More than 35 years on, The Evil Dead remains as beloved and influential as ever, ranking alongside Night of the Living Dead, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween and The Blair Witch Project as one of the most endlessly ripped-off horror movies of all time (that list is by no means exhaustive, by the way). Of course, Sam Raimi’s feature debut
ranks not only as a perennial genre classic, but also as one of the key video nasties, so given contemporary indie horror’s fascination with revisiting the VHS era, it seems timely for a low-budget film to emerge with designs on directly recapturing that spirit.
As we can rather easily ascertain from its alternate title The Japanese Evil Dead, writer/director/actor Shinichi Fukazawa’s Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder in Hell is modelled so closely on The Evil Dead that it seems just as much a remake as Fede Alvarez’s 2013 Evil Dead was; indeed, it’s considerably closer to Raimi’s film in tone, content and most notably visual aesthetics. And given that this new DVD from Terracotta (released under their Terror Cotta imprint) boasts artwork from none other than Graham Humphreys, the iconic artist behind the classic Evil Dead VHS cover, Fukazawa’s film is very much being sold on that link. The key question, then, is whether we can regard Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder in Hell as a notable new addition to the horror canon, or essentially a fan film done good.
It’s the latter, by the way, no questions about it. If you’re hoping for the next Japanese splatter classic, I don’t think this is it; but if you’re just after something to put on in the wee small hours for shits and giggles (which, after all, is what Japanese splatter tends to be best for), then Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder in Hell certainly isn’t a bad fit.
While the influence of The Evil Dead can hardly be understated, it isn’t necessarily too apparent from the first act. After an opening scene in which a man is stabbed to death by his jealous lover in the 1970s, we jump forward to the present day, and meet the bodybuilder of the title, Shinji, who looks absolutely identical to the man from the first scene, although we soon learn this is because that man was his father. (I’m assuming this actor is Fukazawa himself, given he’s listed as a cast member, though I can’t find any definitive confirmation of this.) His weight training session is interrupted by a phone call from an ex-girlfriend, an amateur parapsychologist, who requests his help investigating a supposedly haunted house along with an alleged spirit medium. However, the house in question was previously owned by Shinji’s father; more to the point, it’s the place where he was murdered. Naturally there’s some bad juju there, and soon enough the psychic in their company is doing a lot more than talking to the restless spirits of the house; he’s directly possessed by the deranged ex-lover, with a passion to kill. Trapped in the house with this grey-skinned, blood-splattered ghoul, it’s down to Shinji to draw on his inner beast and save the day.
So, just to surmise, it’s three people trapped in a house which goes Evil Dead-shaped. If that sounds like a slightly thin set-up for a feature length film, well, that’s because it is, and indeed it’s a bit of a stretch to really count Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder in Hell as a feature given its running time clocks in at less than 65 minutes. Based on this information you might assume things rattle along at a rollercoaster pace, but in truth the first thirty minutes is really quite a slog, padding things up with set-up and backstory which ultimately proves pretty superfluous. However, once the final half hour kicks in things get considerably more entertaining, as this is when the Evil Dead elements really come to the foreground. On top of an abundance of lo-fi practical gore, the film also boasts endearing stop-motion animation effects hugely reminiscent of those used by Raimi, which will surely bring a smile to the face of anyone who holds the video nasty classic close to their heart.
When all’s said and done, though, I’m not sure any of this is enough to make Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder in Hell really work as a feature film. With the somewhat tedious intro scenes excised and a little fat trimmed here and there, we almost certainly would have had a hugely satisfactory short horror comedy in a similar vein to Fist of Jesus or Brutal Relax; but as a full length movie, it all feels a little thinly spread. But again, as a bit of midnight movie fun it’s hard to fault, and it’s certainly good for a few laughs.
Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder in Hell is out on DVD on 24th April, from Terror Cotta Distribution. I haven’t seen the extras, but reportedly the disc includes a Graham Humphreys ‘step-by-step artwork gallery,’ plus two behind the scenes clips, original Japanese trailers, a photo gallery and a Terror Cotta trailer reel. Pre-orders can be made at this link.