Shiryô no wana

If Dario Argento, David Cronenberg, and Lucio Fulci had gotten together to create a horror movie then this is what the result might me. Shiryo no Wana/Evil Dead Trap(1988) would be responsible for ushering a new era in Japanese horror that would become big during the 1990's and early 21th Century. This is one of the films that help make Japan the top foreign market of horror features. Its about a reporter who goes to investigate an empty warehouse after receiving a snuff film. It has nothing to do the Evil Dead movies except for a few camera effects. The first half of the movie is in the tradition of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci. The second half dives into Cronenberg territory.

Toshiharu Ikeda emerages from the feature film as one of the best directors of the Japanese gene film. Shiryo no wana(1988) is a mixture of European style and Japanese Philosophy. There are four scenes that stand out. First, the murder and torture scene at the beginning of the feature. Second, the murder of the young woman by impalement. Third, the revelation of the murderer and the secret that the person contains. Fourth, the shocking ending.

The death scenes have the elaboration of an Argento murder sequence with the gory and violent outcome from a Lucio Fulci movie. This is the best film that David Cronenberg never made. I wonder how long it will take before Hollywood will remake this into a waterdown American version. The film is a Japanese take on Argento's Profondo Rosso/Deep Red(1975) and Opera(1987). The eye violence seen at the beginning of the movie recalls the infamous eye penetration sequence of Lucio Fulci's Zombie(1979). Some parts of this motion picture echoes David Cronenberg's Shivers(1975), The Brood(1979), and Videodrome(1981). Shiryo no wana(1988) is an example of why horror films from aboard are superior to most horror films made in America.

What I enjoyed about Evil Dead Trap are the awesome camera movements, cool visuals, and heavy atmosphere. It was written by Takashi Ishii who would later direct the "Beat" Takeshi Yakuza vehical Gonin(1995). This is probably the film that opened the floodgates for such features as The Wizard of Darkness(1992), The Ring(1998), and The Ring 2(1999). I have a feeling that Kevin Williamson must have seen this movie when writing I Know What You Did Last Summer(1997). The outlook of the killer looks as if it would play a major influence on the appearence of the fisherman from IKWYDLS. Its a Japanese giallo with supernatural overtunes. The film also deals with the relationship between Parents and their children in Japanese culture.

Take a dash of atmospheric horror, add a huge helping of giallo, an equal amount of slasher films and a sprinkle of sci-fi horror. Filter through Dario Argento's 'Suspiria'-like soundtrack and use of primary colors and Shi'nya Tsukamoto's 'Tetsuo: Iron Man's frenetic black and white images and industrial soundtrack and you've got Evil Dead Trap. Throw in a pinch of B-movie horror ala Frank Henenlotter and Alain Roback to spice things up further. The English translation is top-notch and over all the movie is easy to follow. The lead actress comes across well and the deaths are inventive for the most part. The gore is fairly graphic, with squirting blood foreshadowing the Tokyo Shock films to come almost two decades later. Sure, it's not Oscar material, but cinephiles will enjoy picking out the various influences and the average viewer will get an over-the-top cult film. My only bone with the film is that the director didn't have to use EVERY influence, perhaps picking one or two themes only, but I guess that's one of the things that makes it over-the-top.

Sure, the soundtrack borrows from Goblin, the ending is pretty nonsensical, and there ain't much plot, but it's definitely one of the best slashers I've seen. There's a lot of good camera work, plus some of the goriest, most brutal kill scenes ever. The eyeball bit makes me squirm every time. The film takes a turn for the worse at the end when a supernatural element is introduced, but I just laugh.

Gorehounds will appreciate the bloody kills, but this is purely an exercise in style over substance. Enjoyable cult movie if you're in the right frame of mind...

After seeing The Evil Dead Trap, I'm not surprised at all that it has a rather strong cult following; as despite the fact that the plot is rather ludicrous and the film isn't particularly well thought out, it makes up for these problems with a plethora of special effects and a bucket of gore; and the result is a brilliantly fun piece of Japanese horror. The influence for this film is clearly far reaching, but the most obvious is probably the Cronenberg masterpiece Videodrome, though the oeuvre of Lucio Fulci seems to be an influence and of course the English title is a clear rip-off of a very popular early eighties horror film. The plot focuses on a late night reality TV show hosted a young lady named Nami. The show receives a videotape that includes apparently real snuff tape footage. This leads the team to go and track down the origin of the tape, and they arrive at an old warehouse. After gaining access to the facility, it's not long before the group begin being picked off by an unseen assailant.

The film could easily be seen as a slasher flick, but actually it's much more ambitious than that. The snuff footage at the beginning of the film sets the tone for the rest of it; the violence is extreme, but also rather realistic and that is carried on throughout. One of my favourite things about it was undoubtedly the atmosphere; director Toshiharu Ikeda makes best use of the location and the fact that the central characters are isolated from the outside world. The violence is often shown and extreme and this is what makes the film entertaining. It's also rather inventive and the film offers much more than merely another man with a knife. The problems regarding the plotting and character are somewhat condemning; I do feel that if a bit more time and attention were given to these areas then the film could easily have been a masterpiece. But even so, if you want a good gorefest then you really can't do better than this film! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to all horror fans.

Very very minor spoiler.

Plot summary: A TV crew get lured to a disused military installation and get stalked by….a killer.

After being introduced to Ikeda-san's work by his abysmal 2001 effort "Shadow of the Wraith" I had zero expectations for this, especially after I found out he also directed one of the later Meiko Kaji-less instalments of the "Female Prisoner Scorpion" series.

How surprised I was then, to see just what a solid film "Evil Dead Trap" is. The film certainly doesn't mess around; introducing the characters and setting up the plot in about fifteen minutes, all perfectly spliced around a videotaped Fulci-esquire eye slicing scene. The plot, initially owing much to Videodrome, takes a back seat as the TV crew get down to the business of walking backwards, running further into darkened warehouses when they should be going outside and having sex when they should be watching out for the psychopathic knife-wielder.

The ripped off plot and horror clichés aside, the film scores its points with an array of violent, gruesome and inventive deaths, with an abundance of blood, nudity and maggots. Whenever I thought the film was regressing into conventionality, it always surprised me by turning back on itself, usually with an aforementioned brutal killing. However the ending was what most shocked me; what seemed to be a conventional explanation for the "mystery" of the killer eventually culminated in a horrific gorefest that probably got David Cronenberg wondering if he'd misplaced a script.

This is mainstream 80s J-horror at its best, taking influence from the greats such as Cronenberg and Fulci. It makes up for its shortcomings with a shocking amount of violence and gore, the occasional graphic sex scene and a brilliant conclusion.

A must for all gorehounds and horror fanatics.