How the film "Evil Dead 3. Army of Darkness" was filmed: footage from the filming and 17 interesting facts about the film (15 photos)

Sam Raimi's Evil Dead films shocked and delighted audiences in the 80s and early 90s.





1. Despite the fact that this film is the third part of the Evil Dead film, the film is simply called Army of Darkness without mentioning the Evil Dead. Yes, director Sam Raimi wanted the title to include "Evil Dead 3," but Universal rejected the title because the bosses wanted the film to be original and not just a threequel.



Also, Sam Raimi wanted to call the film "The Medieval Dead", which can be translated as "Medieval Dead". But the studio rejected this title too. Although in the UK the film was released under the title "Army of Darkness: Medieval Dead".



Director Sam Raimi at work

But personally, on my videotape it was written exactly “Evil Dead 3. Army of Darkness”. That's why I decided to mention this name in the title.

2. According to the original plan, Ash Williams was supposed to lose his eye. But after thinking a little, it was decided to abandon this idea.



3. In order to create the effect of a working smoking chainsaw, a special tube was passed through Bruce Campbell's (Ash) trouser leg, connected to the hand and the chainsaw. Well, then at the right moment this tube was simply filled with smoke.

4. Around the 1 hour 7 minute mark, an angry Ash screams the battle cry that Xena would constantly shout a few years later in the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess.

And this is not just a coincidence, because the film Army of Darkness and the TV series Xena: Warrior Princess were directed by Sam Raimi. Moreover, Bruce Campbell played in both of these projects. Let me remind you that in “Xena” he played a thief named Atolik.

5. While filming Ash's car falling, a crane operator was nearly killed. The fact is that the 25-ton crane that was lifting the car could not withstand the weight of the car and fell off the cliff. Fortunately, the crane operator managed to jump out in time.



After that, an 85-ton crane was brought to the set, which had to lift not only the car, but also the previous 25-ton "bandura".

6. The film has 2 different endings. In the canon version, Ash returns to present time and fights Deadite in the supermarket. In the second version, Ash went too far with his return and returned to the future, namely to post-apocalyptic England.



Alternate ending to Army of Darkness

The version with post-apocalyptic England seemed too dark and depressing to test audiences. Therefore, the film was released into cinemas with the same version about the supermarket. It is also canonical.

The creators hoped that someday the 4th part of the film would be released, where Ash would fight the Deadites in a post-apocalyptic world. But the sequel never came out.



Yes, in 2015 the serial continuation “Ash vs. the Evil Dead” was released, but it also has an open ending, since instead of 5 planned seasons, only three were released.

7. In 1996, the cult computer game "Duke Nyukem 3D" was released. The official cover for the game is a reference to the cover of the film Army of Darkness. And if you played this game, then you might have heard several quotes from the movie "Army of Darkness".



By the way, I have a separate article on my channel about interesting facts about the game "Duke Nyukem 3D". Be sure to read it at your leisure.

8. Sam Raimi always liked to involve his brother in his work, and the film Army of Darkness was no exception. Here he played a S-mart employee named Anthony, as well as several other roles. In addition, he also appeared in the series Ash vs. the Evil Dead, but in the role of Ash's old school friend named Chet.



9. Bill Moseley, who played the leader of the Deadites, and Patricia Tallman, who played the possessed witch, already starred together in the film “Night of the Living Dead,” which was directed by Tom Savini, known for his role as Sex Machine in the film."From Dusk Till Dawn"

10. Initially they wanted to shoot the film in Spain, but due to some problems the film had to be filmed in their homeland in the USA. This in turn caused the need to increase the budget, since the construction of the Castle cost the studio a pretty penny.



Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell during filming

11. With a budget of $11 million, the film grossed only $11.5 million worldwide, which was a failure. But taking into account the sales of video media, the film paid for itself quite well.



12. In order to save at least a little on fees, Sam Raimi tried to recruit more people into his film who were not members of any guilds, since union actors and other film makers usually cost more.

But this was a very dangerous move, since members of various guilds could be outraged that a large number of people who were not members of the guilds were involved in the film. And this in turn could lead to strikes or something like that.



13. For the role of Arthur (the owner of the castle), Sam Raimi specifically chose an English (albeit little-known) actor. He considered that it would be unfair if in a film about a medieval army at least one of the leading roles was not played by an Englishman.



14. Filming was made difficult by the fact that it took place in the summer. The fact is that the film had a lot of night scenes, and as you know, the nights are shortest in the summer, so there was very little time for filming.

15. The actors did not directly interact with the skeletons during the final battle. The skeletons, which were handled by professional puppeteers, were filmed separately, and only then the footage of them was projected onto live actors.



16. During filming, Bruce Campbell's face suffered a lot. Therefore, not all the abrasions that we see on Ash’s face are fake.

17. And this is how they filmed the scenes with Ash’s stretched face and the “birth” of the new evil Ash.