Do you ever have those moments when you stumble back upon a longtime favorite film that you used to watch over and over and over again to the point where you knew every line and it was your spirit animal — and then you realize you haven’t actually seen it for a full decade? Maybe even a decade-and-a-half? That’s me and Army of Darkness (or really any of the Evil Dead trilogy).

Sometimes films are simply like that. They’re a huge part of your life for a season… and then they’re not. But instead of that being a source of sadness, it can actually set the stage for a great rediscovery down the road.

One day I came home from work and my wife surprised me by saying that she bought me two tickets to see Army of Darkness at our small local theater that specializes in screenings of old fan favorites. After assuring me that this wasn’t her thing (she saw it once with me way back in the day and wasn’t a fan) and knowing that none of my kids were ready for such gonzo horror, I called up my 20-something friend Will and roped him into seeing it with me on a Friday night. He’d only ever seen the original Evil Dead, he said, and that a long time ago.

Going to the theater was a little odd in a way that encroaching upon fandom space can be. I’d never been there before and had no idea what to expect. It was a decent place, even if the actual theater was lacking any tiered seating or a raised screen. There was a large assortment of middle-aged men who were balding, hosting ponytails, and/or wearing black shirts — your Comic Book Guys — as well as some couples, one freaked-out looking eight-year-old, and a goth posse. Oh, and there was an older teen who wore his Ash cosplay and was posing for pictures.

After watching old trailers for other B-movies, enduring a pretty boring trivia contest, and listening to the head Comic Book Guy give a short lecture on the franchise, we got into the relatively short film itself.

I was a little worried that it would have lost its luster and not impress my friend, but I’d forgotten that there’s some extra movie magic present when you get a bunch of fans together to enjoy something they love perhaps a little too much. And no matter what, I realized that it would be cool to actually see one of the staples of Mutant Reviewers on a big screen for the first time.

We had a blast. This is a good party flick, with lots of quotes, jokes, action, and weirdness to keep attention from wandering. I’d forgotten just how odd Army of Darkness could be and marveled at Sam Raimi’s creative approach to most of the scenes. He has a way to inject about 200% excitement into any given shot, and I really appreciated how he gave it his all to what is, in essence, a niche genre film that mainstream audiences wouldn’t touch in a thousand years.

Danny Elfman’s soundtrack was still amazing, as were all of the stop-motion skeletons. The weakest part of the film visually — Ash fighting his miniature clones using obvious rear projection — was still funny in its Three Stooges goofiness. And who doesn’t love Bruce Campbell’s exaggerated facial expressions and over-the-top bravado?

It was also wonderful to take a trip with a crowd back to a special effects-laden movie where not one iota of CGI was present. The ’90s are a near-bottomless treasure trove of sheer creativity in cinema in a way that we’ll likely never see again.

So hail to the king, baby — Army of Darkness is still all that and a bag of chips. Now I’ve got to work up the courage to see Evil Dead Rise one of these days and get ready for Evil Dead Burn.