I fricken loved this movie. This week I got my full share of shamelessly heartfelt, hysterical belly laughs, since I saw Step Brothers earlier in the week and then this. But to be honest, I haven't had this much fun watching a movie since Zombie Strippers.
The movie starts in the middle of the action with little to no explanation as to what's going on--I suppose the first two Evil Dead films sort of serve as the exposition, or maybe this movie really needs no introduction. The basic gist is that Bruce Cambell gets sent back in time by malevolent forces and is deemed as a hero of prophecy after defeating several undead foes with a chainsaw and then a miraculously appearing shotgun. Never have the people of the middle ages seen such heroics--or such raw, quotable attitude--in one man, heightened by his "boom-stick" and perpetually bloody chainsaw.
He is soon commisioned to retrieve the Necronomicon, the book of the dead, so that he may save the kingdom from the evil forces. But he insists that he only wants to get back to his own time, and that's the only reason he's going to get it. Impressed by his bravery, he finds a marvelously sanitary medieval squeeze, who is swept off her feet when he grabs her violently and says: "Gimme some sugar, baby."
The best part of the film is undeniably Bruce Cambell. He is an undeniable hard-ass, and some of his one liner's are DROP DEAD HILARIOUS (heh). However, my ceaselessly analytical mind did pick up on some distinct visual properties of the film. It's campy set decoration brings to mind some of Burton's work, which seemingly all came later than this, such as Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands. Even the stop-motion effects of the living dead seem almost taken right out of Nightmare.
This is one of those B-Movie gems that is hilarious in its insistence to not be taken seriously. Even the scenes that at first seem legitimately meant to scare, some classic camp or gag is thrown in to make it completely hysterical. It is at once a tribute to the genre, and even moreso a parody, all the while remaining faithful to its origins and throwing in an inventiveness that is difficult to find anymore.