13 Fun Facts about ARMY OF DARKNESS
"Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up!"
There's been talk of an Army of Darkness 2 being developed by Sam Raimi and his brother. Both Raimi and Bruce Campbell have confirmed this. But since the Evil Dead TV series was announced I have no idea if that sequel is in the cards anymore. I hope it happens! Regardless of if it does or doesn't, I thought it would be fun to check out some facts about one of my favorite films ever… Army of Darkness. There are 13 facts here to go through, some I'm sure you'll know, but maybe there's one or two that you won't.
Bruce Campbell says that in order to make it appear that the chainsaw was always running, tobacco smoke was pumped through a tube that was slid up his right pant leg, up his shirt, and into the chainsaw.
One of the items visible in Ash's trunk is a copy of "Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special," originally published in April 1991. This comic includes the very first installment of Frank Miller's 'Sin City.' As well as an issue of Fangoria. They weren't product placement, that's just what Raimi had in the trunk of the car, which he owns.
In the original draft, Ash (Bruce Campbell) lost an eye.
During the filming of Army Of Darkness the Delta 88 car falling out of the sky was shot two times. During the first attempt, the 25 ton crane lifting the Oldsmobile failed due to mechanical problems and toppled over the edge of a cliff at the quarry location where filming was taking place. Fortunately no injuries occurred as the crane operator dropped from the cab before the crane went over the edge. Days later a larger 80 ton crane was brought in to remove the damaged crane and re-shoot the car drop. In the final edit, elements of the re-shoot as well as footage from the end of Evil Dead 2 were used.
During filming of the climactic sword fight at Arthur's castle, Bruce Campbell suffered a small gash to his face when a decorative pin on his cape cut him during a stunt. He was immediately taken from the Polsa Rosa Ranch location to see a plastic surgeon to assess the damage. At the examination the doctor had to have the actual injury pointed out amid the myriad of special effect scars and cuts Ash's character had accumulated during the story. Campbell was treated and returned to set shortly afterward to finish the scene.
The original script was 43 pages.
There are several variants of the three words Ash must say when retrieving the necronomicon. Undoubtedly this arises from differing sound quality, people's hearing, and incorrect subtitling. The words are klaatu, barada, nikto, a reference to the sci-fi movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still".
The rumor about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle on the set of the film is NOT true.
Bruce Campbell's dad is in the scene where the Deadites break through the castle walls, and Arthur's men do the *Hah who hey ya* thing, a few minutes after that, a man will fall into the camera, grey hair and a slash down his check. That's his dad!
Bridget Fonda played Linda.
Ted Raimi, Sam's younger brother, appears as at least four characters: The cowardly warrior who doesn't want to die, the man who shouts "you can count on my steel", the swordsman with an eye-patch and the S-mart's store clerk.
The movie actually has two different endings, both of which are available on the DVD. In the original ending Ash miscounts the drops of sleeping potion, and wakes up 100 years later than intended, in a world devastated by nuclear war. The more heroic S-Mart ending was filmed after the original ending was deemed too depressing.
Ash splits into Good Ash and Bad Ash and eventually grows a second head. The double head, while amazing, was not Raimi’s original idea but an homage by the director to the bizarre U.S.-Japanese horror movie The Manster.