Ever Wonder What Happens When You Watch Too Many Slashers? This Bloody Horror Flick Knows
What if those alarmist news reports were right? What if watching horror movies actually did rot your brain and turned everyday people into bloodthirsty, homicidal maniacs? This is the premise of a Swedish horror film, Evil Ed. Released in 1995, this topical slasher was both a love letter to horror films like Friday the 13th and Hellraiser and a response to the genre’s most vocal critics. The film satirizes censorship and violence by literally making censorship its plot line. Instead of defending depravity and sexuality in horror, it exaggerates it and lets it play out the hypothetical fantasy depicted by the media. This tongue-in-cheek approach pays off, and the result is a zany gore fest that has a blast defending the good name of horror.
Demons, Slaughter, and More Await in ‘Evil Ed’
Evil Ed is a one-of-a-kind slasher film about Edward Tor Swenson (Johan Rudebeck), a reserved film editor who is asked to fill in at the “Splatter and Gore” department of his company, where he must cut down gory horror films to pass censorship ratings. But the more disturbing footage he views, the more insane it drives him. Soon he’s visited by a harbinger of death, one that tells him, “The whole world needs to be corrected.” In just a few days, he starts to see horrible demons in place of actual people and his crazed killing spree begins.
An endearing aspect of Evil Ed is its performances. The actors wholly embrace the caricatured tone of the film and play their one-dimensional characters spot-on. Ed is overly civilized and particular, speaking plainly and politely. His new boss, Sam (Olof Rhodin) is his foil; crude, cunning, and selfish. Supporting cast members follow suit by either being a stereotypical horror fan or an antsy young professional in a workplace setting.
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The story sprawls over several different sets, including an abandoned hospital and a subterranean tunnel. It does bear trademarks of a low-budget ’90s film, like garish blue gel lighting used to simulate nighttime scenes, but the effect lends itself to the nightmarish quality of Ed’s surreal experience. Many interior shots have subtle swirls of fog in them, further enhancing the fantastical ambiance.
There’s a wide variety of the aforementioned demons that make appearances throughout Evil Ed. Some are horned beasts resembling Satan (think Tim Curry in Legend), while others are like demented cartoons and puppets from hell. The special effect makeup is pause-worthy and has its own bizarre trademarks, like wide, awful grins and neon eyes. Co-writer and makeup artist Göran Lundström, who also starred as the Bondage Face demon, would later go to work on True Detective, House of Gucci, and The Batman. Supernatural entities aside, Evil Ed’s human fatalities are not for the squeamish. The opening scene is over the top and shocking, giving viewers exactly what they signed up for within seconds. The amount of swearing, blood, and deadpan deliveries in Evil Ed is ridiculous, but that’s sort of the point.
‘Evil Ed’ Defends the Horror Genre By Leaning Into It
Horror was never the favorite child at the dinner table, but things got heavier when the misguided “Satanic Panic” movement occurred in the late 1980s. Attacks on violent media, like The Television Violence Act of 1990, were more prevalent than ever, but horror filmmakers pressed on. Many films welcomed the new decade with a bolder outlook and this one was no exception. Whether it was its main mission or not, Evil Ed addressed the very real worries of society, and gleefully painted an exacerbated portrait of their worst fears coming to life.
The project that Ed works on in his new department is the faux horror franchise, “Loose Limbs.” They use this film-within-a-film to check every box of “what’s wrong with horror movies.” Explicit sexuality, violence against women, bodily dismemberment, and more are all drudged up and poked fun at. This parodied presentation of horror filmmakers and fans presents them as mindless, apathetic, and heartless. Ed represents the innocents, for it’s his quiet nature that makes him so susceptible to the “corruption” of horror. Despite its appearance, Evil Ed is a fun, lighthearted response to incessant ridicule and fearmongering. With this playful attitude comes adoration for the genre. The filmmaker’s passion for horror oozes from every faucet of the film, from the plot and set design, down to the characters’ names. (Take a wild guess how character Sam Campbell got his name.) It’s hard to miss the horror posters pinned all around the film studio, and several swooping, frenzied shots are reminiscent of the Evil Dead franchise.
Evil Ed may not be the first slasher that comes to mind, but that’s okay. It’s an accidental champion of sorts, a film that defends your favorite scary movie’s right to exist. It’s a gaudy and gruesome affair, but gore fans will love its self-awareness and respect its cinematic middle finger to all the horror haters.
