Then again, Evil Dead II was made in 1987, and it's likely that with a small budget, Raimi wasn't using the best quality cameras when he filmed it. Other key scenes that still looked horrible in HD were those that used special effects. For example, when Ash is being tormented by small versions of him, it was often pretty obvious that the "Tiny Ashes" were performing in front of a green screen, and that the "Big Ash" footage was added in later.
But the most disappointing aspect about the HD-DVD version of AoD is that it's shockingly bare-bones. There's no commentary, no deleted scenes, no special features of any sort. I don't understand why Universal decided to be so chintzy and not offer any extras. I would have loved to have seen the original ending or the roughly edited, director's cut version. The only thing I can think of is that they'll put in these extras for some lame, "Special Edition" copy so they can sell more disks.
If you're a Sam Raimi fan, a horror fan, or a comedy fan, you'll love Army of Darkness. In fact, if you're any of the above, most likely you already have a copy of this film on DVD. However, you're better off sticking with your copy, rather than upgrading to this featureless HD-DVD/DVD combo.
Title: Army of Darkness
Director: Sam Raimi
Year: 1992 (released in 1993)
Starring: Bruce Campbell
Rated: R
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Article comments
1 - Iloz Zoc
Super review. I didn't know AOD was released on HD. I'm a big extras nut, so looks like I'll wait until Universal comes out with an HD edition that includes them. Surprised they just didn't add the existing ones from previous editions at least.
And with a great tagline like "Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas." This film is lots of fun.
2 - Matt Paprocki
"The only thing I can think of is that they'll put in these extras for some lame, "Special Edition" copy so they can sell more disks."
Ding! We have a winner. A new format launch and a popular movie means sales regardless of the extras. How many standard DVD versions were there? Six, seven? I wouldn't expect anything less here.
3 - Kaonashi
Iloc- Thanks! Yeah, I found out AoD was on HD-DVD when I was looking through Amazon for HD-DVDs to buy.
Matt- You have a point about the multiple DVD versions of AoD. Ridiculous! The funny thing is that so far, the other HD-DVDs I have are chock full of extras. Maybe it's just Universal that's stingy with the extras, because Warner Bros. sure isn't, and neither is Paramount.