Rating: 
Summary: Only after about 12 bottlles of sake will this make sense!
Review: This movie is nothing that hasn't been done before. It seems as though Ikeda watched a bunch of American and Italian films and decided to recreate his favorite scenes. He does nothing more than show us what we've all seen before with a bit of a Japanese twist to it all. Inside this film you will find The Fisherman from I Know What You Did..., killings straight out of Friday the 13th, Argento's music, Fulci's ocular fixations, and a completely over the top ending reminescent of the hallucinogenic Italian film Spider Labyrinth. Despite the other reviewer's assertions that this is similar to Evil Dead, I found no touches of Raimi in this film. It is never funny or slapstick like Ash and the zombies. There are no flying eyeballs or waggling hands in Evil Dead Trap. Eyeballs and hands are strictly poked and severed.
It is very graphic and scary at times. However, the suspense is totally in vain because the ending is lame. The protagonist starts off very scary and quite like an Argento character (we see black leather boots instead of black leather gloves), but by the end is reduced to a silly inexpensive haunted house beast. It's too bad Ikeda cheaped out like this. If he had left out the "supernatural" element, this truly would have been frightening. If you love Italian horror as I do, you should check this out. If you are looking for something original, stay away. I do recommend stocking up on a boat load of Kirin before you watch this. If you are not half in the bag you just may want to throw something at you tv in the final minutes.
Rating: 
Summary: THE Japanese horror movie to own.
Review: Toshiharu Ikeda crossbreeds Daro Argento, Sam Raimi and Lucio Fulci for this gruesomely fascinating tour-de-force. Late-night TV show host gets a snuff film in the mail (which we see -- and be warned, it's appallingly realistic!), which she traces to an abandoned Army base. Horrific showdown with the forces of evil ensue, and the movie's final third is as much psychological horror as it is physical (or even metaphysical). Definitely not for weak stomachs. 16x9 remastered Synapse Video edition is a vast improvement over the rather soft-looking Dutch DVD that has been in circulation recently. Ikeda's "Dead Trap 2" and "Dead Trap 3" follow totally different directions; "2" owes more to the mystery-surrealism of David Lynch while "3" is more of a graphic Hitchcock style of story. All are worth owning.
Rating: 
Summary: Confusing yet entertaining
Review: Toshiharu Ikeda's "Evil Dead Trap," a.k.a. "Shiryo no Wana," quickly became one of Japan's highest grossing horror films. The film was so successful, if essentially unoriginal, that it spawned at least two sequels. I have seen a few Asian horror films in my time, perhaps not as many as other fans of the genre, but enough to enter into the whole thing with a few immutable conceptions about the genre. "Evil Dead Trap" nicely fulfills all of them. First, you just know the gore will achieve nausea inducing levels, and this movie definitely accomplishes that quite nicely. Second, you know that there is usually some "message" buried under the heaps of blood and guts, and there definitely is such a lesson in this movie. Third, something weird and unsuspected will almost certainly occur in the course of the film, and the conclusion of "Evil Dead Trap" definitely falls within the parameters of weirdness. So I expressed little surprise over the contents of Ikeda's film as the final credits rolled. The only thing that took me back was the 1980's type clothing worn by the main characters, especially the women. It's sort of funny in a way, but it makes the film look dated.Made in the 1980s on an obviously shoestring budget, "Evil Dead Trap" tells the story of Nami, a television personality whose show airs videotapes sent in by its viewers. The voyeuristically inclined show, like all media, looks for tapes with that certain something that will boost ratings by thrilling the audience. When a strange tape showing a particularly brutal murder taking place in an abandoned military installation arrives at the station, Nami's curiosity gets the better of her. Assembling an investigative team, the "journalist" and her compatriots retrace the route shown on the videotape in the hope of getting to the bottom of the mystery. They do indeed find the location shown on the tape, a creepy, desolate series of buildings that could hide any number of gruesome horrors. Predictably, and in the fine American tradition of horror films, the crewmembers split up to investigate their surroundings. Within a matter of minutes, we learn some guy roams the grounds of the base gussied up in leather boots and a rain slicker. You just know our fearless team of journalists is in for a ripping good time, a fact proven by the increasingly gory killings that take place in the first half of the film. Through a series of ingenious traps and slash and stalk murders, the crew falls prey to punctured eyeballs, machetes slicing through heads, and a nifty pin cushion effect that would probably work really nicely as a new ride at a theme park. Nami, predictably, survives while those around her fall to pieces. The poor girl is in a world gone horribly wrong as she wanders through the byzantine network of tunnels and hallways of the military base. Matters take a turn for the worse--or perhaps the better--when Nami meets a seemingly normal stranger from time to time also roaming through the sprawling complex. The guy appears to fear for Nami's safety, constantly telling her to get out of the area because his brother is a dangerous person who poses a threat to her safety. Nami learns exactly what her predicament is when she meets the "brother" of this man in a conclusion sure to confuse. Amidst mysterious explosions of sparks and light (where did those come from, anyway?) and lots of gluey gore, Nami uncovers the mystery she and her companions so desperately sought. We also learn why the brothers chose to send the videotape to Nami and why they wanted her to come see them. What started out as an effective slasher flick turned into, by the conclusion, an enigmatic supernatural film that made little sense. Oh well, I have seen better films take much worse turns than this one did. I think the value of "Evil Dead Trap" comes not from its by the numbers slasher elements or the strange conclusion, but from director Ikeda's camera techniques and the use of very convincing gore. The killings all look realistic and nasty in their implications. It seems, although I have little proof, that Ikeda borrowed elements from such masters of the grotesque like Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento to construct his own brand of onscreen violence. And why not? If you want to make a gore film, you should consult those farmers who have plowed the field before you. Even more interesting than the gore is the director's intriguing camera work. I had to recheck the date of "Evil Dead Trap" because many of the techniques seen here are standard fare today: the use of quick cutting, hyperzooming, and negative photography all look as though Ikeda lifted his style from the late 1990s or early 2000s. This may be the earliest use of such cinematography I have seen. If it is not the first, it is one of the earliest. This aspect of "Evil Dead Trap" makes for a captivating viewing experience even as the plot disappoints. Synapse Films brought us the DVD version of "Evil Dead Trap," which is not surprising considering the offbeat movies this company releases. This release has a commentary from the director, some trailers, and a widescreen presentation. The picture quality is a bit of a mixed bag, as I thought some of the scenes looked slightly soft and a tad grainy. On the other hand, scenes shot in semi-darkness looked good. You can clearly see all of the gore scenes, which is the most important thing for this type of film. If you enjoy ghastly Asian cinema, add this one to your list.
Rating:
Summary: Inteligent Horror and Graphic Gore
Review: Warning their are scenes of intense violence contained within in this movie. However if you can stomach the gore this movie has a lot more to offer than you're standard hack and slash effort. There is a wonderfully intense atmosphere pervading the whole movie. The deaths are immaginative and are handled extremely well. The influnces although obvious (Argento, Ramai and a brilliant tribute to Fulci), Japanese director Toshiharu Ikeda adds his own twist to the procedings. If you are fed up of limp offerings that fail to deliver the goods then check this excellent film out.
Rating: 
Summary: Me ...no wana see this Evil Dead [Trap!]
Review: What can you say about the cultural awareness of the horror genre in Japan when you consider the most successful horror film made in that country to date is "Shiryo No Wana," otherwise known as "Evil Dead Trap," a low-budget attempt at scares that rips off the most respected works of modern horror on an international scale? I would say it's about time to expose oriental audiences to the very films this amateurish tripe is derived from and see how long that title holds. "Evil Dead Trap" is probably the most derivative work of cinema ever produced in ANY country. Even the theme music is so closely derived from the works of Goblin that I can't believe they haven't tried to sue. It mimics the music from Dario Argento's "Deep Red" and "Suspiria" so close as to make the comparison laughably obvious. It even has maggots dripping onto a girl's hair (as in Argento's "Suspiria") and a scene where several long blades bust through a wall and skewer one victim, an idea that could have easily been culled from any of Argento's scripts. Given the title of this nonsense, I sense some are wondering if it rips off Sam Raimi as well. Yes it does! Raimi's shakycam style and off-kilter camera angles are prevalent throughout, as is his "sitting ducks" idea (confining the victims to a limited area.) Ripping off the title of Raimi's most notorious work may have been a good marketing decision, but it can't obscure the fact that one viewing will convince anyone that any further comparisons would yield ludicrous results. And as for the plot, you have to wonder why a camera team and a news reporter would venture to a location where people are mysteriously murdered on tape and do so little to escape once they find the trouble they were looking for. Eddie Murphy once criticized white people for not having the sense to leave a haunted house. Apparently, some Japanese have the same problem. I could name a slew of other horror works this celluloid bowel movement rips off (such as "The Johnsons" and the "Guinea Pig" series,) but the point is that "Evil Dead Trap" has lousy acting, gratuitous sex, is cheap and poorly scripted, and has too many false scares. The violence is obligatory enough to bore any gore hound to the point where they're ready to settle for reruns of the Brady Bunch. And just in case you've been eyeing the recently released DVD with curiosity, you can't say you haven't been warned.
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