Evil Ed (1995)

“Swedish Splattery Silliness”

         Some right old gory amateur daftness gets a dual format release from Arrow as EVIL ED finds its way to disc. Despite its Scandinavian origins it’s in English by the way, in case the thought of subtitles puts you off. Be warned, though, that the dubbing is as endearingly home made as the rest of the film.

Our mild mannered hero!

         Ed (Johan Rudebeck) is a mild-mannered editor who spends his days cutting art films (we get to see one at the start of this and for some it will be a spot-on piss take of a certain type of Scandinavian cinema). He gets transferred to the studio’s ‘Splatter and Gore Department’ where he discovers his new assignment is to edit the ‘Loose Limbs’ franchise of horror films. 

There's a bloody gremlin in the fridge!

         His sleazy producer puts Ed up in a house outside town so he can work undisturbed. Traumatised by the endless scenes of sex and violence he has to run through the moviola, Ed soon starts to hallucinate, seeing an interesting collection of monsters and characters from 1980s movies, including a fat gremlin in the fridge and the big red chap with the enormous horns from Ridley Scott’s LEGEND (1985). It’s not long before anyone who comes to the house ends up messily dead. 

...and a head in the bin!

         Ed is eventually apprehended and carted off to the local hospital, where he escapes and embarks on another killing spree before the movie ends on an appropriately silly note.

Another of Ed's hallucinations - or is it?

         Directed and acted with gusto (that’s probably the kindest way to describe it), EVIL ED feels like a mashup of the styles of Peter Jackson’s BAD TASTE (1987) and Alex Chandon’s similarly enthusiastic semi-professional effort CRADLE OF FEAR (2001). There’s little in the way of plot, which takes second place to splattery deaths, ludicrous hallucination scenes, and as many horror film posters as you can possibly cram into a single film. It’s difficult to be hard on EVIL ED because it is so obviously a labour of love, and that single factor shines through every drop of ketchup and bloodstained bit of bandage.

Possibly the real editor of this film

         Arrow’s three disc set kicks off with a specially filmed introduction where two of the film-makers have difficulty keeping a straight face and suffer repeated attacks of the giggles. It’s actually the perfect way to be led into a film of this sort so make sure you pick that option. EVIL ED itself is presented in a specially extended edition that’s a bit longer than the standard run time of 93 minutes. You also get a making of, deleted scenes, details on the crew’s achievements past and present, material about the preparation of this new version, and the usual trailers and stills.
         Discs one and two are Blu-ray and DVD. Disc 3 is a Blu-ray with the original cut of the film and an extended version (by an extra two hours!) of the making of documentary. Plus (it says here as it wasn’t provided for review) other surprises - actually the press release has it in capitals so I should really say OTHER SURPRISES!
         Could they include a sequel called EVIL EDNA? Probably not but it’s good to dream. 

EVIL ED is coming out in a three disc set from Arrow Films on Monday 29th May 2017 - Bank Holiday fun for everyone!