Bruce Campbell reveals why he looks shredded in Army of Darkness poster

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It's called the Schwarzenegger effect

Army of Darkness
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Bruce Campbell recently explained why one poster for the Evil Dead sequel Army of Darkness shows his character, Ash Williams, looking like a world-class bodybuilder. The actor did so while responding to a Twitter user who made a comment about the level of swollness in the poster. 

Spoiler alert: turns out that it was all just a marketing ploy. "Yeah, producer Dino De Laurentiis had his hands all over that. It’s the foreign poster," Campbell wrote in his quote tweet. "He knew that [Arnold] Schwarzenegger sold overseas, so he made me look like Arnold. It’s very silly." 

Funny enough, Campbell was already pretty ripped already in the film, but he was certainly not built like the Schwarzenegger. That's to no fault of Campbell, since so few actors were at the time or are present. Although, Dwayne Johnson would give '90s Schwarzenegger a run for his dumbbells. 

Army of Darkness – the third installment in the Evil Dead film series – was not a huge success. It was, however, Campbell's first appearance as a leading man for a major studio film. Darkness maintains cult classic status thanks to fans who continue to celebrate Sam Raimi's creation.

The love of the franchise's previous movies and indeed Army of Darkness helped create a path for the franchise to be resurrected in 2015 with the series Ash vs. Evil Dead. There was also a reboot of the first movie, under the same 1981 title, in 2013, but Campbell was not involved. He is involved with another potential sequel that's in the works, but that has mostly been rumors. 

If you're a fan of Army of Darkness, you might be interested in checking out our list of the best horror comedies.  

Stephanie Williams

Stephanie is a comic book historian and pop culture critic for publications including SYFYFANGRRLS, Marvel, The A.V. Club, Nerdist, Den of Geek, and Rotten Tomatoes. Stephanie is also a comic creator with three ongoing webcomics, Parenthood Activate!, But What If Though?, and Living Heroes. She made her Marvel debut with a short story featuring Monica Rambeau in Marvel’s Voices: Legacy. She recently made her DC Comics debut in Wonder Woman Black and Gold #2 and is co-writing the Nubia and the Amazons miniseries.