The Greatest Movie Trilogy of All-Time (At Least Up Until Now)

There's the Godfather trilogy. Two of the greatest movies of all time and then, the third movie. Back to the Future. First movie's a classic, the second is still good, while the third has some good moments, it's mediocre at best. Indiana Jones had a trilogy until recently, so it doesn't count as a trilogy. But there's a trilogy that's better than all of these. Two absolute masterpieces and a third movie, while being the worst of the series, is still a lot of fun, and is easily one of the most quotable movies I've seen. I'm talking about The Evil Dead trilogy, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell.

Me and The Evil Dead series go back a long time. The first two movies were banned in Finland before they changed the video laws in 2001. I had the original Evil Dead on a Swedish VHS, with Swedish subtitles, and Evil Dead 2 on a Dutch tape. It gave these classic movies something extra to enjoy. Not that I'm one for languages, but the taste of the forbidden fruit tasted even better, since you knew these weren't "allowed". Army of Darkness I had on a Finnish Ex-rental tape, one that been watched almost through, but that didn't stop me watching it over and over again. But let's go through the movies one by one, starting with:

The Evil Dead

The plot is very simple. Five students drive up to an abandoned cabin in the woods, where they find The Book of the Dead, and that's obviously not very good. Gore and horror ensues.

The Evil Dead is my favourite horror movie. It's not as scary as The Exorcist or Alien, nor as epic as Dawn of the Dead, but it's not trying to beat those movies anyway. It's a small horror tale, packed with more energy than a squirrel after a 12-pack of Red Bull, especially in the latter half of the movie. The camera seems to have a life of it's own and it definitely helps to create the movie a very unique atmosphere.

This atmosphere is held perfectly throughout the movie. The characters are never fully safe. They can't go outside the cabin and while there are quieter moments in the cabin, that sense of dread never leaves you. The gore is also very inventive, probably to do with the small budget. Aside from the usual movie blood, there's milk used and I'm betting a lot of the stuff you see on screen, you'll be able to buy from your local supermarket.

There's a lot I could pick on in the movie. The acting is hardly Oscar-worthy, some of the effects are sub-par and I know a lot of people laugh at the stop-motion effects at the end of the movie, but for me all this works for the movie.

It could be the homemade feel of the movie that makes it for me. The fact that these people had only done some home movies before this and mostly were doing things with trial and error and managed to craft this brilliant horror classic. This is my desert island movie. It's not perfect, but, man, do I love every second of it. My score for The Evil Dead: 10/10

Evil Dead II

The sequel sees Bruce Campbell's Ash returning to the cabin, this time alone with his girlfriend, Linda. They find the same Book of the Dead, and the gore and horror make a return, this time with added comedy.

The movie starts with what it basically a recap of the first movie, remade with just Ash and Linda. Since they didn't have the rights to use footage from the original movie, they had to do it all over again. Which works for the movie, giving it it's own life, and not being so tied to the original.

Evil Dead II sees Raimi and company planting their tongues firmly in cheek and making a movie that has you laughing your asses off and then scaring you right after. The effects are much better this time and Evil Ed is one of coolest horror movie monsters ever created. This is not to take away from all the other great effects in the movie, created by a very young effects company at that time, KNB EFX Group, who have since grown immensely and create special effects to things like The Walking Dead and Inglourious Basterds.

It also seems that Bruce Campbell is playing a wildly different character. While it's still recognizably Ash, this time he's more arrogant and cocky, more of an action hero than he ever was in the first one. And considering the first half of the movie is basically Ash alone in the cabin, fighting the deadites, this works perfectly. Sheepy Ash from the first one wouldn't have worked and this G.I. Ash is the perfect substitute.

The movie also features the best "tool-up" scene in movie history, ending it the coolest line ever. I know this sounds like overselling it, but see for yourself, it just doesn't get better than this:

Evil Dead II has a bigger budget, though not a huge one by any standards. Everyone has upped their game this time, even the score kicks a huge amount of ass. Horror/comedies are very hard to do, and next to An American Werewolf in London(and I supposed, Ghostbusters, to a certain extent), this is the perfect example on how to do one. My rating for Evil Dead 2: 10/10

Army of Darkness

This time backed by a biggest movie studio, Universal, Army of Darkness continues directly from the end of Evil Dead II and  takes Ash into the Middle Ages to continue his fight against the Book of the Dead. Not so much gore this time, and less horror as well. But the comedy is definitely amped up, for your viewing pleasure!

Like I said before, Army of Darkness is a step down from the original two movies. This doesn't make it a bad movie at all. It just feels like a watered down version of Evil Dead II. If Evil Dead II took place in Camelot. I suspect this is due to the studio not really wanting tree-rape and flying eyeballs in their movie, and who can blame them. As brilliant as the Evil Dead movies were before, they hardly brought in tens of millions of dollars.

Wanting to bring in a new crowd for the movie, there's a definite lack of Evil Dead in the title and there's a short recap of Evil Dead II at the start(using actual footage of the movie this time). After that it's straight to the story.

And the story is a bit muddled this time. It could be because now Ash isn't stuck in a cabin for the movie and actually has stuff to do, but the plot isn't exactly the tightest of the series. Many of the setpieces work perfectly, it's just the way to them is at times a little bit off.

I don't mean to be that harsh of the movie, it's one of the most fun action/adventures I've ever seen. In fact, this is the first movie I ever watched when I got my Blu-ray player. And it's easily one of the most quotable movies ever. Even more so in for the theatrical release. If you only have seen the director's cut, then you're missing out on "Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun." which is changed to "I ain't that good.". And since it has a different ending, "Hail to the King, Baby" is lost completely.

Bruce Campbell is having the time of his life as a rare lead to a major motion picture. All of Ash's tendencies have been turned up to 11 and he really goes all out to being the "loud-mouth braggart" he's said to be in the movie. Kudos to Campbell though, for still making the character sympathetic.

Army of Darkness is Evil Dead by the way of those Hercules and Xena series from the 90's, which isn't surprising since those shows were produced by Raimi and Tapert. It's a fun ride, but ultimately falls a bit short from the highs of The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. A good ending for the trilogy that could've been much better though. My rating for Army of Darkness: 8/10