Evil Dead trap 2

Title - Evil dead trap 2
Language - Japanese
genre  - horror, slasher

this will have spoilers for the first and second film

Evil dead Trap 2 does not really follow on from the first film reviewed here and can easily be watched with no knowledge of the first film.

The main protagonist is Aki a female projectionist at the local cinema, she is a shy, quiet woman who keeps herself to herself most of the time.  Aki watches the film and the audience from the projection booth and, on the first night of the film she is surprised to see a young boy looking up at her.  After her shift Aki goes out to meet up with an old school friend, Eimi Kageyama who is a reporter for the local t.v. station and who is currently reporting an a series of murders that have occurred recently.  Eimi has invited a friend, Kurahashi to the meal and spends a lot of the time telling Aki that she should spend more time with men and try to get a boyfriend, hinting that Kurahashi may be interested.  She then gets a Phone call and leaves Kurahashi and Aki together.  Kurahashi tries to  it on Aki but she ‘s not interested and leaves which Kurahashi is not happy about.

next scene and we are in a carpark, there is a dead body on the floor and Aki is covered in blood holding a pair of sharp ended cutters of some kind.

The next night at the cinema Aki see’s Eimi and Kurahashi making out in the seats below her, a deliberate ploy by Eimi to make Aki jealous and to try to get together with Kurahashi.  Kurahashi then goes to speak to Aki but she rejects him again.  Kurahashi goes home and we see that he is married, his wife is in a child's bedroom and tells him that ‘Hideki hasn't come home

Aki goes out and spends some time at a restaurant that is a bus. Most of the the other customers are male and two of them follow Eimi out of the restaurant the both go to have sex with her but are scared off by a young boy. There is another murder.  Eimi Sleeps with Kurahashi & then tells him she’s pregnant.

Eimi throws a party but most of the guests leave early and Aki finally sleeps with Kurahashi.  Kurahashi goes home and finds that Hideki has come home, hes a the young boy from the cinema. Eimi is sent to a cult because no one believes her about the boy.  When she comes back she has a row with Eimi who tells her she made Kurahashi sleep with her.  Aki goes to see Kurahashi but he is not around and his house is trashed, she meet up with Aki who then tells her that her child is the one Aki had aborted.  And then things get weird.

So a lot happens in Evil dead trap 2 but the thing is the first hour is slow Each murder gets more gory but they are well spaced out.  The relationship between Aki, Eimi and Kurahashi is built up over time and events build up over time.  The problem is if up look away you could miss something especially if you are relying on subtitles.

After Aki visits kurahashi the film changes, Aki & Eimi have a very bloody fight, dead characters seem to come back to life and they fight again and the whole thing plays out as some kind of a dream jumping around.  The final scene has Aki against the wall of the mall they fought in with a giant doll approaching her but the set up, lighting and way she is sitting is reminiscent of a room in an insane asylum.

There is not much of a connection between this and the first film.  Hideki is the threat but not the killer and he is not the siamese twin of the first film.  Eimi could almost be Nami from the first film.  It is mentioned that she had been bigger in broadcasting and the reference to her having an abortion could almost be a reference the end of the first film but if that is the case I’m not sure why she has a different name.  The film also does not really explain the relationship between the child Hideki and Kurahashi, you get the impression that he was their child that disappeared but if that's the case how can the spirit be Aki’s unborn child.

The first film was about women trying to make their place in the workplace (it’s mentioned once) and this film is about the the after affects (psychological and social) of abortion.

Evil Dead trap 2 is a film that feels long and ends in and lot of blood and strangeness.  If you're expecting a slasher like the first film you may be disappointed but it still has plenty of blood you just need to stick with it.