Evil Dead Trap II

Color, NR (mature themes, violence, sexual situations, nudity, drug use, strong language), 102 min., DVD only $19.95, Japanese with English subtitles

DVD: no extras

Available now

First Run: L, Int'l. 1991, NA

Cast: Shoko Najima, Rie Kondoh, Shiro Sano (Godzilla 2000), Shino Ikenami

ECLECTIC/MVD

Story Line: Overweight projectionist Aki (Najima) leads a quiet, withdrawn existence until her TV reporter friend Emi (Kondoh) tries to draw her out of her shell. What Emi doesn't know is that Aki is occasionally possessed by the ghost of a demon child, causing her to commit murder. The two women are both seduced by a married man (Sano)--whose wife believes she gave birth to the same ghost-boy.

Bottom Line: A great deal more imaginative and better directed than its cult-hit predecessor, this 1991 sequel is either the most progressive or the most sexist horror movie in recent memory. Although the Damien-like menace that plagues the three female leads has the same name as the pint-sized monster in the first Trap, the fact that the women have all had an abortion implies that their unborn are causing them to become, by turns, horny, homicidal and suicidal. Director Hashimoto commendably builds suspense and concentrates on characterization before the floodgates of gore are opened. Once they are, it's all one long, bloody (but extraordinarily balletic) razor catfight between Aki and Emi ... and the final emergence of the devil--kid. The most knowing inclusion is a creepy sequence early on in which Aki and the married man exit a party thrown by Emi in which hip urban sophisticates sit around getting high and horny, watching atrocity footage--perhaps a sly commentary on the viewers who enjoy movies such as this one. Trap II will rent big among horror fanatics who will doubtless excuse any such slight. --Ed Grant

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