Army of Darkness

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Raimi offers all the fantasy, camp and hardcore horror you devoured in the comics. You can feel the pen-and-ink drawings coming to life. Dipping wittily into myth, the macabre and the modern, it's an effervescent adventure that's as amusing as it is genuinely gripping. [19 Feb 1993, Weekend, p.n38]

Los Angeles Times Peter Rainer

Ash's dialogue keeps the movie just goofy enough that even audiences that don't go in for schlock-horror phantasmagorias will be tickled. [19 Feb 1993, Calender, p.F-8]

Washington Post Richard Harrington

Few American directors would dare to show as much over-the-top glee in their chosen craft as Sam Raimi does in Army of Darkness. [19 Feb 1993, Style, p.c7]

ReelViews James Berardinelli

No matter what your opinion is of the movie, you're unlikely to be bored.

Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr

Much of the movie's charm, in fact, is derived from its sense of its own instant disposability. Raimi has created the cinematic equivalent of fast food-efficient, unassuming and seriously regressive. It may not be much good for you in the end, but consuming it is loads of fun. [19 Feb 1993, Friday, p.C]

Film Threat Jeremy Zoss

Easily the most unique film in the trilogy, and in many ways the most fun.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Enjoyably campy hokum.

Empire Chris Hewitt

As a film in its own right, this quirky Ray Harryhausen tribute (a skeleton army!) rocks. As an Evil Dead film, though, it’s ultimately not funny, scary or gory enough.

Variety Staff (Not Credited)

Blending almost nonstop violence with humorous parody, Sam Raimi's latest excursion into horror-kitsch seems more like an irreverent "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court."

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

By the time Army of Darkness turns into a retread of "Jason and the Argonauts," featuring an army of fighting skeletons, the film has fallen into a ditch between parody and spectacle.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Fans of ultraviolent sword-and-sorcery nonsense will have a good time; others will head for the exit. [19 Feb 1993, Arts, p.10]

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Army of Darkness would appeal to small children if it were not also too gruesome for them, since Ash does after all wield a chain saw. [19 Feb 1993, p.C10]

TV Guide Michael Gingold

Raimi is a master at pacing this kind of material, however, and never allows it to become redundant.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Army of Darkness has good moments and shows traces of wit right up to the end, though these moments wind up coming fewer and farther between. [19 Feb 1993, Daily Datebook, p.D1]

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie isn't as funny or entertaining as "Evil Dead II," however, maybe because the comic approach seems recycled.

The New Yorker Michael Sragow

Even diehard fans may long for something to hold the tacky flourishes together—a plot, or maybe even a guide that's more lucid than the Necronomicon.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A poor man's "Excalibur," but the fact of the matter is that the film displays far too little of the incisor-sharp wit and out-of-control mayhem readily available in the other two films. It just doesn't work.

USA Today Mike Clark

The movie runs just 80 minutes, but it's enough time for doldrums to set in when nifty special effects and funny verbal exchanges are out grabbing a smoke. [19 Feb 1993, Life, p.5D]