10 Outrageous Asian Splatter Films You Need To See

Evil Dead Trap’s minimal plot is sketched in during the opening scenes, when the arrival of what purports to be a snuff film prompts a ratings-hungry TV presenter and her crew to journey out to the deserted army base shown on the tape.

As with Dario Argento (or, for that matter, Lucio Fulci and Mario Bava), you don’t admire the proceedings for their logic and originality but for the succession of startling setpieces set to a memorable score and, sure enough, when director Toshiharu Ikeda begins despatching his one-dimensional cyphers one by one, his movie shifts into high gear.

The first to be toe-tagged (somewhat predictably) is the lascivious production assistant who’s skewered by spikes that inexplicably burst through the walls and floor, a sequence sure to captivate fans of Argento’s Suspiria. All that’s missing are the black gloves.