One day reporter Nami Tsuchiya finds a mysterious video tape on her desk and soon find out that it's a snuff film that some sicko sent her way. She's determined to find out more so she takes a TV crew with her to the location of where the movie was shot.
Mutilation, nudity, torture, maggots, gore, dismemberment, gross-as-hell.. did I manage to get your attention? Good. Evil Dead Trap is all that and more, and while that may sound awesome, the film also has a few bad sides to it borrowing heavily from Cronenberg and Fulci, not to mention borrowing Goblin-esque score from early Argento films which you are bound to recognize when you see it, and that's not only the score itself but the very look and feel of some action scenes. But hell who cares, Evil Dead Trap is enjoyable, primitive, stupid and raw, and you just gotta embrace it for what it is. Like everything else, the film has two sides and while one side is pretty much total crap, this was never meant as a really smart movie with an intriguing story and fine character development. In fact, Evil Dead Trap is like drinking a foul-tasting wine meaning that in the beginning it tastes like shite, but after a while you get more and more intoxicated and stop caring about petty things, detail and smoothness and instead starts to enjoy it for what it is.
Evil Dead Trap is not your normal J-Horror film but is a film inspired by Raimi, Argento, not to mention Cronenberg, but not in a bad way. You'll of course recognize these influences quite a lot during the course of the film, but in the end it's Toshiharu Ikeda own creation that was written by the brilliant Takashi Ishii. Some people will hate this film and others will worship it, and while I won't lay down and worship it at its feet, I'd have to say that it's quite a sweet film when in the mood for some gruesome stuff out of the ordinary. Needless to say, it's not a film to be viewed during a first date but rather with a few of your sicko friends accompanied with a few beers (or bad wine).
 
So is it really as horrifying as some people claim it to be? Well the answer to that is both yes and no, meaning that it will probably satisfy hardcore horror fans while at the same time it won't manage to gross emī out, but when it comes to "ordinary" people who might enjoy a good horror/suspense film once in a while, Evil Dead Trap will probably be a bit too much to handle. The plot is somewhat taken straight outta videodrome where a TV crew is trying to locate the place to where a snuff film, that was sent their way, was shot. The snuff film however is good stuff and starts the movie of in a really brutal way, showing a chained up girl who gets cut and then gets her eye penetrated by a knife.. very graphic indeed. The crew then end up at a few different warehouses and realises that one of the places is where the film was shot and of course a lot happens while them being in there.
It's the gore and violence alone that saves this flick because the plot is not that great and like I said before, it borrows a lot from a few different flicks. The score adds so much feel to the film and if you've watched a few selected old Argento flicks you should know exactly what I'm talking about because this is just as close as it gets. Evil Dead Trap plays out like a typical slasher flick and stays like that for most of the movie, that's until the end when it goes all Cronenberg, but you'll have to watch it yourself to find out what that means. There are times in the movie when pretty much nothing happens but what it lacks in some departments it makes up for in others. Overall Evil Dead Trap is far from impressive but still deliver the goods.
A classic according to some and not that great at all according to others. Well, you be the judge. Personally I think it works pretty well and has this great 80's feel attached to it, and even though it won't blow minds it's still worth a watch, at least if your a fan of hardcore horror.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Shiryo no wana
MOVIE YEAR: 1988
DIRECTOR: Toshiharu Ikeda
WRITING CREDITS: Takashi Ishii
GENRE: Horror
CAST: Miyuki Ono, Aya Katsuragi, Hitomi Kobayashi
COUNTRY: Japan
RUNTIME: 105 min
RATING: 7/10
Evil Dead Trap Website/IMDB Click here
Evil Dead Trap Trailer Click here
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