Jay's Reviews: Evil Laugh (Evil Tweets)

I had so much fun tweeting my way through Sorority Row last weekend that I thought I'd try it again with another title that looked to be a fun, campy crap-fest. Coming recommended as such by one of my favorite "Tweeple" and authors (Book review coming, by the way), Brandon Ford, how could I not indulge in moving Evil Laugh to the top of my Netflix queue. 

Now I'm the first to admit that sending out a bunch of train-of-thought tweets throughout the course of watching a movie is not only self-indulgent, but potentially downright abusive to my followers as well. Isn't that one of the joys of Twitter though? Sharing the fun? Enjoy... 

• okay, going to pop in "Evil Laugh" on the recommendation of @brandonford... wondering what this flick'll be like :) 

• so... EVIL LAUGH is very, very 80s. Oddly, for a movie starring 90s porn star Ashlyn Gere, so far only the guys are showing skin. 

• EVIL LAUGH's male lead is a Baio cousin. His character just inadvertently peed on a biker couple. 

• yuppie couple in EVIL LAUGH are wearing matching driver hats, pink dress shirts with sweaters tied over the shoulder. How very POLO of 'em. 

• @sonicchubb I didn't say I was complaining, I said it was odd :) 

• "What the F&%! is Jerry doing in the closet?" I don't think any of the guys in EVIL LAUGH are in the closet... 

• "If you need anything my numbers by the phone, and I mean anything." Except for the stabbings and lack of sex, this is 80s gay porn... 

• so "Tina" in EVIL LAUGH was the "Hollywood Super Madam," who broke Heidi Fleiss into the biz. This gets better and better... 

• THIS movie contains a cleaning/dancing montage set to the WORST 80s pop song I have ever heard... EVER. I mean... there are NO words... 

• The lace-up shorts on "Mark" in this movie are so tight I think they're actually worn UNDER the skin. That's gotta be uncomfortable... 

• Arrgh, they had a reprise of "Party the whole night long," the worst song EVER recorded. It must be what brings the evil... 

• The gay subtext in EVIL LAUGH is cracking me up... methinks the director made this whole film to get "Mark" outta those shorts. 

• aaak - "Sammy" is played by the son of Merv Griffin! He and the Baio cousin make this nepotism central! Love it! 

•  After getting the "Mark" character naked and fondled, he's the butt of a "Rocky Mountain Oysters" joke... wow. 

• speaking of nepotism, "Freddy" is played by Johnny Venokur, one of Scott Baio's crew. *shudder* 

• @sonicchubb this movie isn't a real porn, just an incredible simulation of all those acting parts of one strung together, without any sex... 

• Acting in a "real" movie, Ashlyn Gere is coming off like a soft, girly Brinke Stevens. If you know who that is, we like the same movies :) 

• Why is there a whole scene of the real estate agent jamming out in his car to "The William Tell Overture"? Why? 

• Watch EVIL LAUGH and thrill to the sight of Merv Griffin's son in panties and a dog collar... well, "thrill" isn't right - "look away" is... 

• (I just got two Real Estate followers on here because of that tweet...  or maybe they're "William Tell Overture" fans?) 

• Ashlyn Gere is goin' for the oscar. I've never seen any of the movies she's famous for, does she always have monologues? 

• The actress who was in real life a famous madam saying she's "Saving herself for marriage" is rather... meta-textural? 

• "Mark" just got an axe to the skull and "Tina" just talked herself into getting strangled because she's an idiot... that was quick. 

• Johnny just got his head shoved into a microwave that can somehow run with the door open. Um, mine doesn't do that... 

• ...he coulda squirmed his way outta that, but that'd take more intelligence than he's capable of... 

• Ashlyn Gere's acting her little heart out. Since this was before it was buried under implants, I suppose we should applaud that. 

• THAT's the killer? Well, A) that's just stupid and B) she's not nearly old enough to have that backstory. Maybe she had work done? 

• One thing I've never understood: why take the time to drag away and arrange all the victim's bodies? Maybe it's because I have a bad back... 

• The tacked-on end doesn't make sense- in real life, you play that practical joke you'd get killed- oh wait, she killed him. Never mind... 

• Ahhh, well that's over with. Thanks for indulging a tired man his babble. This is what happens when I stay in (book up my social calendar!)

 So I got a few things wrong. Steven Baio is actually Scott Baio's brother, not cousin. I didn't note the in-jokes or the fact that the director was the fat, obnoxious kid in Friday the 13th: Part V either. I don't think readership suffers for not having that information, though. I hope my affection comes through though. I only bother to rag on the movies I'm actually enjoying, and this one was downright fun.

It's practically essential viewing. The cast of Scott Baio's brother, Merv Griffin's son, the pre-porn Ashlyn Gere, and Jody Gibson who lived a double life as "Babydoll" on ""USA's Up
All Night" and as "Sasha," Hollywood's premier super-madam gives Evil Laugh status as an 80's curio. This film came out at the very tail end of the 80's Slasher Boom, in 1988, and was too little too late. The "tone," fey acting, and frequently topless dudes gives it the flavor of an 80s gay porn, just without the sex. Seriously, it plays like it's going to go into "BoomChickaBoomBow" land at any moment. This film also has a character, Barney, who essentially was lifted, whole-cloth, to be "Randy" in Scream. He uses horror film "rules" as logic to protect himself from getting knocked off by the killer. 


Bravo! Bravo!