Evil Dead Trap

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...

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.

Although MERMAID LEGEND is my all-time favorite Ikeda film, EVIL DEAD TRAP, a derivative but fierce and violent shocker, is deserving of distinction.

It's a catalog of gory set pieces inspired by Dario Argento, Tobe Hooper, Sam Raimi (of course), John Carpenter and Jess Franco.

Long before THE RING kick-started the "haunted videotape" craze, there was EVIL DEAD TRAP.

What distinguishes a lot of Japanese horror from American horror is brutality and explicitness. It's not that American horror hasn't been brutal (Texas CHAINSAW, LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and FORCED ENTRY all tip the brutality scales), it's just that there's been a cultural shift against movies of this type (read: political correctness) in the West whereas the Japanese film industry hasn't caught that particular cancer.

EVIL DEAD TRAP is confused by itself at times and its ending is beyond silly, but you do get several gleefully gruesome deaths, a rape/strangulation highly deserving of an encore, several ingenious methods of murder and a cloying, brain sick atmosphere.

The electronic score serves the material nicely and the film's primary location, an abandoned government facility, has a great Texas CHAINSAW stink.

Nice, juicy effects, too.

Avoid the wretched EVIL DEAD TRAP 2.

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.

Sitting down and watching my newly bought EVIL DEAD TRAP DVD I was blown away at the scenes that unfolded before my eyes. This movie has gained a huge status over the years and now that it is available on DVD we won't need those crappy bootlegs anymore. I had heard much about the film's reputation and can say I was really impressed. The story is intelligent and well-thought out while the execution was played just perfectly. Evil Dead Trap contains an especially delicious array of gory delights including sliced hands, gouged eyeball torture, impalement by spear contraption, cranium cracking, and neck breaking. This is quite the twisted film and this is ONLY the beginning! The first half is your basic stalk-n-slash story (Japanese style) with one freaky looking killer dressed in a black raincoat. Later, the movie progresses into something a bit more complex, some would say silly, but I enjoyed the move the film made. Let's just say it's something you wouldn't have seen coming. I loved the final showdown between Nami, and...wait I won't tell you, but in my opinion it's one of the best scenes in horror history. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. After all, like most have already said, the director takes a strong influence from veteran Italian horror-meisters like Argento and Fulci and even has some Evil Dead-like camera angles thrown in there. You could even say there's a bit of Cronenberg's genius in here as well ;-) How can you go wrong?