Horror-A-Day: Evil Ed

With yesterday's successful discovery of an apparently well liked and known Tobe Hooper movie, to all but me it seems, I have decided to just just scan the horror titles waiting in my queue and hope for the best. This ,ethos has not gone well for me most of the days I have tried I this month, but there is always hope that I might stumble upon something worthy. I did not expect anything as good as The Funhouse, but I felt reasonably sure that I would not end up with something like Oasis of the Zombies.



The film I ultimately decided on a flick called Evil Ed. It is a Swedish import from the mid 1990's and the description seemed to hold some promise. It is the story of a mild mannered movie editor who gets the assignment of working on a series of extreme horror movies. The result is that his weak mind falls prey to the images and he suffers hallucinations which eventually turn him into a killer.

How ca you go wrong with something like that? It sounds perfect. Well, as you can probably suspect it is not nearly perfect, but it does have some good ideas wrapped up in its mish mash of horror and comedy. It is all delivered in an over the top, tongue in cheek fashion. However, I never feel it takes it as far as it could go. If ever there was a movie ripe for the remake, this is it. Something tells me they are not the only one to mine this sort of territory and may have seen some that I don't recall. Any suggestions?

The movie opens with a nearly naked guy with a crazy look in his eye madly cutting away at reels of film. Outside, his boss busts through and tries to talk him down. The man is not going anywhere. The crazed editor then takes out a grenade, pulls the pin and puts it in his mouth. You can guess how that ends.

This is where Edward enters the picture. He spends his days quietly cutting dramas until he learns of his transfer to Splatter and Gore. The job of editing some extreme violence out of a horror series called Loose Limbs for a censored European release. This exposure to gore drives him over the edge and he becomes a killer himself who must be put away.

Evil Ed is fun, but not great. Since it is a foreign feature shot in English and apparently set in the US it features some odd lines and quirky delivery. It is clear that English is not a first language. However, I suspect that this was made as a reaction to censorship practices in Europe hat I am not aware of. It would seem to make sense since Ed is removing violence for a European release. It is also interesting to take a look a what the non-horror an may think is going on inside the head of the horror aficionado. Horror movies do inspire real world violence and antisocial behavior, right? I know, I know, but it is funny to think about.

Evil Ed is campy, goofy and at times really silly. It is made for the horror lover with references to other genre films and just the subject matter itself. Even though I did enjoy it, I think I really would like to see a remake or just another film with a similar concept ge made by a more solid creative team. There are certainly some good ideas that are well worth exploring.

I would definitely recommend this one. It is fun and a worthy distraction for the horror fan in you.