EVIL DEAD TRAP (1988)
Label: Unearthed Films
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 140 Minutes
Audio: Japanese PCM 1.0 Mono and 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1)
Director: Toshiharu Ikeda
Cast: Miyuki Ono, Aya Katsuragi, Hitomi Kobayashi
When late-night cable TV reporter Nami receives an anonymous VHS tape in the mail she pops it in the player and onscreen she sees a bound woman, who has an uncanny similarity to herself, being tortured and brutally murdered. It's a horrific scene as we see a knife tear into her flesh and there's even a bit of Fulci-esque eye-trauma straight out of Zombie. The intrepid reporter does what any ratings-starved newshound would, she doesn't call the police and drags along her camera crew and fellow reporters to the same abandoned military installation from the videotape to investigate what looks to be a snuff film. Now, is that a good idea? No, certainly not in any rational capacity, but it is our entry into some seriously fucked up mayhem in a booby-trapped labyrinthine where a knife-wielding slasher in a rain slicker stalks the newshounds.
Now I have seen the DVD of this film at second hand stores for years and never gave it a second look simply because he title makes it sound like a Evil Dead knock-off at first blush, and the artwork was garbage. But guess what? I have been missing out on the awesomeness that is Evil Dead Trap for far too long, but no more! This bloody bit of WTF-ery takes a ton of inspiration from Italian horror, specifically Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci; it's a stylish and moody piece of work that sort of pre-figures certain aspects of the Saw franchise while also mining the vintage body-horror of David Cronenberg. It's a film that is at once derivative of many things, but it's also a fun mash-up of international styles, including some Japanese supernatural weirdness, that circles all the way back around to become something completely original in it's willingness to blend influences.
The kills are inventive and plenty gruesome, right from the opening we have some patented Lucio Fulci eye-popping gruesomeness and New York Ripper-style knife work, plus we get some sleazy sexual violence, because, hey why not? As the crew delve further into the bowels of the warehouse
it turns into a Suspiria-esque nightmare and the kills get even better. Some of tasty kills include a woman turned into a bloody pin-cushion after being impaled by several metal spikes, a booby-trap that sends a bladed weapon into the side of someone skull, and some strange supernatural
happenings that channel the kinetic style of early Sam Raimi with a bonkers body-horror element that had me thinking of Cronenberg's The Brood.
What starts off a slasher turns into a bat-shit crazy body horror flick along the lines of insane like Xtro, and it's a total blast from start to finish. At 100-minutes long there are places where I think some judicious editing could have gotten this down to a lean 90-minutes, but you know what, I was never bored so who cares? The look and stylish aesthetic of this is total eye-candy and the inventiveness of the set pieces and the gruesomeness of the Screaming Mad George (Society) style gore effects are more than enough to offset some slight pacing issues.
This is a film I wouldn't wan to spoil much more of because this was a first-time watch for me and I went in with zero info and I was blown away by this batshit insane slice of 80's j-horror. The way it melds Italian influences (and a very Goblin-esque score) with Japanese weirdness is absolute perfection, this comes highly recommended for lovers of gore or batshit crazy horror in a general, a film that wears it's influences on it's sleeve, but also managed to defy my expectations in the best way possible.
Audio/Video: Evil Dead Trap (1988) arrives on Blu-ray from Unearthed Films as part of their fantastic Unearthed Classics line-up. I don't see any verbage on the wrap or the slip about the source of the HD scan or the elements used, but early press releases indicated a 4K scan. The source, whatever it is, looks to be in good shape with very little in the way of blemishes, and the grain looks fairly organic, but it is not so finely resolved as to suggest this is coming from the original camera negative. I seem to recall reading somewhere at one time that this was shot on 16mm and transferred to 35mm - but I am not 100% on that. That it could have been shot on 16mm might help explain why textures and facial features seem a bit on the soft side of things, it's just not a traditionally crisp looking image . The cinematography employs a diffuse style, so that does not lend itself to razor sharp imagery either. As this is my first time watch I do not know how this stacks up against the previous DVD release from Synapse Films, but to my eyes it's pleasing, but not HD perfection by any means. What it does have is a striking color palate bathed in a lot of blue and amber lighting gels. A lot of the scenes seem underlit so that too effects clarity and detail, but I dig the aesthetic. Contrast is a tad uneven, and the black levels are decent, but they wax and wane according to the lighting situation for each scene, but it looks authentic and any disparity is probably more a reflection of the original production limitations than a fault of the transfer.
Audio comes by way of uncompressed Japanese 1.0 mono or 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. Both tracks are clean and well-balanced, the Japanese audio is cleanly replicated and the score from Tomohiko Kira sounds terrific. The score seems to be paying homage to a number of Goblin score made for the films of Dario Argento, particularly the Suspiria score, and it's a highlight of the film.
Unearthed offer up three audio commentary tracks for the film, we have the first with Director Toshiharu Ikeda and SPFX Manager Shinichi Wakasa, a second by filmmaker Kurando Mitsutake (Gun Woman), and a third with James Mudge of Eastern Kicks. Then we get a the 19-minuteTrappings of the Dead - Reflecting on a Japanese Cult Classic with academic and author Calum Waddell who offers up an interesting assessment of the film. He gets into the western influences on the film (Videodrome, Suspiria, Evil Dead) that help create a groundbreaking identity for a Japanese horror film of this era, its influence on splatter flicks from the 00's like Meatball Machine, the historical subtext referencing Japanese Imperial war crimes, homages to other films like the pink Angel Guts, and interesting side bits about the potential influence of Emmanuelle in America's influence on Cronenberg's Videodrome, and perhaps this films influence on Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers.
The disc is buttoned-up with 6-minutes of Storyboards, a 3-minuter Behind the Scenes Stills Galley, 2-minutes of
- Promotional Artwork, and 8-minutes of Unearthed Films Trailers including Evil Dead Trap, Hanger, The Untold Story, and A Serbian Film.
The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork featuring a new some slashery new artwork that has a Scream Factory/Vinegar Syndrome vibe, plus the original Japanese movie poster on the reverse side. The new illustration is also featured on the slipcover.
REVERSIBLE ARTWORK
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Director Toshiharu Ikeda and SPFX Manager Shinichi Wakasa
- Audio Commentary by filmmaker Kurando Mitsutake (Karate Kill, Gun Woman)
- Audio Commentary with James Mudge of Eastern Kicks
- Trappings of the Dead - Reflecting on a Japanese Cult Classic with academic and author Calum Waddell
- Storyboards (6 min)
- Behind the Scenes Stills (3 min)
- Promotional Artwork (2 min)
- Trailers: Evil Dead Trap (1 min), Hanger (2 min), The Untold Story (3 min), A Serbian Film (2 min)
Unearthed Films delivers another genre gem with their latest Unearthed Classics release, making them five for five with this bug-nuts insane slice of gory late-80's j-horror weirdness. They give a solid A/V presentation for this Japanese cult-classic that is ripe for rediscovery on Blu-ray.
Screenshots from the Unearthed Films Blu-ray:
