again with the series and then I started to built a collection! When I got access to Internet, I looked everywhere for more information, found out about the alternate ending and discovered fans from around the globe! It's great to see that now in 2018, a spin-off TV series exist and the movies are cult favorites. Long live to Army of Darkness, and Evil Dead!
 
I was 20 in '93 when Army Of Darkness was released in the UK. About a year or two before, I'd been to the Tamworth UCI cinema for a midnight double bill of The Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 with my best buddy although we were already old school fans by then. I've still got a few advertising flyers from that night and sent one to Tom Sullivan as a surprise hidden inside something else he's asked me to send him.

If Army Of Darkness was ever released theatrically in the UK (and surely it must have been ?), we couldn't find it playing in theatres anywhere in England's midlands. Our only way of watching it was on a rental VHS cassette perhaps 6 months to a year later. The video shop refused to sell it to me so I rented it, pretended I'd lost it, paid the fine and just before paying the fine, got a friend to steal the empty display box from the shelf .. I've still got that copy :) ..

I tried the same stunt decades later with Evil Dead (the remake) from my local library, I only wanted it because it had a red band across the top of the front sleeve with "RENTAL COPY ONLY" .. I asked to buy it, was again turned down and like a fool this time said "how about if I pretend I've lost it and pay the fine?" .. the woman told me she'd contact some sort of authorities if I did that. So much for honest dishonesty being the best policy. I'm sure there's still a rental only copy somewhere in circulation and UK libraries are sort of obliged to order these in from other libraries in the UK on request so I might be less honest this time, get them to get it in, rent it and then 'genuinely' lose it and pay the fine this time ... then I'll own every ex rental copy of every Evil Dead UK release.
 
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