Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness Army of Darkness is an American
comedy horror film released in the year 1992. The plot of the film follows a zombie-battling hero,
Ash Williams who accidentally gets transported to the medieval days where he is forced to
combat an army of skeletons to return to the present. With his chainsaw and shotgun,
Ash is sent on a dangerous mission to recover the Book of the Dead called the Necronomicon.
The film starts with Ash Williams, a slave in the year 13000 AD, being dragged to his death.
He then recounts the story of his life of how he ended up being a slave. A flashback scene reveals
that Ash had a normal life before and a girlfriend named Linda together with whom he drove to a small
cabin in the mountains one day. Seeing the cabin, he realized that an archaeologist
must have come to see and study the place to translate the surroundings. In the cabin, he found
“Necronomicon Ex Mortis – The Book of The Dead.” To his surprise, the book was bound in human flesh
and inked in blood. The ancient Cimmerian text contained bizarre burial rights,
funerary incantations, and demon resurrection passages that are never meant for the world of
the living. They awoke something dark in the woods and engulfed Linda with it. After taking Linda,
it approached Ash and got into his hand. Seeing no other option, Ash lopped it out of his wrist
by chopping away his hand. But that didn’t stop it and it came back once again, engulfing Ash
and every other thing in its exposure. This darkness transported Ash to the Middle Ages.
After falling from the sky into the mountains, Ash is astonished to see his new surroundings.
Arthur's Wise Man encounters Ash and believes he is the one written of in the Necronomicon – he
who is prophesized to fall from the heavens and deliver them from the terrors of the Deadites.
However, the other believes that Ash is a spy for Duke Henry, with whom Arthur is at war. Arthur’s
men are enraged to discover him and capture him instantly after confiscating his chainsaw
and shotgun. The scene returns to the start of the film when Ash is mercilessly dragged to his death.
He is taken into Lord Arthur’s castle. A beautiful girl named Sheila, the sister of one of Arthur's
fallen knights, questions Lord Arthur about her brother. Arthur reveals that her brother fought
valiantly and fell into Duke Henry’s men last night, leaving her dejected. Meanwhile, Ash
is viciously beaten by the barbarians, and also Sheila as she thinks Ash is one of Henry’s men.
Seeing him, she vows to avenge her brother’s death. Ash then meets the captured Henry who
reveals that he is the duke of Shale, lord of the Northlands, and leader of its people.
Ash is not so pleased to meet him and expresses his disappointment, earning Henry’s anger.
Arthur appears and accuses Henry of waging war on him. This gives rise to a heated argument.
In his rage, Arthur orders to throw a slave into a pit that is filled with bloodthirsty creatures.
Moments after the slave is thrown, showers of blood start gushing out of the pit. Fearful of the
outcome, another slave tries to escape so Arthur impales him by shooting an arrow in his back.
Horrified, Ash tries to assure Arthur that he has nothing to do with Henry and doesn’t even
know him but to no avail. Sheila who is enraged due to her brother’s death hurls a stone at Ash
that ends up with him falling into the pit. Inside the pit, Ash is attacked by a deadite
who beats him viciously. Tired of the beating, Ash starts fighting the deadite which prompts the Wise
Man to return Ash his chainsaw and shotgun. Using the chainsaw, Ash slaughters a deadite and manages
to make his way out of the pit, earning the crowd’s fear. Infuriated with Arthur’s actions,
Ash punches him in the face the first thing after coming out of the pit.
He then orders to free Henry and Arthur feels helpless to protest against it.
When Arthur proposes a sword fight, Ash shoots a bullet at his sword, breaking it into two pieces.
While warning everyone to not pick a fight with him, Ash kills a deadite publicly and is veiled as
a hero. Then onward, the barbarians start taking great care of him and Arthur burns on the inside,
witnessing this sight. Sheila apologizes to Ash for her behavior and tells him that she
was misled. Ash refuses to accept her apology and focuses on getting back to his real life.
He seeks help from the Wise Man who suggests that only the Necronomicon has the power to send
him back as it has magical passages that can lead Ash back to his time. Moreover, he clarifies that
only Ash – the promised one, can quest for it. Ash becomes furious and demands the Wise Man send
him back to his time whatsoever. Out of nowhere, a deadite appears and haunts everyone present in
the room with its shrieking voice and scary talk. Ash kills it by shooting multiple bullets into it.
The Wise Man informs Ash that if the Necronomicon gets into the deadites’ approach,
the whole of mankind can be consumed by evil. Having no other choice, Ash decides to set on a
quest to search for the Necronomicon. However, before that, he gets an artificial metal wrist
attached to his arm that crushes anything in its grip. At night, Sheila approaches
Ash to confirm if he will actually lead her people against evil after finding the book.
Ash rudely clarifies that the only reason he is looking for the book is to return
back to his time. Sheila tries to be nice to him and hands him a blanket,
wishing him good luck on the quest. Ash rejects it and belittles her which enrages Sheila and she
ends up slapping him in the face. Ash turns on and holds Sheila, kissing her tightly.
The following morning, he along with Wise man set out on a journey to find the Necronomicon.
The Wise Man guides him to the path that leads to the unholy cemetery where the Necronomicon awaits.
In addition to that, the Wise Man specifically tells him to recite the words:
"Klaatu Barada Nikto" once before he retrieves the book. Before leaving for the cemetery,
Ash makes a deal with the Wise Man that he will send him back when he returns with the book.
As he sets on the path to find the book, an unseen force pursues him. Ash tries to elude
it but ends up falling into a ditch. Seeing no other option, he musters courage and runs away
from the force into a windmill. The force tries to break into the windmill but Ash blocks its way.
Soon the unseen force subsides and Ash finds a mirror inside the windmill. He intentionally
crashes into the mirror and breaks it into pieces. Soon enough, small reflections of
him in the mirror shards come to life and start making his life miserable. First, they pierce
his butt with a sharp fork and then shoot a bullet at him which they fortuitously miss.
In the process of evading trouble, Ash ends up sticking his face into the burning fireplace.
He then uses a scraper to scrape off his face and then decides to stomp at one of his mini
reflections. However, in the end, he ends up falling unconscious after stepping on a pin.
Soon, he wakes up and finds himself tied to the ground by his little miniatures.
He engulfs a miniature hoping to get rid of it. But to his surprise, the miniature starts budding
from his shoulder, giving life to a life-sized copy of him. Bewildered to see his ruse,
Ash shoots him with the shotgun and then butchers his body with the chainsaw. He then buries the
pieces of the body with its head cursing him that he will never retrieve the Necronomicon
and that he will die in the graveyard. Later, in the middle of the night,
Ash finally traces the Necronomicon location but finds three books instead of one. Confused,
he randomly opens one book which engulfs him with its strong power. With much difficulty,
he manages to make his way out of the book. However, his face ends up getting stretched.
After spinning around a couple of times, his face returns back to normal. Desperate to select the
right book this time, he ponders over the two remaining books, thinking about which one he
must select. Once again, he chooses the wrong book that reveals its teeth and ends up biting
Ash several times. Finally, with only one book left, Ash realizes that has to be the real one.
He recalls the Wise Man’s wordings that he instructed him to recite in order to remove
the book safely. However, he realizes that he has forgotten the last wording of "Klaatu
Barada Nikto." Confused, he tries his best to recall the word and ends up murmuring and
coughing at the end to assure himself and the unseen forces that he uttered the right words.
As Ash grabs the book, a thunderstorm takes place and everyone in the castle starts panicking. The
graves in the cemetery start exploding one by one and as Ash makes his way out, his leg is pulled by
the dead corpses from the graves. They turn out to be deadites who give him a pretty tough time.
Ash somehow manages to flee them. He grabs the book and rushes to the horse to leave
the cemetery. Desperate to go back to his present, Ash makes his way to the
Wise Man so he can send him back with the help of the magical passages from the Necronomicon.
Meanwhile, the large-sized copy of himself that he buried after chopping comes back from the
dead. Ash reunites with the villagers who applaud his efforts for bringing back the Necronomicon.
Upon meeting with the Wise Man, Ash desperately asks him to complete his end of the deal
and send him back. The Wise Man asks him for the book and confirms from him whether or not
he spoke the exact words he had asked him to recite while removing the book.
Ash tells him that he didn’t say every single tiny syllable but basically recited them all.
The Wise Man freaks out and informs him that he has jeopardized the lives of the entire
village because reciting the incomplete phrase must have awakened the “army of darkness.” Ash
refuses to take the blame and holds the Wise Man responsible for everything as he was the
one who promised to get rid of the mess once he gets the book. The Wise Man clarifies that the
book does have the power to send him back but it is now useless as the evil has a terrible
hunger for the Necronomicon and that it will definitely come sooner or later to get it.
Ash fails to accept it and demands the Wise Man hold his end of the bargain and send him back.
The dreaded Arthur arrives and claims that the Wise Man will keep his promise and send
him to his present. Seeing Ash’s selfishness, the crowd is disappointed by him and starts turning
against him. Sheila pressures Ash to help the people from the upcoming evil but to no avail.
She reminds Ash of the promises he made to her and the sweet claims he made.
Ash rejects her by saying that it was just pillow talk and nothing more.
However, Sheila refuses to believe in it and tells him that she still has faith in him and
that he will stay and save them from the Army of Darkness. Disappointed by Ash, Sheila distances
herself from him but just then a flying deadite abducts her, creating a panic among the crowd.
Meanwhile, the army of darkness prepares to wage a war with the humans. Ash’s ruse guides his army
of deadites to shed the blood of each and every human and to put up a kind of battle that has
never taken place in history. One after the other, all the skeletons from the cemetery are awakened
and ready to combat. Ash’s ruse grabs Sheila and tries to interact with her lecherously, leaving
her disgusted. The humans find out that the army of deadites is approaching from the wilderness and
will soon arrive. Arthur suggests running to the mountains to protect themselves from the perilous
creatures. However, Ash advises against it and suggests fighting the army of dead courageously.
Arthur mocks him by saying that they will be outnumbered by the army of skeletons.
So, Ash proposes to summon Duke Henry and his men to fight along with them. Seeing his
determination, the people agree to fight in spite of fleeing away like cowards. After transforming
Sheila into a deadite, the army of the dead makes their way to the castle in full swing. Until the
deadites arrive, Ash uses the scientific knowledge from textbooks in his 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 to
make preparations for the war and to protect the book. As the deadites approach the castle,
they are firstly blown away by the torched arrows. Next, Ash leads the humans to use catapults to
fire flaming balls toward the skeletons. However, the army of skeletons keeps on
increasing, so Ash powers the 21st-century vehicle and tramples the skeletons one by one. When the
skeletons invade the castle, Henry arrives with his force and after a long and tiring battle,
the humans successfully gain victory over the deadites and their captain, protect
the Necronomicon, and save Sheila. This prompts Henry and Arthur to make peace between them and
the entire crowd applauds for them. Soon enough, the Wise Man uses a passage from the Necronomicon
and guides Ash to drink a potion after reciting the same phrase as earlier to return to his time.
Before departing, Ash bids farewell to Sheila by sharing one last kiss with her.
The scene cuts to Ash back in his present where he is recounting the story of the castle to a fellow
employee at the department store where he works. A female co-worker appreciates Ash’s story but just
then a surviving deadite appears out of nowhere because it turns out that Ash once again forgot
the last word of the phrase while returning to the present. Ash combats the deadite with a rifle
and the film ends with him kissing the female co-worker before saying "Hail to the king, baby".
This movie has a rating of 7.4 on IMDb. The budget of this movie was around $11 million
and at the box office, it earned $21.5 million. I hope you all liked this video. If yes,
then make sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe. Until then, Bye-bye!