Evil Ed

Dir: Anders Jacobsson

1995

**

1995's Evil Ed is something of a cult classic. It's not that great a film however, but then some of the worst films can also be the most important. Evil Ed is a student project that took five years to complete and it absolutely looks like it. However, it is also a cutting satire directed towards the harsh censoring that the Swedish Statens biografbyrå (Cinemabureau of the state) ran from 1911 until 1996. The bureau was dismissed in 2011, being the oldest film censoring organization in the world. Anders Jacobsson and his crew were publicly ridiculed by the head of the Swedish Film Institute on national television, which made them heroes of independent film. The fact that their film came out just one year before the Cinemabureau's decommission is seen as something of a victory and it is definitely something to remember and celebrate. It is shame then then that it's not very good. I like the idea though - the opening scene showing a horror editor of a production company going slowly mad and biting down on a hand grenade after editing far too many horror films, specifically the fictional Loose Limbs series. When the soulless head of company find himself of an editor quick, he borrows Ed, a gentle man who edits the studios more family friendly released. Playing on the idea that watching too many horror films will turn you into a murderous psychotic villain, Ed soon turns into a murderous psychotic villain. The first half of the film is, rather ironically, a badly edited mix of horror scenes that are from the fictional Loose Limbs films. It is clear these were made years apart from each other, one is a splatter tribute, one is a 'creature' tribute and one is a slasher tribute. Ed himself then snaps and the film touches on slasher, splatter, haunted house (or asylum/hospital in this case) and vampirism - or at least I think that is what it is supposed to be. There are also a clear Evil Dead reference (one of many) with the addition of a classic Raimi deadite. It is quite clearly a tribute film but the fact that every wall visible has an Evil Dead poster on it is a little heavy handed and it almost makes it look more amateur than it already does. I have no issues with independent horror films, in fact I love them, but the script has to be right, it's the one thing money can't buy, so there really isn't an excuse. The effects aren't too bad either, a lot ended up on the editing room floor but was returned quite nicely in the special edition. It was originally recorded without sound as they always intended on dubbing the dialogue, and while the voice over work isn't great, the sound effects are wonderfully old school and very effective. I'm not sure it really deserves its cult status, credit to what it achieved but as a standalone horror film it's not as exciting as it is original.