In the vast majority of cases, studios develop sequels because they want to take advantage of the popularity of previously released films, but director Sam Raimi’s Army Of Darkness exists as a strange exception. Unlike Evil Dead II, which Raimi resisted developing until after his second feature was a disastrous flop, Army Of Darkness was a follow-up that the filmmaker wanted to make in collaboration with producer Rob Tapert and star/producer Bruce Campbell, and he even had a franchise-fitting title in mind: The Medieval Dead.
In the early 1990s, Universal Pictures (which had produced Raimi’s 1990 film, Darkman) decided that they wanted to make Raimi, Tapert, and Campbell’s movie… but minus all of the baggage from its two predecessors. Continuity would be maintained within the actual film, but a new title was demanded that would allow it to be marketed as a standalone. According to the home video commentary track, it was The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II producer Irvin Shapiro who came up with Army Of Darkness.
