Evil Dead Trap

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.

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.

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

Now before you ask that question, this is NOT associated with the Sam Raimi classics. This is a pretty whacked Japanese horror movie of evil monster fetuses with bad attitudes. Not a really outstanding movie by any means, but I kept feeling like I was watching an older Italian slasher flick, especially with the GOBLIN-esque musical soundtrack pumping in at the action sequences. If you've ever seen any of Dario Argento's impressive horror movies, then you'll know exactly what the impression is I'm referring to. I also kept thinking to myself that there's just something strangely odd about the girls in this flick. And come to find out, they were actual AV Idol Pornstars. WOW! Japanese pornstars in a horror movie getting naked and getting "offed" in glorious deep red ways...Well, it makes this worth the money already!

This cult favorite B horror flick from Japan stars Miyuki Ono as Nami, the host of a late night TV program. One day, she receives in the mail a tape that contains footage of what appears to be an honest-to-God snuff film. Repulsed but fascinated, Nami assembles a camera crew (mostly female) and heads for the deserted factory where it is believed the footage was shot. Soon, Nami and company are subjected to repeated terrors, for there is indeed a killer on the premises.

At first, the set-up and the story (by Takashi Ishii) would seem to be on the routine side, but director Toshiharu Ikeda handles all of it in style, and delivers tons of potent doom-and-gloom atmosphere. The production design is truly first-rate, the gore by Shin'ichi Wakasa is first-rate ("Evil Dead Trap" can boast two great murder set pieces), the music (reminiscent of the Goblin score for "Suspiria", just one thing that "Evil Dead Trap" references) is good, and the performances (by a cast of Japanese porn stars) are capable. What elevates "Evil Dead Trap" is the big reveal at around the 82 minute mark, and the entire final act. It truly places poor Nami - who is put through the wringer over and over - into a vision of Hell. What's more, the disturbed antagonist is one that the audience can feel some pity for, as they just want their untenable situation to end.

Generally good fun, this does tend to be slowly paced, and a viewer could also see it as being repetitive, but it really does deliver a fair bit of genuine horror before those end credits start rolling. The splatter-riffic ending is truly one that is worth the wait.

Followed by two sequels.

Seven out of 10.