Bruce Campbell was displeased with the studio delaying the film's release from summer 1992 to February 1993, and its re-editing of it. There were issues because the studio was unwilling to pay an additional $3 million to finish the movie, and they were using the film as leverage in a conflict with producer Dino De Laurentiis over the rights to the character of Hannibal Lecter from The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Campbell stated that he wasted a year of his life waiting for the film to get released to cinemas.
Bruce Campbell says that in order to make it appear that the chainsaw was always running, tobacco smoke was pumped through a tube that was slid up his right pant leg, up his shirt, and into the chainsaw.
Released in Japan as "Captain Supermarket".
Ideas for a third Evil Dead movie were going around since Evil Dead II (1987) had been released, and even before Sam Raimi started working on Darkman (1990). Producer Dino De Laurentiis was already on board due to the success of Evil Dead II, and when Darkman became a hit, Universal Pictures (who had a deal with De Laurentiis' company) also stepped in to supply half of the $12 million budget. Raimi originally wanted to call the third film "The Medieval Dead", but Universal refused. He then suggested the title "Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness", after an idea by Irvin Shapiro, who died two years before the third film was made. As executive producer of Evil Dead II (1987), Shapiro had suggested "Evil Dead II: Evil Dead & the Army of Darkness" when that film was originally supposed to take place in medieval times (he had previously come up with The Evil Dead (1981) instead of the original 'Book of the Dead'). However, the studio wanted the film to stand on its own from the rest of the series, so it was just titled "Army of Darkness". The film was called "Army of Darkness: The Medieval Dead" for its UK release.
All three "Evil Dead" films can be seamlessly cut together (which has been done by fans), though some introductory footage in the sequels is lost, and there are several narrative and visual inconsistencies throughout.
Ted Raimi: at least four characters: The cowardly warrior who doesn't want to die (credited), the man who shouts "you can count on my steel", the swordsman with an eye-patch and the S-mart's store clerk.
William Lustig: known cult film director makes an appearance (credited as a "fake Shemp") as a supermarket customer.
Sam Raimi: [Oldsmobile] The beat-up Oldsmobile that goes through time with Ash belongs to director Sam Raimi. He included it in most of his early movies, each time more banged-up than the last. The items in the trunk of the Olds are not product placements; they're what Raimi actually had in his trunk.
Sam Raimi: [The Three Stooges] The skeletons do a classic routine. Ash calls Wiseman Joe "spinach chin", a line from Malice in the Palace (1949).
Sam Raimi: [POV shot] As various missiles such as catapult loads and arrows fly through the air, we see their targets from the missile's viewpoint.
Sam Raimi: [fake shemp] Among the listed "fake shemps" are Don Campbell and Charlie Campbell, brother and father of Bruce Campbell respectively (as knights, although Don is also a peasant in one scene), Sol Abrams (one of the knights), Josh Becker (peasant near the pit) as well as numerous people gathered for the S-Mart ending during a re-shoot, including directors William Lustig and Bernard Rose.