Monday, November 4, 2013

Army of Darkness (Screwhead Edition) [Blu-ray]


The (once-)complete AOD DVD breakdown.
Confused by all the Army of Darkness DVD releases (some in print, some out of print, some lingering halfway between)? I know I was. But I've done some research and figured it out, and here's how it breaks down:

1. The original DVD release-- was the original theatrical version of the movie with few extras. Good picture, good sound, S-Mart ending. If you just want to watch the best available version of the movie, you might get this one (if you can still find it; it's out of print now). It also has the familiar movie poster cover with an overly muscled Bruce and the hokey "Low on gas" slogan.

2. The director's cut-- with the silly Molly Hatchet cover and the original ending. There are many minuses: key lines are changed (not necessarily for the better). Much of the footage looks really horrible, including the entire concluding battle. All the deleted scenes have the feel of an eBay-purchased bootleg. Bottom line: AOD fans will like to see the material, but...
Bootleg Edition?
Ok, for those who are wondering, this "bootleg" edition is simply the Director's Cut version without the Limited Edition numbers on it. Don't worry, it's not an illegal copy, more like an "Official Bootleg". It was done so that fans who missed out on the Limted Edition can still get the DVD and all the extra goodies. I for one am glad they did so because I happened to miss out on it myself. The cover is done as if someone made an illegal copie and used a brown paper back to cover up the liner. It has handwriting-like text on it in what appears to be a few notes from Bruce "Don't call me Ash" Campbell. The actual DVD inside is done up like a DVD-R (Not Really Recordable) and is very humorous. It contains the exact same movie and features of the LE in the exact same quality. The commentary from Sam, Bruce, and Ivan is hilarious as was their commentary from the other Evil Dead DVDs. That in combination with the deleted scenes and the original ending make...
Great movie, but another SE DVD?
For the sake of clarity, I just want to say that there is no way I could review any version of Army of Darkness without giving it five stars. It is a modern classic which I can watch over and over again. Seeing the Tiny Evil Ashes take on Ash causes me to laugh out loud with every "My fair lady."

Having said that, I can't imagine why they are releasing yet another SE DVD set of it. I own the 2-disc Limited Edition which came out a few years ago. I can't find anything different about this new "Boomstick Edition" that isn't on the old Limited Edition. Both have the original theatrical release and the director's cut with 15 additional minutes of footage. Both have the Men Behind The Army featurette. Both have the Raimi, Campbell, Raimi commentary. The only thing I've noticed so far is that the Boomstick edition comes with some kind of 10 page collectible book which my LE set didn't have. But unless they made some drastic changes to either the video or audio to clear up imperfections...
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