Evil Laugh — Evil Laugh( Blu Ray)
Evil Laugh is a mid-80s slasher with some light touches of humour and ahead-of-its-time postmodern elements. It features a cackling killer, some fairly bloody kills, the most inventive being microwave-based. Sure, it’s not a top-level example of the genre/ plays to the cliches- but it’s engaging enough, and will appeal to fans of the stalk ‘n’ slash form. Here from 88 Films- as part of their Slasher Classic series- is a Blu-ray release of the film, taking in an HD scan, commentary track from the slasher-loving podcast The Hysteria Continues, and a full-length archive documentary.
Evil Laugh is a true-blue US slasher from the year 1986. It was directed/co-written by Stante Island, born Dominick Brascia. He had helmed three other films: a band stalked in the woods slasher Hard Rock Nightmare(1988), fantasy My Life as a Troll (2001), and gay romantic drama Breaking the Cycle (2002). He also acted too, having twenty credits to his name, most notable in the slasher genre, playing the tubby chocolate-eating child in a man's body, Joey in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985). Evil Laugh was his directorial debut; it's largely fine, aside from a few pacing issues, and the repetition of the female-led light rock theme tune.
The film finds a group of medical students going to stay in a house for a retreat. The building was previously a children's home, where one of the caregivers, Martin, was wrongly accused of doing things to his charges- he went on a rampage, slashing all the throats of the children, and cutting out the tongues of the babies.
The film features around seven or so students/ their tutor. These take in at first doing pranks/ then later getting scared/paranoid horror fan Barney(Jerold Pearson), practical/ later legend storyteller Connie( Ashlyn Gere), and bossy/ kinky rich boy Sammy(Tony Griffin).
The film runs at the one hour and thirty-five minute mark- starting off with a stabbing/ heart cutting killer, before lulling somewhat on the blood/ gore, then later picking up with a throat slashing, blood sprayed face kill, a neat/ creepy take on the killer in the backseat trope, axe in the head, and most notably head stuck in the microwave kill. Our killer constantly darkly chuckles after each murder- they are dressed in all black with blue rubber gloves.
The score moves between the previously mentioned/ overplayed female-fronted rock song, and more eerie/ angular ambience- the latter nicely enhances the brief moments of creepy stalking and the general feel of disquiet in the house, with the addition of creepy whisperings & weird tape recordings. I was fairly surprised who ended up being the killer, and we get a neat last person standing finding all the dead bodies together scene, followed by a hamming it up killer rant.
We get more than a few mentions of both Jason Vorhess and Michael Myers in the film, which adds in the postmodern touches, as well as darts of humour- though thankfully it never fully swings in parody/ send up, keeping to its full-on slasher tone. There is no one really notable/ went on to other things actor here, aside from Steve Baio, brother of Scott, who, of course, played Chachi in US 50’s throwback Sitcom Happy Days- which also gets a mention in the film.
I’d say Evil Laugh certainly won’t convert you to the slasher genre, but if you already enjoy it, you’ll find this engaging/ entertaining enough, with some decent kills/ atmosphere.
This new region B has an HD scan- this looks ok, if a little murky in places- though we do get some texts detailing the print's issues, so I guess this is the best they could get. On the new extra, the only thing we get is a commentary track from the slasher-loving podcast The Hysteria Continues, and as always, we get a great, researched, informed, and entertaining track from the four-piece. They begin by talking about their history with Evil Laugh. We find out the film was shot between September/ October of 1985. They discuss how the film never received a cinema or VHS release in the UK. We get bios of bit part actors, and they talk about how the film can be seen as a parody of the F13 series. They discuss how the film often gets negative reviews, which are rather unfair, and that they think the film is a lot of slasher fun. They talk about the slight supernatural undertones in the picture, and how it has a decidedly Scooby Doo like feel. We find out the film's producers wanted even more gore, with the possibility of doing a flashback with Martin killing babies, though the director turned this idea down. We find out the makers pretended it was a student film to avoid paperwork, and they used the title Joy Of Laughter so as not to alarm the people they were renting the house the film was based. Later on, they discuss how there is a theme of people being tied up throughout the film. We find out that director Brascia was initially going to play the Barney character, and that he does the evil laugh throughout the film. They talk about how there is a fair bit of male muscled flesh on display, and it shows less female flesh than many slashers of the time. And of course, much, much more- another top-notch track from The Hysteria Continues- which I will play again.
The only other extra here is The Joy of Laughter: Making Evil Laugh(1 hour 17), which is ported over from the Vinegar Syndrome release from a few years back. It features interviews with producer/co-writer/actor Steven Baio, actors Jerold Pearson, Karyn O'Bryan and Tom Shell, director of photography/second unit director Steef Sealy, first assistant director Eric Brown, associate producers Joe Barnard and James Daurio, make-up effects artist David Cohen and assistant to the producer/casting assistant/actor Johnny Venokur.
The finished release comes with a reversible sleeve and a booklet with new writing from Calum Wadell.
If you’re a seasoned slasher fan, you’ll find a fair bit to enjoy with Evil Laugh, and it’s, of course, one of the early examples of the postmodern/self-referential side of the genre. With another wonderful commentary track from The Hysteria Continues, and an in-depth documentary.