Risa macabra

this movie is not the greatest horror film, but if you are in a 80's retro feel, evil laugh is for you. one thing that is positive, that the efforts of director and producer demonstrated that the 80's was not bad for independent movies in America. Steven and Dominick have great insightful commentaries on the DVD release of this flick.

they often commented about how easy it was to collaborate and seek sponsor from their families and businesses. they even talked about giving McDonald's breakfast to their crew! and always they got a small percentage, and thy traveled with the film in japan and the USA.

Dominick kept on ranking how this film was revolutionary, before Wes craven's scream movies. there is a character who is a horror film buff!

The plot to this movie, well it's that same old routine Slasher movie plot = A couple of friends travel out to a house in the country to fix it up and make it a foster home again. Ten years ago the foster home was shut down as a madman called Martin killed all the kids. They are supposed to meet Jerry at the house but when he never shows up, the friends start to suspect that something's wrong. They decide to try to not think about it too much and have some fun instead and start working in the morning. That might not be such a good idea since some of them will probably never get to see the morning as it seems as if Martin has come back to the house.

Well for one thing I have to say the title is half right it does have a laugh but it sure as hell wasn't an evil laugh but the cover is rather deceiving I was expecting someone in a reaper mask to pop up and kill the teens, but nope, no reaper mask in sight. We do get a very silly mask near the ending though, which we were only to see in the last 2 or 3 killings and not in the first ones, was there some point of that.

The directing is so and so, nothing too special, but I have to say that I was impressed by the use of lights in the dark basement, you can see everything that you're meant to see in the dark and that's not very common in horror movies, especially not slashers. But to be honest the movie isn't all bad I mean it does have one original kill death by microwave that's the only reason why I gave this movie an extra star.

All in all I didn't think this was that bad but I have to say that it didn't live up to my expectations, nor its box art. For a slasher fan like myself, this was quite entertaining. But I really think you have to be a slasher fan to be able to watch this movie since it is pretty cheesy and slow in some parts. I might watch this again and see if it grows in my mind, though, I highly suspect that it won't.

A group of med students spend the weekend fixing up an old house. Of course this was the site of a horrible massacre, and of course there is going to be a new slaughter this weekend with the med students on the menu.

I love horror movies frankly, so the plot of this movie doesn't exactly bother me. The slasher genre is the only one that can get away with using the same plot over and over again in my book. The problems with this movie is that once you move from the plot everything else is awful.

The character are written and acted like they come right out of a sitcom. ( one girl acts just like "chrissy" from THREES COMPANY) The actors are also very bad, but you can't blame then so much. Yes they can't act, but the script didn't help much. The dialogue is outright ridiculous.

The Gore is really unconvincing, and this looks to be filmed on video. Not that is uncommon today almost all horror movies ( and independent movies) are filmed that way now. But we have digital video, they have a 80's camcorder.

The movie also seems to be a showcase for Steven Baio, like every scene was structured to make him the focus even though he is not the main character.

What this film does have going for it is it's parallels to SCREAM. Some scenes are very similar. It does have one decent murder to it as well.

As bad as this movie is, I have to say there is something about it that made me rent it 3 times. of course it is because I found it to be hysterical, ( there is even a a spur of the moment dance number that had me on the floor crying from laughing) but hey, it put money in the producers pockets so I'm sure they don't care why I watched it.

Really bad ( 4/ 10)

EVIL LAUGH features one of the most irritating killers in horror movie history, picking off annoying med students one by one. All the while cackling like an imbecile. Said maniac also wears a mask reminiscent of those worn by Mexican wrestlers.

This movie does get points for being a parody of the slasher genre, exposing some of the absurdities therein. Yes, the story is lackluster. Yes, the characters are just animated furniture. However, it's humorous in spots, and its overall cheeeze factor wins the day...

Evil Laugh isn't particularly original or special but it's entertaining enough for a slasher film and has some decent death scenes. I think the lack of originality was what spoilt it for me, it's the same old routine of having a bunch of people in a house where they get killed off one by one. There's some amusing moments though, one example being at the beginning of the film when the killer takes out a mans heart, which later gets used in a meal that his friends eat. There also seems to be a bit of slasher film 'self referencing' going on too, with mentions of Halloween and Friday the Thirteenth. Some slasher fans like that sort of thing, but personally I think it brings the film down as it seems too self-conscious.

Overall a good addition to any slasher fans collection, but there's still much better out there.