Shiryô no wana

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.

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.

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?

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.

SPOILERS

Nami Tsuchiya is an ambitious young reporter who hosts a late night public access show. One day she returns to her office to find a mysterious tape sitting on her desk. She watches it only to see the directions to an abandoned factory where someone kills a young woman. Nami recruits several friends to go to the factory in effort to finally get the news story she's been needing to become famous. Once they arrive at the factory someone, or something, systematically picks off all of Nami's friends without mercy in a game of cat and mouse. Nami then meets a mysterious stranger that claims to be looking for his brother and knows the way out of the maze-like factory.

The first half of this film is outstanding. The gore is great, the plot is great and the pacing is great, but then after all of Nami's friends are killed and she meets the stranger the pacing just sort of dies up until the climax. It goes from being one of the best horror movies I've ever seen into a film that becomes, well, boring. There are several long sequences, of like three or four consecutive minutes, where we just have Nami walking around in a field sulking over her dead friends. I rarely say this, but The Evil Dead Trap would have really benefited by cutting about ten minutes off the runtime. Then it picks back up at the end for a rather twisted ending very reminiscent of the work of Larry Cohen, in sort of a mix between It's Alive and God Told Me To.

As I mentioned, the gore in this film is excellent. The opening murder scene features an example of eyeball violence and brutal close-ups that rival even the best of Fulci. As soon as the television crew arrives to the factory you get the feeling of a great 1980s slasher film, containing both spine chilling suspense and good gore once the killer makes his move.

Overall this was a great film surrounded by a decent amount of material that didn't need to be there. Had the pacing of the whole film been what it was in the first half then this would go down among my all time favorites, however it gets too dull and pointless to earn that honor. Instead, in my opinion it goes down as a good slasher film that I am glad I purchased but didn't live up to my expectations.

MY GRADE: B