‘Evil Dead Burn’ Just Made Sam Raimi’s Profoundly Silly ‘Army of Darkness’ Essential Viewing Again

Share Share on Facebook Post google Google Preferred Share on LinkedIn Show more sharing options Share to Flipboard Submit to Reddit Pin it Post to Tumblr Email Print This Page Share on WhatsApp On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark honors fringe cinema in the streaming age with midnight movies from any moment in film history. First, the BAIT: a weird genre pick, and why we’re exploring its specific niche right now. Then, the BITE: a spoiler-filled answer to the all-important question, “Is this old cult film actually worth recommending?”

The Bait: Who the Hell Are the Wise Men in “Evil Dead Burn”? Whether you’ve already seen Sébastien Vaniček’s strangely cerebral “Evil Dead Burn” in theaters or you’re planning to catch it soon, serious genre fans should probably spend at least part of the upcoming weekend brushing up on Sam Raimi‘s deeply unserious “Army of Darkness.” Related Stories ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ Review: A Beloved Literary Memoir About Rebellion Through Reading Gets a Straightforward Cinematic Treatment Physical Media Matters, Now More Than Ever For one thing, this goofy fantasy adventure explains who the so-called “Wise Men” name-dropped in Warner Bros.’

latest sequel even are. More importantly, Raimi’s divisive spinoff reveals the creative franchise scaffolding he quietly established when he first brought his and Bruce Campbell‘s indie horror sensation to the studio system in 1993 — whether he realized it or not. After spending several years away from the “Evil Dead” franchise, Raimi returned with a kind of imaginative fearlessness that still feels startling to describe today.

Co-written with his brother Ivan Raimi, who made his “Evil Dead” debut here, “Army of Darkness” is the undeniable black sheep of Raimi’s original trilogy. It’s a medieval fantasy comedy that trades claustrophobic home-invasion terror for skeleton armies, broad slapstick antics, gleeful self-parody, and a slew of visual effects that haven’t all aged with the same grace. Bruce Campbell in ‘Army of Darkness’ (1993)©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection But what once looked like a bizarre detour for Raimi now feels more like the moment “Evil Dead” discovered what it could actually become — not a horror franchise defined by narrative continuity, but a cinematic sandbox built around stylistic freedom.

Without getting into spoilers, the ending of “Evil Dead Burn” invites fans to reconsider what Raimi was really trying to accomplish with “Army of Darkness” (which, yes, once boasted the vastly superior working title “Medieval Dead”) and offers an intriguing glimpse of where the series could theoretically go next. Both resetting and continuing the events of 1987’s masterful “Evil Dead II,” “Army of Darkness” opens with a snappy prologue that sends the chainsaw-handed Ash Williams (Campbell) sailing past yet another doomed cabin and straight into battle with the Deadites in the Middle Ages. In hindsight, that wild tonal swing — and Raimi’s ability to survive it, both creatively and commercially — revealed a defining principle of the “Evil Dead” legacy.

Love it or hate it, “Army of Darkness” helped cinematic individuality become just as important to diehard “Evil Dead” fans as the Deadites themselves. Raimi had already hinted at that philosophy by casting Campbell opposite three different actresses as Ash’s ill-fated girlfriend Linda (here, Bridget Fonda ever so briefly) and repeatedly trapping them in variations of the same grisly fate. Bruce Campbell and Embeth Davidtz in ‘Army of Darkness’ (1993)©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection As the fair maiden Sheila, Embeth Davidtz arrives armed with the audience’s familiarity with two previous “Evil Dead” films, demonstrating why repetition is often the key to innovation.

You have to have a mold before you can break it, and Raimi did today’s filmmakers a tremendous service by stress-testing his own invention before moving on. Distributed by Universal after two fiercely independent productions, “Army of Darkness” irritated some critics but performed respectably at the box office. Today, it also stands as a uniquely vibrant example of a young filmmaker pushing the blockbuster form as far as he could without sacrificing its populist appeal.

‘Army of Darkness’ (1993) ©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection A true steward of the modern blockbuster, Raimi has continued that balancing act ever since — from the “Spider-Man” films (second sequels are tricky for him, huh?) to this year’s triumphant “Send Help.” As for the growing “Evil Dead” canon, the modern sequels from Fede Álvarez, Lee Cronin, and now Vaniček don’t imitate their executive producer so much as inherit his audacity.

If “Evil Dead Burn” is defined by Vaniček’s uncanny aptitude for rendering uncomfortable textures, then “Army of Darkness” feels like examining Raimi’s creative DNA under a microscope. Exuberant and endlessly inventive, it’s perhaps the finest showcase of Campbell’s physical talents and a game-changing chapter in