This overall poor and redundant 80's slasher is more or less 'famous' for one killing-sequence in particular, in which some guy's head is turned into bloody hodgepodge because the masked killer places him in a microwave oven and hits the start-button. Is that even possible? Perhaps it was an older and unsafe oven model, because the one in my kitchen refuses to function as long as the door isn't closed. The head melting itself is delightfully cheesy and gross, as are most killing scenes in this ludicrous guilty pleasure of mine. Naturally, everything else about "Evil Laugh" varies from bad to downright terrible, including awful acting performances, lousy dialogs and a total lack of suspense. You know how the background myths to introduce a story's murderer are usually a lot more petrifying than the actual slasher itself? For example, finding out how and why Jason Vorhees (of "Friday the 13th"-fame) drowned in Crystal Lake is more fascinating than enduring his quest for vengeance during the next ten sequels, and also Freddy Krueger's ("Nightmare on Elm Street") acts of child-abuse and murder were a lot sicker before he got toasted by the furious parents of Elm Street. "Evil Laugh" is another prime example to state the background theory. The killer's myth is horrific, but the slasher itself is horrible. A group of medical students who certainly don't look like medical students plan to reopen an abandoned orphanage after it closed down over ten years ago, following a sinister series of murders. One of the caretakers, named Martin, got falsely accused of molesting the orphans and the scandal drove his father to commit suicide. When Martin was found innocent after all, he returned to the orphanage one night and slit the throats of all the children. See, now that promise would result in a gripping horror film with nail-biting tension and shocking murders! Instead, the newly arrived teenagers face a ridiculously masked serial killer who may or may not be Michael who returned from the grave, or someone entirely different. Just in case it is Michael, the title makes no sense, because why would he laugh with his tragic past? And as long as we're stumbling over details, the killer's laugh isn't really evil, but more like an infantile chuckle. For undemanding fans of lurid 80's nudity and bloodshed exclusively.
Review of Evil Laugh
