Shiryô no wana 2: Hideki

I purchased this film on DVD in all it's Unrated, Uncut gory glory, expecting something special, expecting a quality horror film, something like the many other great films to come from Japan, China or Korea etc. The fact that the writer of 'Akira' was the director also caught my interest. But a 'Ring','Dark Water','Tale of Two Sisters' this ain't! First of all, the film is low-budget. Very low-budget! But that's not bad, low-budget films can be great. But the story seemed slim. The first half of the film was alright though, it kept me watching, wondering and wanting to know how the characters develop. I especially liked some of the odd performances from the varied cast members.

The scenes of gore throughout the film were a little disturbing and quite weird, this is definitely not mainstream horror. The violent scenes were surprisingly not that many though, until the end that is, but when they happen, they are bloody! Very Bloody!! The last act of the film I thought was utter madness. I kind of lost what was happening, it all just went kinda mad...and went on and on and on...and I was glad when it was over. It made no sense and was just plain NOT VERY GOOD.

Overall I would not recommend this film to anyone, not even Asian horror fans, except maybe the hardcore, but that is only my opinion. I just didn't think it was that good. Gory horror can be fun, but without a good enough story and script it can be terrible. Their was a theme to it though, but I won't go into detail as it might spoil it for you. If I had listened to others opinions I would not have watched it, but I did, because you have to know for yourself, don't you.

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. ........

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"

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!