Evil Ed is a film that is devoid of humor, except for a line or a bit here and there, and has developed a cult following that is hard to explain. Most films that develop cult followings are good films, but Evil Ed is anything but. The film is a slog to get through and when you do, you ask yourself "why?". "Why did I just sit through this?" Hopefully others will find what I didn't: a good film.
THE FEATURES ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Disc 1: Special ED-ition (1h 38m, HD) Blu-ray
You Keep ‘Em Heads Rollin’ (45m 32s, HD)
This is a shorter version of the making of found on Disc 3.
In Swedish with English subtitles.
Before Ed (9m 47s, HD)
A look at the films that came before Evil Ed. Watching these
films, I can’t help but wonder how these guys could go from making shorts that
look pretty good to a mess of a film like Evil Ed. In Swedish with English
subtitles.
Beyond Ed (10m 13s, HD)
This is a look at the project that the filmmakers did after
Evil Ed. We get a bunch of behind the scene footage of the two films and one
short that they made. In Swedish with English subtitles.
Reconstructing Ed (21m 5s, HD)
A fascinating look at the making of the Special ED-ition. We
are taken from the filmmakers locating the footage to the editing, mixing, and
dubbing of the added footage. This is one of my favorite features on the disc
and, even though, I don’t like the film, I can appreciate the work that went
into it and this different cut of the film. In Swedish with English subtitles
New Scenes (6m 10s, HD)
A closer look at the scenes that were added back into the
Special ED-ition and why they cut in the first place. In Swedish with English
subtitles
Deleted Scenes (21m 6s, HD)
A featurette looking at the scenes that didn’t make either
cut of the film. The scenes are very rough and one can tell why they were cut
in the first place. In Swedish with English subtitles.
Trailers and Teasers
-Special ED-ition Trailer (1m 4s,
HD)
-English Trailer (1m 59s, HD)
-Swedish Trailer (2m 28s, HD) in
Swedish with English subtitles.
-Swedish Teaser (33s, HD) in
Swedish with English subtitles
-Swedish Teaser 2 (31s, HD) in
Swedish with English subtitles
-“Bergman” Teaser (44s, HD) in
Swedish with English subtitles
-“Nutty Professor” Teaser (1m 43s, HD)
Image Gallery (62 Images)
Disc 2: Special ED-ition (1h 38m, SD) DVD
Disc 3: Original Cut (1h 33m, HD) Blu-ray
Lost in Brainland (3h 6m, HD)
If you ever wanted to learn everything about Evil Ed, this
doc is for you. This is an incredibly thorough doc about the making of Evil Ed.
Everything is covered here, from the filmmakers early films to the film’s
reception and everything in between. They even get some internet reviewers to
lend the filmmakers footage of their reviews of the film. This is by far the
best feature on this disc and I can see myself watching this again in the
future.
Bloopers (4m 41s, HD)
Outtakes from the making of. Nothing really to see here
outside of everyone flubbing their “lines”
THE PACKAGING N/A
I was sent a screener copy of this set, so I won’t be able
to review the packaging. However, I can show you some pics of how it will look.
These pics are not my own and were taken from Arrow’s Facebook page:
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| This set is being released in the U.S. as well. |
This is a 3-Disc Edition with 2 Blu-rays and 1 DVD and are all REGION FREE
THE PICTURE ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Evil Ed comes to us with a brand new transfer and it looks
really nice. Colors pop off the screen, especially blue, and everything looks
like how it should be. There is a nice layer of grain and detail is good as
well. The film definitely has that 90’s low budget feel to it.
THE SOUND ⭐⭐⭐
The original 2.0 soundtrack is good, but could have been
better. Since everything in the film was dubbed in later, the film has an odd
feeling to it. There needed to be a bit more balance between the spoken words
and the sound effects. At times they seem to be battling it out to see who is
going to get heard. Other times, everything is just fine. I am sure that this
is how the film was mixed in the first place, but I am sure that a balance
could have been achieved.
THE FILM ⭐⭐
Mild-mannered film technician Edward enjoys his job. That is, until he finds himself transferred from his regular post to the “Splatter and Gore department”, where he’s forced to edit hours upon hours of grisly video nasty footage. Traumatized by the onscreen violence, Ed starts to lose his grip on reality – with ghastly (and bloody) consequences…
When I was a teenager, this film was in every video store
that I went to. The cover of the VHS was so striking that I think that the
video stores would get it because they knew that the cover art would get people
to rent it. I didn’t work on me, but I am sure that it worked on others.
You see, I wanted to rent this film, but something was
holding me back. I don’t know what it was but I never rented this. Even when it
came out on dvd and I was in my “I’ll buy damn near anything on DVD” phase, Evil Ed never made it into my
collection. After watching the film for this review I now know what it was.
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| Doesn't this cover make you want to watch it? |
The film looked like a piece of shit… and it was.
Evil Ed is a film
that has good intentions, but never rises above a curiosity. The story told here
is a great set up for a horror film, but the film never gets too much off the
ground. The opening of the film; a man locks himself inside an editing bay at a
local film lab, acting like a nut, and then blowing himself up with a hand
grenade is a really funny way to open the film, but the film never reaches the
heights of the that opening scene.
After Ed goes crazy, the film plays around with some ideas,
like Ed seeing things, but the results are not very funny. The film is just an
hour and thirty-eight minutes of that hazy blue lighting that was all the rage
in the 90’s, jokes that don’t even take off let alone land, and a monster in
the fridge that is never explained. There is so much to work with that one has
to wonder what kind of trash the filmmakers would give us if given a decent
sized budget.
The film has been compared to the early works of Sam Raimi
and Peter Jackson and I can see where this idea comes from. It is very apparent
that the filmmakers of Evil Ed love
both of these directors, they even have some of their posters in the film, but
love only goes so far. The filmmakers throw in so many references to other
films in here that you would think that it was directed by the guys who were
doing those spoof films (Date Movie,
Epic Movie, etc.) in the mid 2000’s. These guys know their influences, but
they do nothing with them. It is not funny just to have someone say “I’m coming
to get you Barbara.”. There has to be some meaning behind it. You just can’t
say the line thinking that people will get it. You have to give them a reason
to think that it is cool.
Evil Ed plays
with references much like The Big Bang
Theory tv show does the same. The
Big Bang Theory is one of the worst shows on tv currently or ever and the
writers think that, just because you have “nerds” on your show, you can make
people think that you know what you are talking about. Having Leonard Nimoy on
your show is the base level of a nerd show. What you do with him tells us how
much you know about nerds. The Big Bang
Theory will have Nimoy save some “witty” lines while the characters’ mouths
hang open because they can’t believe that Spock is standing in front of them.
He will then do the Vulcan hand sign and exit stage left. That’s it. They do
nothing more with the gag and the audience eats it up because they to felt
special.
Evil Ed does the
same thing. It spoon feeds the audience everything that they need to know and
then expect the “funny” bits to carry the rest of the film.
Evil Ed is not
all bad. The film does have a few bright spots here and there. After the man at
the beginning blows himself up, his boss, covered in the man’s blood, points at
the where the man used to be and says “You’re fired!”. That is a funny line,
but it floats in a sea of unfunny and downright boring scenes.
I wanted to like Evil
Ed. The film seemed like it was made for me. I was really excited when I
got this in the mail, but my excitement dwindled as the film went on. While
there are some good things here and there, the film is mostly a bust. The film
could have benefitted from a better script and more gore. I am glad that I
watched the film, but I don’t think that I ever will again.
OVERALL ⭐⭐⭐
Evil Ed is not a
good film. It isn’t even a rainy day film. This is the film that you buy
because someone told you it was good and you regret the purchase and hold it
against the person that told you it was good. While there are some funny lines
and scenes, the overall film is just not very fun. The blu-ray from Arrow is
another story. The A/V quality is very good and the special features are almost
worth the price of admission. I would recommend this only to fans of the film. I
would not blind buy this film.
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