It's great to see all of these forgotten gems of the slasher sub genre popping up on DVD as of late. Of course, as we all know, slasher flicks are really only appreciated by those with the most discriminating of pallets. Eh, who am I kidding, they all suck and we know it. Aside from the few groundbreaking slashers that truly led the way (Black Christmas, Halloween), we all know the rest are complete garbage. Complete garbage that can be a hell of a lot of fun to watch that is! I have many fond memories of the 80's slasher craze and there are a few titles that tend to stick out in my mind. One such title is the '88 opus Evil Laugh. For some reason this flick has stayed in the back of my mind, despite the fact that it came around pretty late in the genre. Still, when I discovered that Evil Laugh had appeared on DVD (in a full blown special edition no less) I just had to check it out. In the long run, I'm sure glad that I did. Oh it's bad alright, but it's so bad that it's just got to be good!

Slashers and plotlines, well they really don't seem to mix well now do they? Take a group of hot and horny teens, throw them in an isolated location (house, cabin, wooded area etc), add to the mix a mysterious/disgruntled murderer, shake, kill some kids, let simmer for about 10 minutes, show some boobs, play some cheesy 80's music, expose the unknown killer, gasp, roll end credits. There ya have it, instant slasher flick. In the case of Evil Laugh, a group of med students are invited by a friend to help renovate an old orphanage with some dirty little skeletons in its closet. All of your favorite stereotypes are represented here; the macho jock, the annoying preppie yuppies, the nervous nerdy guy, the level headed non-threatening all around good guy, the good girl, and the sexy slut. Once our victims, err I mean characters arrive at the house, they embark on one of the wackiest cleaning montages ever committed to film. Sprinkle in a bit of 80's rock music cheese and pour in plenty of ass shaking while polishing, ass shaking while scrubbing and ass shaking while sweeping... it's a done deal! Of course we can't forget that we have to dance, dance, dance the night away as well! The fun dosn't last for long when the kids start to get killed one by one and we run into the familiar slasher territory some of us have grown to know and lovee. Soon after the killer is revealed and the ending of course provides a deliciously ironic twist (or maybe not).

Let's get straight down to business here. If you're not a slasher fan, you won't be a fan of Evil Laugh. End of story. This is not a film that is going to convert you. Now, if you are a fan of slashers and you're a fan of the "bad is best motto" as I am, then Evil Laugh is an essential disc for your collection. Let's discuss its attributes... because yes, believe it or not there are some. For starters, Evil Laugh was an early adopter of the self-referential type treatment that SCREAM made so popular. The nerdy nervous guy is quite often seen reading Fangoria, and warns his fellow man not to have sex as sex will lead to death. He relates their situation to that of F13, Halloween and other previous slashers. These scenes in which he dispels his warnings are handled in a very tongue and cheek way (he appears dead serious as he relays his warnings) that it works. Let's also mention Dominick Brascia, director of Evil Laugh, whom you may remember as the fat annoying guy (sorry Dominick) from Friday the 13th Part 5, the guy who's trying to share his chocolate with everyone (ahhh now you remember!). He was a first time director on Evil Laugh and the flick was shot in one week on 16mm for about 150,000, pretty amazing actually. The film was also produced by and stars Steven Baio, brother to Scott Baio. Considering the meager budget, the two were able to pull together a very entertaining time filler of a film. The flick's got all of the essentials in that there's a bit of nudity and some creative kills including a nifty after the fact slit throat and a nasty head in a microwave bit (I would have liked to have seen more onscreen carnage but the films inescapable budgetary restrictions would ultimately put an end to my dreams). It's silly yes, but it's silly and fun. This film has been extremely hard to obtain since its initial release on home video therefore I would urge all fans of the slasher subgenre to pick up this disc up before they're all gone.

Quality wise, the flick looks pretty good. Since the film was originally shot on 16mm and later blown up to 35 for theatrical screenings what we have here seems to be a direct transfer from the original 16mm film elements. There is really no evidence of print damage except for the occasional spec. Colors are a bit on the drab side and the film suffers from the dreaded soft focus look, but these are all evidence of the filmmaker's inexperience and the original budgetary limitations. There is no artifacting and black levels remain solid throughout. Overall, the film looks just great and will most likely never look any better.

Audio is presented in "ultra stereo" and sounds just fine. Dialogue jumps out of sync a few times and there are a few moments in which there is some slight background noise but overall dialogue is nice and clear.

Extras are where this disc really shines so let's take a look. We'll start off with an onscreen interview with director Brascia and producer/star Baio that runs about 1/2 hour. Next up is a feature length audio commentary with the two as well. They're both very interesting to listen to in the interview and commentary; the only problem is that they take the flick a little too seriously. This is by no means a groundbreaking horror film and it's most certainly not scary, although they seem to think it is... such is life. Other extras include a brief photo gallery and a host of DVD ROM extras that include the script, photos, press info, reviews, clippings, etc.

Bottom line here is that this disc is pretty much essential viewing for slasher fans. Nothing to take too seriously, just sit back and enjoy. The curious may find something to dig as well, it's just a fun flick and a fun disc, what more could you ask for?

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