Shiryô no wana 2: Hideki

A sequel in name only, this second entry in the EDT-series is easily the most satisfying one. It's as gory as one might expect from an Asian horror film -I've seen this film round eight times, but still have to look away when the breaking-the-arm-over-the-radiator bit comes along- but this one has an ingenious plot and decent acting to boot.

Far less derivative than the original, EDT 2 involves a young, timid girl who goes on a killing spree, her self-loathing fueling the fire. There's also a sub-plot of an abortion gone awry, and the re-appearance of Hideki, probably the scariest child in movie history. Dream-logic, most of it, but it works.

The photography is perversely stylish, the pacing hypnotic. Some images, like a wounded victim staggering forward against a full-neon backdrop, or the twisted ballet of protagonist and antagonist battling in a mesh of white sheets, will stay with you for a very long time. The soundtrack, a Goblin-inspired celesta-theme, is breath-taking, and extremely well used troughout the film.

EDT 2 is top-notch film-making all the way, and will have you looking under the bed for nights to come. Argento would be proud. ........

I wasn't overwhelmed by it, to say the least. "Evil dead Trap 2" is a sequel in name only, since the story has no relation to the first film. I found it a confusing mess of a movie, to be honest, this second one. Granted, it's some kind of artistic mess (the film looks pretty good and there are some nice visuals in it), but I didn't understand one bit of the story. It throws random elements in the mix, and they don't make the slightest bit of sense to me. But it's not boring to sit through, at least. And the last 15 minutes are pretty intense, gory and stylish even, so it's worth a watch for only those sequences (I'd like to give the movie an extra point for it even, but I'm just not feeling that generous today).

Yes, I definitely liked this one. And to think I almost didn't watch it because of a number of very negative reviews. This probably has something to do with this movie not being a typical sequel. It really does not have much to do with the plot of the original Evil Dead Trap and I'm sure that's disappointing to many. They are both fairly gory and have some thematic material in common, but that's about it.

Actually, I can think of so many reasons why people might not like this movie. The main character, Aki, is fat! She's not attractive at all. The rest of the cast is not too great to look at either. So if you agree with Dario Argento and love to watch beautiful women get mutilated in horror movies, this one ain't gonna cut it! Towards the end, this one gets pretty heavy on the surrealism and it's pretty easy to lose track of what's going on. I admit, there were a few moments where I wasn't too sure what I was supposed to be thinking about the what the hell was going on, but hey, that's surrealism and I liked it.

The surreal moments work because they are effective in being very nightmarish. The visuals are fantastic. The pacing is slow, but this was a GOOD decision on the part of the filmmakers. There's no question that it added to the frightening atmosphere of the movie.

If you liked the first, I think there's a good chance you will like this one as well as long as you don't actually expect a continuation. This movie can stand alone and I recommend it even if you haven't seen the first. Many people seem to really dislike this one, but it's worth your time and is much more well-done than you might expect. I was certainly surprised.

One last thing: the kid in this movie is one of the most frightening ever! Usually a "scary" kid in a horror movie makes me laugh and turns out pretty embarrassing, but this kid... creepy!

Aki is a reclusive film projectionist who is friends with Ami, a news reporter who is currently reporting on young women who are murdered in this in name only sequel to Evil Dead Trap. This film is very dream-like. Not for the sqruimish,I truly can not say for sure if i liked it or not. The only thing I know is it's probably the most anti-abortion film I've ever seen as both the phsyically and psychologicly detrimental affects of that procedure is acknowledged. For that reason alone, this is one of the (very) few films Hollywood would NOT make an Americanized re-make of. On a bizarre note the director also wrote the classic anime "Akira"

My Grade: C

Dvd Extras: Photo gallery; Theatrical trailer; trailers for "Junk", "Devil's Experiment", & "Flowers of Flesh & Blood"; Making of "Guinea Pig"

Sequel in name only to the Japanese torture/splatter pic Evil Dead Trap (1988) (so, again, not in any way connected with Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies). Like the first, this plays out like a combination of slasher, giallo, and body-horror.

Aki works as a theatre projectionist. She's overweight, not 'conventionally attractive', suffers from low self-esteem, and pretty much withdraws from the world when she's not working. Her only friend is Emi; she's an attractive former pop idol, now working as a TV news reporter. Emi has been covering a series of brutal ripper-style murders of young women. Our sympathies for Aki fade when she suddenly realises that she herself is the killer; some evenings she dresses fashionably - even seductively, and stalks and kills young women, mutilating then in a manner similar to Jack the Ripper. That's all I can say with any certainty, because from then on it's by no means clear how much - if any - of what we see is real... Aki is encouraged by Emi to get out more, and they get into a bizarre love-triangle with Emi's (married) supervisor. Emi gets sexually aroused by the sight of the women's mutilated bodies as she arrives at crime scenes. Aki is haunted by the ghost of a young boy (kind of a forerunner of 'Toshio' from the Ju-On movies), and that same little boy also appears to Emi's supervisor and his wife as the spirit of a child they longed for but never had (???). Gradually, jealousies and rivalries begin to alter Aki and Emi's relationship, leading to an even more bizarre - and incredibly bloody - turn of events.

The movie has been called 'hallucinatory', which is a perfect description. What's certain is that the cinematography is terrific, the performances are all very good, the effects are excellent, and the blood and gore rivals that of the Terrifier movies. Like the first one, visually and musically it's got a very Argento feel to it, with a bit of Cronenberg thrown in. There are two big drawbacks. One is that the whole thing is just so damn confusing; it's hard to get invested in what's happening to the characters when you don't know how much of it is 'real'. The other is that the first half of the movie is painfully slow - thankfully, things pick up. In fact, where I found the first EDT great APART from the climax, with EDT2 it's the other way around; the climax (which lasts about 20 minutes) is a jaw-dropping bloodbath and easily the best part of the movie.

What's great is great, but overall, 6.5/10.