Why is Army of Darkness considered pap?

Carlsborg Expert. · 07 March, 2005, 07:15:05 PM

I think the film has potentially the most original concepts on film in the era of its making.

I mean horrific demons,fought by olde world knights.

Inspired!

Trout · 07 March, 2005, 07:17:39 PM

And pap.

But great fun. I like it a lot.

irving9000 · 07 March, 2005, 07:24:26 PM

been a while since i saw it but what I really loved about it was the fact that Ash was dropped in the middle of a medieval war fought with shitty weapons - and he has his car and shotgun! cue Ash driving around medieval battlefield mowing down demons and blasting them with his 'boomstick' etc. while being hailed as a god!fucking brilliant!
and the different endings are class

Bad Andy · 07 March, 2005, 07:41:23 PM

Second City Blues will be running for 13 episodes. Total War only ran for 12.

Does the board think that Dredd should be allowed a longer main run on some stories when you take into account that a newbie story was invested with more episodes?

Or is it because Dredd is so established that storylines can be condensed easier? If this is so, should all new strips be allowed a good long run to start off?

Megadeth · 07 March, 2005, 07:52:37 PM

I didn't realise it was considered pap!

I've always seen it as at least as good as Evil Dead I/II, In fact i know loads of people who think it's the best of the three.

Anyone tells you it's pap... punch 'em (it's better than 'Hawk the Slayer' ;) )

Funtwangle · 07 March, 2005, 07:54:03 PM

i saw evil dead last night

christ it was boring

are the other ones any good

Funt Solo · 07 March, 2005, 08:00:00 PM

I think, because it's a sequel, it suffers harsher criticism.

For people looking for "more of the same", it didn't really deliver, as it's a completely different movie from I and II (themselves, of course, very similar).

Perhaps, to "the critics", it didn't work because it was more of an outright comedy than the previous movies.

The crucial difference, for me, is that Evil Dead I & II are tense and scary (whilst still being comedic in places) whereas Army of Darkness simply is not scary. It's gory, amusing, inventive and bizarre: but it's just not scary. For a horror movie, that's got to be a downside.

(Of course, it would be unfair to compare Alien and Aliens, as they are completely different sub-genres of sci-fi: horror and action respectively.)

Trout · 07 March, 2005, 08:18:43 PM

The Evil Dead: B&W and home-made horror film, ground-breaking for its time and budget.

The Evil Dead II: A colour remake/extension of the first film, and genuinely chilling in places, IMO, if a little dated now by the stop-motion stuff. Elements of horror comedy, especially the chainsaw scene: "groovy!"

The Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness: more of a comedy than a horror film, with actual slapstick humour, and slightly better effects.

- Trout

Krustabi · 07 March, 2005, 08:24:19 PM

I thought Evil Dead 1 was pretty shocking, especially considering how old the special effects are.

Wils · 07 March, 2005, 08:26:36 PM

The Evil Dead: B&W and home-made horror film, ground-breaking for its time and budget.

Evil Dead was in colour. Are you possibly confusing it with 'Within the Woods' which was the short film they touted around to get funding for the first ED?

Wils · 07 March, 2005, 08:34:17 PM

And after a short bit of research, Within the Woods seems to be colour as well.

http://www.samraimi.iofm.net/wtw.html" target="_blank">"It's 8 minutes of set-up and 20 minutes of running around sticking knives in people"

Carlsborg Expert. · 07 March, 2005, 08:34:25 PM

Oh, the scariest thing about Evil Deads I,II and III is that they have evolved into an infinite universe.

One being a routine dip into primal fears,two excelling as a class definition of the gruesome horror and three, slipping away from the leash completely.

Trout · 07 March, 2005, 09:05:22 PM

No idea why I remembered it as b&w. Sorry. :-)

LSDfish · 07 March, 2005, 09:11:39 PM

saw ED I last night too, thought it was pretty shocking too, puts you right in there in that cabin with 'em sorta scary, after watchin it i could have forgiven the censors for banning it, prolly just thought they were protecting the world from the forces of evil, not that i think it should be banned and it is undoubtbly well done

Wils · 07 March, 2005, 09:25:56 PM

IIRC, the only reason ED1 was ever banned was for part of the 'tree rape' scene, where you see the vine disappear between Ellen Sandweiss' legs. This was eventually cut (early 90s, I think), which made the film available on video for the first time since the '84 video nasty act. I'm pretty sure versions that have been released in recent years on DVD have all been uncut (but don't quote me on that). :)