Evil Dead Trap — Evil Dead Trap( Blu Ray)

From the late 1980s, Evil Dead Trap is a Japanese film that blends Giallo and slasher tropes, with moments of extreme gore, female flesh, and a deranged body horror plot twist. Here from the guys over at Unearthed films- is the definitive version of this Japanese cult classic, taking in three commentary tracks, and a few other extras.

Appearing in the year 1988 Evil Dead Trap( aka Shiryô no wana, Toyok Snuff) was directed by Yamagata, Japan-born Toshiharu Ikeda- who had twenty-four feature-length credits to his name.  These went from the pink sadomasochism of Sex Hunter(1980) and Angel Guts: Red Porno (1981), onto cop thriller of The Brutal Insanity of Love(1993), through to the two-part horror film Ikisudama( 2001). Evil Dead Trap is certainly a well-filmed presentation- with the mimicking/ blend of Italian Giallo tropes, and American slasher tropes done well, all topped off with elements of extreme/ quirky Japanese filmmaking.

The film kicks off with late-night TV host Nami Tsuchiya (Miyuki Ono) getting through a strange VHS- it starts off with a car journey and ends with the driver going into an abandoned factory lot. In one of the buildings is hung a screaming woman- she has legs slashed with a razor, then one of her eyes cut in half, before she's brutally stabbed several times- with flashes of  Nami TV show appearing before the tape runs out. So, it seems she may have been sent a snuff tape, but instead of doing the sensible thing- contacting the cops- she decides, with a selection of five of her crew, to go to look for the abandoned lot in the film.
 
They follow the VHS tape, getting to the lot fairly quickly- and oddly the gate's padlock is open… they decide to go in. The group separate, as the site seems bigger than they thought. And one by one they are stalked, then either killed straight off, or get put in a trap by the camouflage hooded killer. After the first extreme opening snuff kill, the intensity of the murders doesn’t let up- we get someone rammed through with multiple steel poles, a head hacked into- with the face almost severed kill, rape-then-gunshot head explosion then brutal wire hanging. Along the way, we get very Argento like touches- dripping maggots, colour filters, and a very pulsing synth-heavy like Goblin soundtrack.
 
Miyuki Ono is good as the trying to get her story TV Host, she is surrounded by a fairly predictable selection of characters- who are slightly drawn, but you do feel for when they meet their brutal ends. As we get past the giallo/ slasher first three-quarters of the film, we get a sudden body horror twist for the last quarter which is suitable wacky and surprising. On the whole Evil Dead Trap is a rewarding blend of different horror tropes running through with moments of extreme/ intense gore, and sleaze- all topped with a wacky WTH body horror twist.
 
 
Moving onto this recent Blu Ray, and we get a nice and classy 4k scan of the film- really enhancing both the gore and more visual atmospheric elements of the film. On the extras side, we get a good batch of stuff- first off, we get three commentary tracks- first is with director Toshiharu Ikeda and SPFX Manager Shinichi Wakasa- this is a laid-back playful track, with the pair commenting on onscreen action, shot set-up, actors chosen, etc- this has moments of interest, though on the whole is a little sporadic in its presentation. The next track is from Kurando Mitsutake (KARATE KILL, GUN WOMAN)- who is an LA-based Japanese filmmaker who’s a big fan of the film. He moves from discussing how the VHS trend became big in Japan due to porn and mentions the two adult actors in the film. He relates interviews he did with the film’s female lead, and other crew to certain scenes points in the film, as well as mentions on set stories. He chats about the development of horror films in Japan, and more- this is a much more balanced/ interesting track. Lastly, we have a track with horror/ genre journalist James Mudge of easternKicks. He starts off to discuss how the film nods towards the likes of both Dairo Argento and Lucio Fulci, though apparently, the director denies ever seen any of their films. He talks about the use of VHS in the film, and how it pre-dated its use in J horror. He chats about the directors’ early work in the pink genre, comments on certain scenes and their influences. He comments on its script and its meanings, mentions similar films, and more- all in all, a most worthy track.
Moving onto the other extras we Trappings of the Dead - Reflecting on a Japanese Cult Classic, which finds the highly respected genre expert Calum Waddle talking about the film- this runs nineteen minutes and sees him giving a great overlook/ critic of the Evil Dead Trap. We have six minutes of storyboards, three minutes of behind-the-scenes pictures, and a two-minute promo gallery- so all in all a great selection of extras.

In finishing it is wonderful to see Unearthed putting out this definitive Blu Ray release of this Japanese splatter/ horror classic- with a really nice selection of extras, and a neat new 4k scan. Really, you’ll be needing this if you enjoy any form of gore-bound/ slasher/ giallo horror- as this truly is a classic.