| Evil Dead Trap | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Toshiharu Ikeda |
| Written by | Takashi Ishii |
| Produced by | Satoshi Jinno Michio Ôtsuka |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Masaki Tamura |
| Music by | Tomohiko Kira |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Joy Pack Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Evil Dead Trap (Japanese:死霊の罠,romanized: Shiryō no wana,lit. 'Trap of theDead Spirits') is a 1988 Japanesesupernaturalslasher film directed byToshiharu Ikeda and produced byJapan Home Video. The film starsMiyuki Ono, Yuji Honma, Aya Katsuragi, Eriko Nakagawa,Hitomi Kobayashi and Masahiko Abe, follow a television team enters an abandoned building to track down the source of a mysterious videotape before they are pursued by something unseen.
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TV show host Nami asks her viewers to send inhome movies; she receives asnuff film shot at a disused military base. She takes a camera crew out to investigate, and they are murdered one-by-one in a grisly fashion until only Nami remains.
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Special effects were byShinichi Wakasa who would go on to a career as a monster-suit maker for severalGodzilla films.[citation needed]
Hitomi Kobayashi who plays the supporting role of Rei Sugiura was a top star forJapan Home Video (JHV) under their adult video (AV) labelAlice Japan. JHV financed the film as a vehicle for Kobayashi. However, directorToshiharu Ikeda, unsure of Kobayashi's acting ability, instead putMiyuki Ono in the starring role.[1]
Evil Dead Trap was released theatrically in Japan as 死霊の罠 (Shiryō no wana) on May 14, 1988.[2] It was later released in Japan onVHS on September 25, 1988[3] and as a DVD on June 23, 2000.[4] On November 7, 2000, the film was released onDVD in the United States bySynapse Films. The release included the original theatrical trailer, andaudio commentary by director Ikeda and special effects manager Shinichi Wakasa.[5]
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Evil Dead Trap received positive reviews from critics, with praise highlighting the film's mixing ofgiallo andslasher film genres, cinematography, and special effects, while most criticism was directed at the film's ending.
Jon Condit fromDread Central rated the film a score of three out of five, highlighting the soundtrack, story, and cinematography as being reminiscent ofDario Argento'sgiallo films. While calling the film "fun and well crafted", Condit criticized the film's weak ending.[6] Niina Doherty ofHorrorNews.net also criticized the film's ending while commending the cinematography, special effects, and mixture of elements from slasher and giallo films.[7]Empire's Mark Dinning gave the film four out of five stars, praising the film's cinematography, gore effects, and style, calling it, "an effective and bloody slasher let down only by its last act".[8]In their bookJapanese Cinema: Essential Handbook, authors Thomas and Yuko Weisser awarded the film four out of four stars, calling it the best of contemporaryJ-Horror cinema, while also noting Argento's films as obvious inspiration.[9]
Evil Dead Trap was followed by one sequel.Evil Dead Trap 2 (also known asHideki: Evil Dead Trap 2), was directed byIzo Hashimoto and released in 1992. The film is a loose continuation of the first and follows a theater projectionist, Aki, who sees visions of a ghostly boy named Hideki while Aki thinks she might be a serial killer that targets women.
The 1993 filmChigireta ai no satsujin, directed byEvil Dead Trap directorToshiharu Ikeda, was released internationally under the title ofEvil Dead Trap 3: Broken Love Killer. In the film, a policewoman investigates the apparent suicide of a college student. The film has no connection to the first two in the series.