29 May 2017

Review: Evil Ed

Blu-ray & DVD: Evil Ed (1995)

If you enjoyed the early works of Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, Stuart Gordon and Brian Yuzna, then Evil Ed is surely a movie that you have also seen. If not, then feel confident in ordering this immediately in the knowledge that you’ll soon be watching some low budget splatter, complete with questionable acting, but made with an obvious love and passion of the genre.

Ed (Johan Rudebeck) is a quiet and reserved man with a wife and child and who works as a film editor. When the editor of the ‘Splatter and Gore Dept’ dies, Ed is transferred into his position and finds himself alone at the home of studio executive Sam Campbell (Olof Rhodin) editing increasingly violent scenes from the ‘Loose Limbs’ series of horror movies. These shocking scenes eventually begin to affect his psyche and he begins to find it increasingly difficult to stop acting upon his impulses after witnessing horrific visions both onscreen and offscreen as his mind begins to play tricks with him.

Evil Ed is a rarity in that it is a Swedish splatter movie. How many of those have you seen!? Though even it it were a crowded Swedish splatter market, Evil Ed would stand out above most, due mostly to the obvious love that went into its making. This can be observed in the stunning 3 hour ‘making of’ documentary that is just one of the many fantastic special features that Arrow Films have once again supplied on their releases, complete with a whole load of other entertaining and informative extras too.

If you love low budget horror, then Evil Ed won’t let you down. It has laughs and shocks aplenty, and enough blood splattering across the screen to satisfy most gorehounds. A deeply dark comedy accompanied by severed limbs and evisceration.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED 3-DISC LIMITED ED-ITION CONTENTS

Two versions of the film
Original Stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD MA Audio Options
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing on the film by horror journalist Michael Gingold

DISCS 1 & 2 (BLU-RAY/DVD) – SPECIAL ED-ITION CUT

Special ED-ition cut [99 mins]
Introduction by writer/director Anders Jacobsson and editor Doc
You Keep ‘Em Heads Rollin’ – extensive making-of documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew
Before Ed – featurette looking at the early filmmaking endeavours of the Evil Ed crew
Beyond Ed – the filmmakers discuss their careers following Evil Ed
Deleted Scenes Featurette
Reconstructing Edward – featurette looking at the preparation of the Special ED-ition cut
New Scenes Featurette – a closer look at the scenes that were added to the Special ED-ition cut
Trailers and Teasers
Image Gallery