EVIL LAUGH (1986)

3 stars

88 Films. Blu ray. 10th November

88 Films continue to exhume little known movies for their Slasher Classics Collection – though this is no classic and should perhaps have stayed on the shelf.

An opening screen explains that some of the scenes of gore were derived from a lower grade source with a drop in quality. Though as this was shot on 16mm in 4×3 ratio I can’t say it was that noticeable.

A bunch of medical students rock up to a remote house in LA for the weekend, that their friend is hoping to do up and reopen as a children’s foster home, as it was before – what they don’t know about until later is the dark history of the place. Some years back a young man called Martin was hired to help out with the kids and was accused of molesting some of them. Later it was admitted this was made up – but the young man returned and cut the throats of all the children whilst they were sleeping and apparently killed himself (though his body was never found). Ooh scary!

As they arrive and settle in, they are surprised that their friend is nowhere to be seen – in the opening scene we have seen him having his heart cut out by a cackling killer wearing blue rubber gloves.

Of course, before long they are being picked off one by one.

Late to the game in the slasher stakes, this came at the tail end of what might be termed the boom in such outings. This wasdirected by Dominick Brascia and co written by him and Steven Baio (Scott’s lesser known sibling, who also stars in the film). One of the mostly annoying characters Barney (Jerold Pearson), is a big horror fan – in a meta moment, he is reading Fangoria magazine, which has FRIDAY THE 13TH, A NEW BEGINNING on the cover – which Brascia starred in. Kim McKamy, who plays Connie, later changed her name to Ashlyn Gere and appeared in adult movies – despite this, she has a body double for her nude scenes.

This at times almost feels like a parody of the sub-genre. There is zero tension, variable acting, so so gore and a crap mask on the killer. And to cap it off the ending is stupid.

Steve Kirkham

EXTRAS

Audio Commentary with The Hysteria Continues – The Slasher Loving Podcast

“The Joy of Laughter: Making Evil Laugh” (78 mins) – a feature-length documentary with lots of talking heads.

Reversible sleeve plus the initial pressings will have an O Ring featuring the original poster artwork and a booklet with writing by Calum Waddell.