Army of Darkness (1992)

Who's In It: Bruce Campbell (Escape from LA, Xena: Warrior Princess, Bubba Ho-Tep), Embeth Davidtz (Schindler's List, Thir13en Ghosts, The Amazing Spider-Man), and Ted Raimi (everything, and yet not enough stuff).

What It's About: After being sent to the fourteenth century at the end of Evil Dead 2, Ash (Campbell) agrees to fight demons in exchange for a way back to his own time.

How It Is: Differentiates itself from the previous two movies by toning down the horror and ramping the comedy way, way up into full camp and slapstick. Ash is no longer supposed to be relateable; he's now a cartoon and I love it that way. Army of Darkness is an on-the-cheap fantasy movie (with horror elements) from the guys who would go on to bring us Hercules and Xena. And Bruce Campbell is at the absolute top of his game. It's super fun and super funny.

Rating: 4 out 5 boom sticks.

Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)

Who's In It: Bruce Campbell (The Adventures of Brisco County Jr, Jack of All Trades, Burn Notice), Sarah Berry (CHUD II: Bud the Chud), Dan Hicks (My Name is Bruce), Kassie Wesley (One Life to Live, Days of Our Lives), and Richard Domeier (Teen Wolf, Die Hard 2).

What It's About: Remakequel of Evil Dead, retelling and retconning the events of the first movie before continuing the story of a young man's (Campbell) experience in a demon-infested cabin in the demon-infested woods.

How It Is: I'm not crazy about the first Evil Dead and this one does me the favor of making its predecessor unnecessary. It not only retells the basic story; it also takes what works about the original - pretty much just the creative camerawork - and adds a ton of humor to it.

It's crazy to me that Raimi's approach to horror/comedy even works, much less works so well. He doesn't add jokes to lighten the mood, he just takes horrific situations and makes them funny. But he does it without losing what's also disturbing about them. So while the decapitated head of Ash's girlfriend is chomping down on his hand and he can't get it off, I'm simultaneously laughing and feeling terrible for the guy. Same when he's cutting off his own hand with a chainsaw.

That also has a lot to do with Bruce Campbell's skill as an actor and a comedian. I'm a huge fan and this is the movie that made me one.

Unfortunately, the rest of the cast isn't nearly as good, but then... who is? They're all at least serviceable and if nothing else, they remind me how low-budget and super-independent Evil Dead 2 actually is.

Rating: 4 out of 5 unhinged Ashes.