Army of Darkness (AKA The Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness, Army of Darkness: The Medieval Dead)
Dir: Sam Raimi
1992
*****
After the success of Evil Dead II, Sam Raimi and team were given the green light to make a third film. This time they had enough money to make the film that the first sequel was intended to be that would see Ash leave the constraints of the cabin and travel back in time to the year 1300. At the end of Evil Dead II we see Ash, his shotgun (Boomstick) and Sam Raimi's 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88 disappear into a porthole that appears in the woods. He's unceremoniously dropped outside a castle and promptly captured by Lord Arthur and enslaved until he proves his worth by killing an evil deadite. He is then sent on a quest that would see the evil dead banished forever, but as you'd expect, it's a lot less serious as all that sounds. Raimi, Campbell and team obviously had a lot of fun making this film. Raimi released his inner Ray Harryhausen, dabbled in a bit of Mark Twain, doffed his hat at 1950's sci-fi (Klaatu barada nikto) and once again made a horror version of a Three Stooges movie. Set in the middle ages. The result is something quite wonderful and the stuff of cult legend. It's a very different film than the first and while it has the same tone as the second, it's like the franchise suddenly took copious quantities of steroids and ran. Highlights include an Evil version of Ash, miniature version of Ash, a feisty (and flying) Necronomicon, a choice of two brilliant alternative endings and an army of talking skeletons, said army being part of one of my favorite film sequences of all time. Bruce Campbell cements Ash's status as being the best horror character of all time and also proves that he is the greatest B-Movie actor in the world. Ever. The film is so quotable that most fans probably know the script off by heart. A cross between the Stooges' Three Missing Links, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and....Evil Dead, shouldn't be as good as this but it is, in fact it's better. One of my favorite films of all time, "Hail to the King baby!".

Evil Dead II (AKA Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn)
Dir: Sam Raimi
1987
*****
It's rare that a sequel exceeds its predecessor, especially in horror films, but that's exactly what Evil Dead 2 does. Raimi and writing partner Scott Spiegel hadn't planned on making a sequel to their 1981 hit The Evil Dead but while they were working on their second film (Crimewave), Irvin Shapiro, the publicist who was primarily responsible for the mainstream release of the original film, suggested they make another. Raimi and Spiegel disagreed, Crimewave was going to be their ticket to greatness they thought but when it flopped (rather unfairly) they realised they needed another success in order to progress within the industry. However, Evil Dead is by no means a forced cop-out but it is a different film to the first. Instead of trying to re-create the first film, Raimi wanted to add time-travel, fantasy and comedy to the story. The first script had Bruce Campbell's character Ash travel through a time porthole back to the middle ages, but once it was established that their budget wouldn't allow them to do the idea justice they scrapped it, although they returned to the idea for the third installment, Army of darkness in 1992. Instead, they returned to the Cabin in the woods formula but were far more playful than they were the first time round. The film re-caps the events of the first film which makes it somewhat of a remake in many respects but the story progresses further than the first film within a few minutes. It's as gruesome as the first with just as many thrills and scares but is more of a slap-stick comedy than haunted house movie. It's basically a one man Three Stooges remake set within the horror genre. It's twice as inventive as the first film and has a refreshingly fast pace. It's also rather ridiculous. It's the epitome of comedy horror and proof that such a film can work and become successful.

The Evil Dead
Dir: Sam Raimi
1981
*****
Sam Raimi's 1981 The Evil Dead is a horror masterpiece and is King of the video nasties. It's is also a masterclass in independent film making, how to and how not to make your own film. Raimi and childhood friend Bruce Campbell had made a few Super 8 films together as kids and after becoming interested in the horror genre, they decided to make a short (Within the Woods) and plug it to the studios with the idea of getting funding for a feature length version. It was a clever move that somehow paid off. The shoot took over a year to complete and was grueling for all involved. Raimi had borrowed money from everyone he knew and the cast and crew were made up of mostly friends and family. The making of the film is covered amusingly in Bruce Campbell's brilliant autobiography; If Chins Could Kill. He recounts the endless days of shooting in the cold, the intentional pain Raimi put the acts through in order to get the right 'horror' reactions and the grueling daily make-up rituals that would include sticking contact lenses with the thickness of tupperware in his eyes. It's fair to say that the lack of budget made Raimi into a creative director. Steadicams were expensive, so Raimi invented the 'Shaky-cam'. He used crew as stand ins when the main actors were busy doing other things, referring to them as 'Shemps', a technique he would continue in pretty much every film he's made since. The unique use of sound really makes the film stand out among other horror films, Raimi being influenced by the experimentation going on by Brian De Palma for his film Blow Out in the sound studio they were both using. The editing is also phenomenal. A young Joel Coen was working at the editing production studio at the time and after working on the film he and Raimi became good friends, Raimi being the influence for him to get his debut Blood Simple made. Raimi, Campbell and the Coens would join forces once more for the brilliant but highly underrated Crimewave. All of the unique and creative components Raimi brought to the film made it a true original and after horror master Stephen King gave it positive reviews, New Line Cinema decided to give it a go a distribute it, to much success. Its notoriety made it a cult hit in a very short time. It's originality and perfection in capturing pure terror resonated with audiences and it has been regarded as one of cinema's greatest horrors since.

Evil Dead
Dir: Fede Alvarez
2013
**
I love Sam Raimi's original Evil Dead film. I've seen it many times, have read the book and got the t-shirt. No really, I have got the t-shirt! So I was always skeptical about a remake and was never really fully on-board with the idea. My expectations were low, I was only slightly curious. My suspicions were realised. However, of all the horror classic remakes it is one of the better ones. It doesn't come close to the original, and after Joss Whedon's A Cabin in the Woods no horror film that sticks to the same formula is going to impress. Humour is key to any great horror film in my opinion, the original Evil Dead films excelled at this and yet here it is completely absent, like it would make the horror more....horrifying. I'm not disappointed as such because I couldn't care less but I'd like to see the end of the horror remake once and for all. Even the Bruce Campbell cameo didn't make up for it, although you could barely call it a cameo.