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Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit

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 (Edited)

This is an attempt to fanedit Army of Darkness to my personal liking, as I feel that none of the official cuts represent the best possible way to follow-up Evil Dead II and end-cap the Evil Dead Trilogy.

(NOTE: I originally planned to use “The Medieval Dead” as the title of this edit, but I ultmately decided to keep the original title for a few reasons: 1. I can’t animate. 2. Changing the title would create confusion when referencing the film in conversation if this edit was a person’s definitive cut. 3. Irvin Shapiro suggested the “Army of Darkness” title during the production of ED2, and I think it is fitting to leave the title in honor of the help he provided to Raimi & co.)

UPDATE: 13 JANUARY 2017 (Friday the 13th!)

Okay, I’ve re-watched the Director’s Cut again, and I now have a short cut list. It’s a lot shorter than I expected it to be. I guess I remembered being bothered by more things than I really was (regarding things that I can actually edit, that is).

  • New opening - Created from both the finished and original openings.
  • New title card - “THE MEDIEVAL DEAD”
  • Color correct beginning segment to resemble the end of Evil Dead II.
  • Reinsert deleted scene outside the windmill.
  • Cut handstand shot in “Little Ashes” scene.
  • Possibly replace “I ain’t that good” with “Good. Bad. I’m the guy with the gun.”

I decided to keep the “Boom Stick” speech, but I’m having second thoughts about replacing “I ain’t that good.” After looking back at both lines, I actually like the delivery of the original line more, despite the re-shoot line sounding better on paper. So, it may be even closer to the DC than I originally planned.

One thing that I really want to change in the film is something that I absolutely can’t edit. That is, Ash should’ve used his chainsaw hand in the final battle with Evil Ash. But, he didn’t, and I can change that just as much as I can take five inches off the end of his shotgun (which I also really want to do, because the double barrel shotgun in Army of Darkness is longer than the original; I honestly can’t figure out why).

Original First Post

I’ve started working on a fanedit of Army of Darkness, with the goal of making it fit a little better as an “Evil Dead III” like it should. That’s what it is, after all. I’m sure others have done the same sort of thing in the past (I know of “The Fan Cut”), but I want to tackle it myself with my own ideas.

As the thread title says, I’ll be using one of the original working titles during production, The Medieval Dead, which was supposedly preferred by Raimi. I thought about using the more conventional title, Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness, but I figured it didn’t sound as good.

The Director’s Cut will be the main source, with maybe a couple of replaced shots from the two theatrical cuts (all from the Shout! Factory 3-Disc set). I’m using Sony Vegas Pro 11 to edit.

I’ve started some tests on the opening, which is where my edit will differentiate the most. I want to create a blend of the finished opening and the original opening, using as much footage from Evil Dead II as I can.

An issue I’m having trouble figuring out is the opening scene. I want to use the “RENAISSANCE PICTURES PRESENTS” card, continuing through the shot of Ash’s lonely eyes as he begins to narrate exposition (from the original opening). This scene has never to my knowledge been released in HD, meaning that I would have to use upscaled SD footage with a grainplate. I think that the 1080i upscaled footage on the Shout! Factory release would be my best option, but I’m not certain.

For the title card, I’m going to have to re-animate the new title over a clean background of the vortex. This is going to be a difficult task as animation of any form is not my strong suit, and I don’t think either of the films show more than a couple seconds of empty vortex at any given time for me to repurpose. As of now I’m not sure even how I’m going to approach this, and I’m thinking that I’ll just leave it on the back burner and worry about it after the rest of the edit is finished. I’ll have to figure out my options.

After the title sequence finishes, I want to use the end of Evil Dead II rather than negating it like Army of Darkness originally did. This brings me to my biggest issue I’ve been having in my editing tests:

I can’t smoothly transition from the end of Evil Dead II to the beginning of Army of Darkness without removing the music from the scene. But, Evil Dead II has mono audio, and the 5.1 surround, as far as I can tell, is just that mono track distributed among the front channels with music and sound effects on the surrounds. So I can’t remove the music as far as I know.

I haven’t completed a cut list yet, but I generally just want to remove anything that I feel doesn’t belong, whether it’s because it’s just too corny (like the handstand shot in the “Little Ashes” scene), or if it’s because Ash is acting out of character, etc., add back in the deleted scene showing Ash go outside the windmill during the night, and replace the original “I ain’t that good” line with the US theatrical reshoot line, “Good, bad, I’m the guy with the gun.”

Once I have some time to sit down and watch through the film again I should be able to edit this post with a completed cutlist.

Any help (or interest of any kind) would be appreciated. 😄

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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will you be combining the director’s cut from the shout blu ray with the two tv scenes and the theatrical ending and using the 4k mastered footage mixed with the tv and director’s cut and with the line good bad i’m the guy with the gun?

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I’m not sure yet if I’ll be using the TV cut as a source. I’m not planning on using the theatrical opening or the theatrical ending. All of the info on my current plans for the edit is in the first post.

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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Dek Rollins said:

I’m not sure yet if I’ll be using the TV cut as a source. I’m not planning on using the theatrical opening or the theatrical ending. All of the info on my current plans for the edit is in the first post.

what about good bad i’m the guy with the gun line and the 4k mastered footage are you going to use that?

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 (Edited)

I said in the first post that I will be using “Good, bad, I’m the guy with the gun.” I’m not sure what you mean by “4k mastered footage.” My main video sources will be the three different cuts from the Shout! Factory Blu-ray set.

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Dek Rollins said:

I said in the first post that I will be using “Good, bad, I’m the guy with the gun.” I’m not sure what you mean by “4k mastered footage.” My main video sources will be the three different cuts from the ShoutFactory! Blu-ray set.

well the international cut is 4k mastered and the tv cut has two extra scenes to me this combined with the theatrical on the director’s cut is the definitive version it lines up with the tv series

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Okay, I may use the International Cut as a main source, but I might just go with the Director’s Cut for the majority of the film since that’s the cut I’m basing my edit on. It would just make it easier. But I really haven’t decided yet.

And like I said, I also haven’t decided on what I will use for the reinserted scene. I could use the TV cut, but I might end up using the version from the “Deleted Scenes.”

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Dek Rollins said:

Okay, I may use the International Cut as a main source, but I might just go with the Director’s Cut for the majority of the film since that’s the cut I’m basing my edit on. It would just make it easier. But I really haven’t decided yet.

And like I said, I also haven’t decided on what I will use for the reinserted scene. I could use the TV cut, but I might end up using the version from the “Deleted Scenes.”

Are you using any other deleted scenes like the henry the red scene etc?

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I don’t think so. They don’t really flow with the film in my opinion. But I think deleting the scene outside the windmill was a great loss to the pacing and tone of the scene, not to mention that it properly explains the scene that comes after, so I decided to include that.

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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Dek Rollins said:

I don’t think so. They don’t really flow with the film in my opinion. But I think deleting the scene outside the windmill was a great loss to the pacing and tone of the scene, not to mention that it properly explains the scene that comes after, so I decided to include that.

what about the tv scene in the beginning with ash and arthur?

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jedimasterobiwan said:

Dek Rollins said:

I don’t think so.

so that and the theatrical ending are the only things missing. also with the tv scene your using i think the german version has better quality if you want to find out look up ridgeshark’s abandonded edit page.

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Dek Rollins can you look in to doing that kinda of hybrid cut i don’t know how to do that kinda of thing and i’d do anything for that kind of edit

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jedimasterobiwan said:

so that and the theatrical ending are the only things missing. also with the tv scene your using i think the german version has better quality if you want to find out look up ridgeshark’s abandonded edit page.

I don’t think I can use the television version for the extended windmill scene, because it’s edited differently and too much footage is missing. I’ll be using deleted scenes footage, but I still haven’t decided if the Shout! Factory BD is the best source for those or not.

jedimasterobiwan said:

Dek Rollins can you look in to doing that kinda of hybrid cut i don’t know how to do that kinda of thing and i’d do anything for that kind of edit

Sorry, I don’t think I can afford the time or space to do anything more than what I’m already trying to do. I’m sure it can be frustrating to be without good software and hardware to do this kind of stuff yourself. (I don’t even have everything that I think I might need yet 😛)


And an update on my editing plans:
I think I’m going to cut the idea of starting it with the end of Evil Dead II, because there doesn’t seem to be a good way to get the two scenes to mesh well, even if I was able to reduce the music in the mono. So, after the edited opening recap, the beginning of the film will continue largely identical to the Director’s Cut.

I’ve also been trying to decide whether or not to cut the “Boom Stick” speech that Ash gives to the villagers. Since neither the finished opening or the theatrical ending will be used in my edit, this line will be the only reference to S-Mart, and that seems like it might feel out of place in the long run. In that case, I would cut straight from “This is my Boom Stick!” to “The next one of you primates, even touches me…” I’m not sure about it yet, as I do like the line itself, but I just don’t think it works very well in the context I’ve created.

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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Dek Rollins said:

jedimasterobiwan said:

so that and the theatrical ending are the only things missing. also with the tv scene your using i think the german version has better quality if you want to find out look up ridgeshark’s abandonded edit page.

I don’t think I can use the television version for the extended windmill scene, because it’s edited differently and too much footage is missing. I’ll be using deleted scenes footage, but I still haven’t decided if the Shout! Factory BD is the best source for those or not.

jedimasterobiwan said:

Dek Rollins can you look in to doing that kinda of hybrid cut i don’t know how to do that kinda of thing and i’d do anything for that kind of edit

Sorry, I don’t think I can afford the time or space to do anything more than what I’m already trying to do. I’m sure it can be frustrating to be without good software and hardware to do this kind of stuff yourself. (I don’t even have everything that I think I might need yet 😛)


And an update on my editing plans:
I think I’m going to cut the idea of starting it with the end of Evil Dead II, because there doesn’t seem to be a good way to get the two scenes to mesh well, even if I was able to reduce the music in the mono. So, after the edited opening recap, the beginning of the film will continue largely identical to the Director’s Cut.

I’ve also been trying to decide whether or not to cut the “Boom Stick” speech that Ash gives to the villagers. Since neither the finished opening or the theatrical ending will be used in my edit, this line will be the only reference to S-Mart, and that seems like it might feel out of place in the long run. In that case, I would cut straight from “This is my Boom Stick!” to “The next one of you primates, even touches me…” I’m not sure about it yet, as I do like the line itself, but I just don’t think it works very well in the context I’ve created.

too bad 😦 i wish someone would add the Arthur tv scene the windmill tv whatever deleted scenes that would work. the good bad i’m the guy with the guy line,the theatrical ending using the international cut footage for parts. plus the other sources to make the ultimate cut. 😦 i don’t know where to ask for this kind of thing. 😦

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jedimasterobiwan said:

too bad 😦 i wish someone would add the Arthur tv scene the windmill tv whatever deleted scenes that would work. the good bad i’m the guy with the guy line,the theatrical ending using the international cut footage for parts. plus the other sources to make the ultimate cut. 😦 i don’t know where to ask for this kind of thing. 😦

search on myspleen…

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benduwan said:

jedimasterobiwan said:

too bad 😦 i wish someone would add the Arthur tv scene the windmill tv whatever deleted scenes that would work. the good bad i’m the guy with the guy line,the theatrical ending using the international cut footage for parts. plus the other sources to make the ultimate cut. 😦 i don’t know where to ask for this kind of thing. 😦

search on myspleen…

I don’t think anyone is allowed to post in this thread besides Dek and JMO.

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TV’s Frink said:

benduwan said:

jedimasterobiwan said:

too bad 😦 i wish someone would add the Arthur tv scene the windmill tv whatever deleted scenes that would work. the good bad i’m the guy with the guy line,the theatrical ending using the international cut footage for parts. plus the other sources to make the ultimate cut. 😦 i don’t know where to ask for this kind of thing. 😦

search on myspleen…

I don’t think anyone is allowed to post in this thread besides Dek and JMO.

oh,ok…thats sad…😦

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 (Edited)

Yeah, I was hoping someone would actually be interested in this.

*sigh*

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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Suffice to say, I’m watching from the shadows with no comments yet to give.

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Here’s a screenshot comparison for my color correction of the beginning segment of the film.

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/197054

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

Author
Time

I may change it a little more towards red, but it’s supposed to look rather brownish all around. I was originally going to make the color correction much stronger with a much more monochrome feel, but there wasn’t a good way I could find to make everything more brown other than the strong reds. If the strong reds turn all brown with everything else, Henry’s cloths and the geyser of blood would also be a murky brown, and that wouldn’t work well, not to mention the fact that the strong reds weren’t affected that way in Evil Dead II, which is exactly what I’m trying to match here. It’s difficult to figure out.

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.