Although occasionally inspired, this English-language horror- comedy from Sweden doesn't have the narrative facility to support its better moments.
Film editor Eddie (Johan Rudebeck) is transferred by his boss, Sam Campbell (Olof Rhodin), to their studio's Splatter and Gore Department. There, Eddie is to cut the more offensive scenes out of the company's "Loose Limbs" series of horror films so that they can be marketed to foreign countries.
At first, Eddie goes about his task as he would any other assignment. But, soon, viewing all the blood-spattered footage begins to take its toll. He hallucinates that food he's cutting up is dismembered body parts, and he starts seeing demons pursuing him and living in his refrigerator.
Eddie's pleas to be taken off the job fall on deaf ears, and ultimately he begins violently turning on others, from the studio's delivery boy to his wife Barbara (Cecilia Ljung) and daughter Emmy (Nathalie Kankuja). The insane Eddie ends up being taken to a nearby hospital for psychiatric
treatment, but he escapes and begins a bloody rampage through the building. A SWAT team is called in, and the horror finally ends when one of them shoots Eddie's head off.
From its title and its anything-goes approach, this production was clearly influenced by the EVIL DEAD films that established director Sam Raimi and star Bruce Campbell as horror icons. But while those films were distinguished by their relentless momentum, EVIL ED has a poky pace that reduces it
to a series of fun moments strung together by a story that would have been better served by the short-film format. There just aren't enough scares or laughs to support the slim plot, and though the movie rallies with the rousing hospital-set final act, it also serves to remind of what the
preceding hour or so has lacked.
One can't fault the tyro filmmaking team behind EVIL ED on a technical level. Working on a very low budget in a country not known for its horror fare, they've put together an atmospheric movie with some excellent special effects. They also avoid making a gratuitous political statement out of their
real-vs.-reel-violence theme, yet given the film's overall lack of content, its only real message seems to be that viewing too many horror flicks will turn one into a psychopath--which is, no doubt, hardly the statement the filmmakers intended. (Graphic violence, nudity, profanity.) leave a comment