For months now we have been covering the progress on the upcoming
special edition of Army Of Darkness from Anchor Bay Entertainment later this
year, and finally a tentative street date for the release has been set to
October 12, as an Anchor Bay executive tells us. The list if extras have also be almost finalized. As we had reported earlier, the special edition will contain the 86 minute US cut of the film, as well as the international cut clocking in at
about 96 minutes. Both versions will be presented in 16×9 enhanced widescreen
transfers and the domestic version will be THX certified. Unfortunately it is
not clear at this point whether the international cut will also receive THX
certification but Anchor Bay are working on that end.

The special edition will come in a 2-disc box set, just like Halloween, that will be limited to 30.000 units. The first disc from the box set will then also be released independently.

Once again, Anchor Bay are releasing a wealth of additional information on this
release with plenty ofnever-before-seen material. Deleted scenes, storybords,
an extensive still gallery, theatrical trailer and more will be found on that
special edition. The first disc will also contian a documentary called The Men Behind The Army, covering the KNB effects team and their work on “Army Of Darkness”. It will showcase the undead horse, the skeleton suits and much more. An alternate ending will also be on the disc together with some 20 minutes of footage that is not in the movie!

Last but not least, the set will also contain a commentary track with Bruce
Campbell and Sam Raimi. Because they are at great odds with Universal for
cutting the domestic version of the film, Bruce and Sam refused to record a
commentary track for the 86 minute. Instead they sat down to talk about the
film’s original version in a full length commentary track on the 96 minute
version.

Getting high quality material for this international 96 minute cut wasn’t easy,
Anchor Bay executives told us and as a result 91 minutes of the film came from
one source, while the remaining 5 minutes had to be taken from a different
print that came from a different source. And you thought creating a DVD is simple…

We have also been able to unravel some more information on the short film
“Within The Woods”, that was used to flesh out and sell the original “Evil
Dead” idea. Unfortunately the rights for the music are still in limbo and Anchor
Bay was forced to drop plans to include this short film in the special edition
of “Army Of Darkness”. Chances are – if they manage to get the rights cleared
– it will be included either in the upcoming THX certified special editon of
Evil Dead 2 or Evil Dead, which are still slated for release in the months to come.