Verdict
Summary
A relentlessly grim and misogynistic exercise in genre excess, the Swedish-made Evil Ed is akin to the early works of Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi, but instead of creating its own tropes and style, it relies on inspiration from the classic independent horror films that came before it, constantly tipping its blood-soaked hat to the icons.
Plot: A mild-mannered film editor is assigned to cut a series of infamous slasher films and is driven murderously insane by the miles of extremely violent footage he edits.
Review: Family man and all-around meek film editor Ed (Johan Rudebeck) lands a gig working for the scuzziest film producer in show business, a schlockmeister that churns out one tasteless slasher gore film after another. Ed is placed in a facility where he cuts film all day and all night, watching reel after reel of horrible simulated horror footage until it slowly drives him insane. He starts seeing things that aren’t there (like severed limbs, monsters in the refrigerator, or maniacal specters lurking in the shadows), and before he realizes it his whole world becomes a hellish landscape of unspeakable sights as he’s visited by demons and creatures that conquer his state of mind and make him a slave to the horrific visions he has. He turns on his wife and daughter, and becomes “Evil Ed,” a crazed maniac intent on slaughtering everyone in his path. After getting thrown in a mental institution, he breaks free and goes on a rampage against the staff, prompting a SWAT team to come visit with the intent to put him down for good … but Evil Ed is quite a juggernaut in the sense that he’s like a crazy train, running off the rails and taking everyone down around him.
A relentlessly grim and misogynistic exercise in genre excess, the Swedish-made Evil Ed is akin to the early works of Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi, but instead of creating its own tropes and style, it relies on inspiration from the classic independent horror films that came before it, constantly tipping its blood-soaked hat to the icons. It’s a blood-soaked and profane (and fairly misguided) horror “comedy” that doesn’t quite work for my tastes, but it has garnered a cult following, so much so that Arrow Video has released a three-disc Blu-ray/DVD set that has two versions (rated and unrated) of the film, as well as a ton of special features, including a three-hour documentary about the making of it. The film was made to buck against the Swedish film rating system, and I can see the relevance of that, but the filmmakers (it was written and directed by Anders Jacobsson) went beyond and above my level of tolerance for bad taste horror to prove their point. Evil Ed is definitely not for everyone, but for those for whom it’s aimed toward should revel in its excesses.