Boulder based Backflip Studios bringing Army of Darkness to iPhones next week

​As far as campy horror trilogies are concerned, there is really nothing better than the Evil Dead series -- but although the series has been re-imagined in game form before, it's never quite achieved the cult-status of the films. Boulder based iOS game developer Backflip Studios is hoping to change that with its release of Army of Darkness: Defense next week.

As the title should lead you to believe, Army of Darkness Defense takes a castle-defense foundation and coats it with a thick layer of fan-service goo. The film, which follows the adventures of Ashley "Ash" Williams as he fights off the undead hordes after the fabled Necronomicon unleashes a slew of baddies on the world, is nearly twenty years old, but that doesn't make it any less of a candidate for a solid IP-based game. And since Backflip Studios worked with MGM on the property, that means over a 100 lines of Bruce Campbell's incredible dialogue made it into the game. Not tying it into a theatrical release also means Backflip Studios was able to do a little more with the IP than traditional (usually awful) tie-ins.

Army of Darkness: Defense (Backflip Studios / MGM) from Backflip Studios on Vimeo.

"MGM approached us, showed us a catalog of their films and asked if we'd like to make something based on one of their IPs," says Backflip Studios founder and CEO Julian Farrior. "We saw Army of Darkness on the list and saw a really interesting mobile game." The crux of the game rests on the final battle in the movie, where Ash is leading the charge against the deadites and defending the castle -- probably the most picture-perfect scene for a castle-defense game imaginable.

Unlike many games in the genre, Army of Darkness: Defense gives you direct control over Ash while you're running through the usual motions of deploying troops against the hordes, upgrading your castle or troops and keeping the primitive screwheads safe from the she-bitches. You'll also be able to upgrade and outfit Ash and, more importantly, his boomstick.

"We'd wanted to make a castle defense game for a while, so our goal with this was to make something people will like regardless of if they know AoD," says Farrior. Still, he made it clear they're big fans of the film, and judging by the amount of dialogue alone, it should be a filled with enough fan service to keep Campbell-aholics happy.

Army of Darkness: Defense is set to launch next Thursday, May 12 for $0.99 for iPhone and iPod Touch and for $2.99 on iPad.