Sam Raimi directs Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz and Marcus Gilbert in this horror comedy where Ash is transported back to medieval Britland to fight the Deadites.

As much a dry run to Xena and Hercules as an Evil Dead sequel… the focus here is very much on heroics and silliness over scares and gore. Really the cast list should read Bruce Campbell, Bruce Campbell and Bruce Campbell the Chin fights so many incarnations of himself. Evil Ash, Diddy Ashes and conjoined Ashes. Raimi gets full value out of his matinee idol gurner, allowing him to ham it up regally. This is the Ash everyone remembers when they think about Campbell… well above taking the fantasy adventure cliches seriously, out for himself and full of looney catchphrases. The character is finally set in stone, ready for the eventual joyously daft TV series. After a lot of larks, the final siege goes on forever and there’s clearly a point in filming that epic sequence where the FX budget was suddenly tightened. The Deadite quality level noticeably drops before the finish line. But I enjoyed this as much as its ever growing cult reputation suggested. Probably haven’t seen it since I was a teenager and it was funnier and pacier and more cheapo spectacular than I remember. I chuckled my sweet butt off. “Gimme some sugar, baby.”

8

Check out my wife Natalie’s Point Horror blog https://cornsyrup.co.uk

We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/