Give that man a hand.
© 2002 Sideshow Toy

Mania Grade: B+
Reviewed Format: 12" poseable action figures
Manufacturer: Sideshow Toy
Retail Price: $29.99 each

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ARMY OF DARKNESS ASH and EVIL ASH

Perhaps no actor alive today is more suited for action figure treatment than cult star Bruce Campbell. With his lantern jaw, cleft chin and unhinged intensity, Campbell is kind of a human action figure, and never moreso than when he's going through the herky-jerky motions of Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD movie series. In the second film, EVIL DEAD 2, Campbell turned himself into a human Puppetoon, executing oddball stunts and striking bizarre poses that you'd think could only be accomplished via stop motion animation.

In the past few years toy makers have tackled the Bruce Campbell likeness a number of times, but I'll be damned if anyone has gotten it quite right yet. For some reason toy rights to EVIL DEAD 2, the greatest of all EVIL DEAD movies, have been difficult to obtain, so all reproductions of Campbell's Ash character have hailed from ARMY OF DARKNESS, the third film in the trilogy. EVIL DEAD mavens know that at the end of EVIL DEAD 2, Ash is flung into the past by the Book of the Dead and becomes worshipped as a god by a bunch of Medieval knights after he slays a flying Deadite creature with his "boomstick," i.e., shotgun.

Just as EVIL DEAD 2 is part sequel, part remake of the first EVIL DEAD movie, so ARMY OF DARKNESS begins by quickly rehashing the plot of EVIL DEAD 2, even going so far as briefly inserting Bridget Fonda in the role of Ash's girlfriend-turned headless zombie. But if EVIL DEAD 2 was a genuinely scary horror flick that gradually elbowed its way into insane comedy, ARMY OF DARKNESS forsakes most of the horror elements of its predecessors for a broad "Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" farce.

McFarlane Toys was the first to tackle Campbell's Ash character (as well as the hideous Evil Ash from ARMY OF DARKNESS) in a six-inch hard rubber version, but somehow it just didn't look nuts enough. Better was an 18" speaking version of the character, but like the smaller version, this Ash emphasized Campbell's handsomeness over his insanity. Now somehow Sideshow Toys has picked up the rights for their popular line of 12" figures. You'd think if anyone could do Campbell justice it would be Sideshow, whose facial sculpts, costuming and painting detail is the best in the business. And they do get awfully close, but there's still something funny about this figure. That nutty gleam in Campbell's eye is faithfully reproduced, but there's a strange puffiness to the facial sculpt and Ash's head seems slightly too large for his body, giving this figure a toy-like appearance. The accessories rock big time, howevernot only do you get Ash's trademark wrist-mounted chainsaw, but also a faithful reproduction of his vaunted "boomstick" shotgun that you can crack open to reproduce the climax of the unforgettable "Groovy" preparation scene in EVIL DEAD 2. There's a back-mounted vinyl holster for the shotgun and Ash even comes with a wristwatch to complete the whole anachronistic picture.

Evil Ash

© 2002 Sideshow Toy

If the Ash figure is just slightly problematic, fans should be completely satisfied with the Evil Ash versionSideshow has reproduced this monstrous version of the character perfectly, from his scarred and desiccated face to his bone armor and tattered cape. The figure even has rooted hair and a sword. Both figures come with the new Sideshow display bases that actually keep these action figures from toppling over 10 minutes after you've set them up.

Sideshow got its start with great reproductions of the Universal Horror characters, and recently it branched out into the more unusual area of comedy with figures from YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, HOGAN'S HEROES and GET SMART. The ARMY OF DARKNESS figures occupy a cool middle ground between those genres. But I would still like to see a 12" Ash figure from EVIL DEAD 2this one is close, but it's still missing a little of the madness.