EVIL LAUGH (1986)

A group of 30-something-year-old medical students gather together for a weekend getaway at an abandoned house.  Ten years ago it was the site of a massacre and unknown to this new group of inhabitants the killer is still hanging around and not too happy about these nerds dancing, swimming, having sex and talking about horror movies in a pre-SCREAM way.

EVIL LAUGH is in no way a good film, but if you're in the right frame of mind (and preferably hanging out with like-minded friends) it's rather enjoyable.  For me, I knew EVIL LAUGH was going to be a fun movie right from the beginning when in one of the first scenes some of the leads were on the side of the road fixing a flat when this one guy announces that he has to go "drain the lizard", so instead of simply walking over to some bushes 10 feet away, he goes up to the top of this hill that's like 300 feet away then starts pissing off the top of the hill...onto two fully-dressed people that are just laying there for no reason.  Of course, the guy soon realizes what he's doing and runs away, but the entire series of events makes absolutely no sense.  It was awesome.

Less forgiving audiences will probably dislike EVIL LAUGH, but I think that experienced fans of 80's slashers will get a kick out of it.  Non-threatening looking killer (who can somehow appear in two places at once), ridiculous story, low budget, silly and endearing main characters, good pace, two mild topless scenes, goofy ending and some hilariously memorable kills including a microwave head bursting and a knife to the dick and out the butt!!!

Would make a good double feature with THE NAIL GUN MASSACRE.

I'm guessing this shot was included because the director (Dominick Brascia) was the nerd that was axed in the back in FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING by Suicide.

DEMONS 2 (1986)

Some teenage dorks are having a birthday party in a upscale apartment building when a demon somehow escapes out of a TV and possesses the birthday girl.  She stiffly walks over to the birthday cake to blow out the candles and before you can say "Mephistopheles Testicles 2: Electric Boogaloo" six hundred three score and six times, she turns into a demon and starts attacking everybody.  The other partygoers are soon transformed into demons themselves and go around wreckin' shit all over the building.  Also, for some reason there's a demon dog and a small Gremlin-sized demon.  Both look silly.

As far as movies of this style go, DEMONS 2 was alright.  I actually liked it a little better than the original simply because it took place all over this large building instead of inside a boring movie theater.  That said, I hope it's a long time before I ever have to watch one of these movies again.  Just like in Part 1, the action moves along at a nice pace but there's still something about the film that I didn't like.  I can get over the cheapness of the film, but it's the way the people respond to being attacked by demons that bothers me.  It's hard to explain and not really worth getting into other than once again the main male protagonist looks like a nerd but when the demons attack he turns into John Rambo.

Above average pace, good amount of blood, demon fu, jumping demon fu, shotgun fu, demon dog fu, jumping miniature demon fu, half naked gym members versus demons fu, Asia Argento fu, elevator shaft climbing fu, potted plant throwing fu, rope rappelling fu, demon hooker fu, car jumping for no reason fu.

Worth a watch for horror fans, but it's nothing to get excited about.  The highlight of the film to me was the few seconds where the partygoers were listening to "Panic" by The Smiths.

Part 1 - Demons (1985)