The editor of Loose Limbs has killed himself, so Edward Tor Swenson gets the job. However, the more that he works on the film, the closer he gets to insanity, as a mental patient tells him that he needs to "correct the world." At once a slasher movie and a protest against Swedish censorship, Evil Ed made its way to video store shelves in the U.S. and made quite an impact. Pretty great for a movie that only played four theaters in its home country.

Screenwriter Christer Ohlsson was an editor whose job was cutting the violence from American slasher films for the European market. I would assume that he wasn't working on them for Italy.

The title is obviously a play on Evil Dead, which is funny, because the villain of the third film, Bill Mosely, is the voice in the killer in the Loose Limbs films. They should have made those movies, because there was a scene where a woman is attacked by a beaver and then shot in the head with a bazooka.

Calling this film a decent or enjoyable horror tribute is far too optimistic. Heck, you can't even refer to it as a nice spoof of the genre because it's way below average ( it's funny, but not "haha-funny, you know). But still I'd say to give it a look. If only for the huge amount of trivia elements in it. By the way, all those people who're complaining about this movie here in their comments have only themselves to blame. When you see the DVD-cover of this film, you should already know that it's not going to be on the same level as "The Piano" for example, so don't come complaining afterwards...

Evil Ed could've been something but the totally screwed it up. I suppose the main idea behind this film is criticism towards the growing 'cutting-committee' in horror nowadays. It shows an editor named Edward who's slowly (well,not too slowly) going nuts by seeing all the violence and gore in the movies produced by his company produced. The big boss is named Sam Campbell...Funny, isn't it ? Personally I also expected a character named Bruce Raimi, but to my surprise there wasn't. Anyway, this guy became rich by making movies called "Loose Limbs". They feature ( and I'm not kidding you! ) scenes in which a girl is getting raped by a BEAVER (?) and then gets shot in the head by a bazooka !!! Now, who says horror isn't original anymore ?

With all the gore and the 'loose limbs', it's hard to believe it but it really gets boring very quick. After a decent first 25 minutes, Evil Ed turns into complete boredom and never recovers from that. The only think left to do then ( besides pushing the eject-button, of course ) is look for the obvious amount of references to other, much better horror films. I saw scenes obviously stolen from The Evil Dead, Silence of the Lambs, Braindead and several others.And there's a huge amount of classic horror posters on the walls to admire as well.

Evil Ed finds it origin in Sweden. I'm convinced there's a lot up talent there, far North ( take the Danish "Nattevagten" as an example )...but none of them talents joined the cast or crew of Evil Ed. Only to see if you're in a dumb mood and you don't want to use your brain at all.

Back in the age of video, when VHS was the method of weekend movie viewing, the mom and pop stores competed with major chains by offering some off the beaten track movies. These were mostly made for video features but on occasion there were movies that hadn't fared all that well at the box office but seemed to do major business on tape. Most of these were horror films and in fact a number of directors making major movies today cut their teeth on these films. Those stores were packed with box art that caught the eye and helped to develop a cult following for a number of films. EVIL ED was one such movie.

The plot isn't overly developed. Money hungry film executive Sam Campbell has his hands on series of slasher films called the LOOSE LIMBS series. The problem is overexposure to the films leads to homicidal tendencies. His last editor locked himself up and eventually had to be killed to get his hands back on the print. In an effort to have them toned down enough to pass censorship inspection Sam transfers mild mannered Ed Swenson to his department, Splatter & Gore, to edit the films.

Ed is sent to a home Sam has set up just for this project with the first film in hand. The more Ed watches the weirder things get. He begins hallucinating, seeing a tiny demon running around the house. With each successive film Ed watches his darker side emerges, a violent psychopathic side that comes out when people stop by and interrupt his project. The question is will he edit the film as instructed? Will it eventually drive him completely mad? And will his homicidal tendencies erupt on an unsuspecting town, including his wife and daughter? While it sounds simple, and in a way it is, the film puts on display all of those things that helped it develop the cult following that it has. The box art may have garnered the interest of gore hounds but not all movies with great cover art delivered. EVIL ED delivers on all levels. The story holds your interest and the gore level is about a 9 on a 10 scale, something gore hounds reveled in at the time and still do.

Here's the kicker. The movie may have been released on VHS but it happened about the time that video stores were beginning to die out. This may be part of the reason that fans were scouring to find it for such a long time, rarity. Made in Sweden while there was still a censorship board at the time it was intended to make fun of that board. The film makers were ridiculed by the board at the time. It seems they've had the last laugh as the film has now been given a superb treatment by Arrow Video and found its way to blu-ray.

The release of this film by Arrow was greeted with glee by the horror community. Message boards and Facebook posts were agog that they now had a chance to own this film in the best way possible. Honestly Arrow Video has provided this film with so many goodies and in such great shape that it makes you wonder why major studios don't offer as good a product on mainstream titles as they do on theirs.

First off there are two versions of the film included here. Then we get to the extras. Wow. Included is a reversible sleeve with newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys, a collector's booklet with writing by film critic James Oliver, the world premiere of the newly-extended version of the feature, the "Keep Em Heads Rolling" making of documentary, a featurette on the creation of the Special Edition cut, deleted scenes, bloopers, teasers and trailers, a still gallery and "Lost in Brainland" a never before seen extended 3 hour version of the making of documentary. Yes, a 3 hour making of which means it's nearly twice as long as the movie itself! Let's face it, this is not Oscar material here folks. It is plain and simple a gore filled horror film for fans of both horror and gore. It is a tribute to the movies that came from the eighties and lined the shelves of video stores everywhere. It is a poke in the eye at censors both in content and commentary in the story. For fans it will be something to sit with friends and have a good laugh over. For non-fans it will be a horror film that will test their limits. And, as always, it is more proof that Arrow Video is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to releasing films not quite mainstream but with the effort put behind it as if it were CITIZEN KANE. Kudos once more to them and their quest to be a favorite with fans.