The Evil

This 1978 haunted house flick, released by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, spooked me quite a bit as a kid. And upon a recent revisit, I still found it to be a fun, nostalgic good time, but obviously for different reasons. It may be tame and kind of silly by today’s standards, but as 70s B-movie horror entertainment, it’s delightfully effective. The film opens with drunk caretaker Sam (Ed Bakey) grumbling about having to clean up the large old house he now enters. He hears children laughing once inside and follows the sounds into the basement to the cold, dead furnace…which promptly blazes to life and sets him on fire. Creepy old house now has our attention! We soon find the large old house is being renovated by psychologist, C.J. Arnold (Richard Crenna) as a clinic, along with his doctor wife Caroline (Joanna Pettet). They are getting help from volunteers and friends who are going to work and live there over the summer till it is ready to open. Despite some spooky occurrences during the walk-through and local tales that the house and grounds are haunted, they move in anyway and begin work. And as soon as they do, the weirdness begins such as apparitions, strange noises, moving objects and a seemingly friendly pet dog who turns vicious. As a man of science, C.J. refuses to believe there is anything supernatural going on, even when his wife finds a diary that warns of an ancient doorway to evil within the house, that has been sealed and must never be opened. So, of course, when C.J. finds a stone door in the cellar floor sealed by a cross…he removes the cross and opens it. To say all hell breaks loose is far more appropriate than you think, as now the house is sealed by some horrible force and the trapped guests are being tormented and murdered one by one in gruesome ways. Will they find a way to escape with their lives?…and their souls?Written and directed by Gus Trikonis (Moonshine County Express), The Evil has everything you could want from a 70s B-Movie haunted house flick. There’s cheesy apparitions with dire warnings, levitations, diabolical echoing laughter, an endless thunderstorm, possessions, horrible deaths and even a showdown with Old Scratch (Victor Buono) himself. What more could you want to go along with a six pack of your favorite poison on a Saturday night? Trikonis’ style is pretty straightforward and he takes his material seriously, but he is definitely having fun with his supernatural story, as it’s elements are presented with just the right touch of theatricality and flair. The cheesy dialog and simple FX work all the better because, it is presented sincerely and not made a joke of. It’s not the intense, visceral horror of today’s standards…though there are some violent moments that are still effective…but the film has it’s devious heart in the right place and I appreciate the daring of having our atheist hero actually come face to face with the Prince Of Darkness himself for a James Bond-ish hero vs. villain Tête-à-Tête at the film’s climax. It works better then you think, especially due to some witty dialog and Buono’s malice drenched performance that goes just over-the-top enough without becoming camp.The rest of the cast take their parts seriously, too, with Crenna giving us a man of science who is resisting the notion that the supernatural things he’s disbelieved all his life may be far too real. And to survive, he may have to turn to the God, whose existence he has always denied. Pettet gives us a solid heroine in his wife and as she’s a doctor, too, she is strong-willed and a fighter, though far more receptive to what she is experiencing than her husband. The supporting cast, including 70s mainstays Andrew Prine and Cassie Yates, all do well in creating likable people out of characters who all face possible doom in the grasp of an ancient evil right out of a bedtime story. It’s treating the material with respect and playing it straight by cast and crew that makes this film so much fun. If it were played for laughs, then we as the audience would appreciate it much less. Our entertainment comes from the fact that it’s all being presented to us in a serious manner, whether it be the house’s former tenant possessing Caroline right before C.J.’s eyes, or his arguing there must be a scientific explanation for a house filled with diabolical laughter locking you and your friends inside. Sure doc…it’s the humidity.While the extras are bare bones, the disc is worth it if you are a fan of this 70s haunted house cult classic. The picture looks great with just some slight grain and the sound is nicely mixed and suits the supernatural hi-jinx. If you haven't seen this fun horror, check out my review...It all comes down to a really entertaining 70s B-Movie horror that, while it may not be perfect and may not scare like it did back in it’s day, still thoroughly entertains for much different reasons and that, is still entertainment after all. A flick made unintentionally campy by the passage of time, but still not without some very effective moments. A prime example of fun, nostalgic 70s B-Movie horror!

This movie, wow. Where do I begin?The tone of The Evil is...not that of a serious horror movie. It has the budget of a TV movie from this era. The actors are about the same grade: working character actors giving workmanlike performances. It might want to take itself seriously, but there's a lot of unintentional comedy due to the campiness involved.Chances are this wasn't supposed to be a straight horror film at all. Director Gus Trikonis was known for silly comedies, like Take This Job and Shove It. His other work was in TV like Baywatch, and his early work was for schlockmaster, Roger Corman. My hypothesis is Trikonis was doing a riff on supernatural horror from this period, which went heavy on religious themes, like in The Amityville Horror and The Exorcist.From the opening scene, the music doesn't really set a spooky tone. It's more of an Addams Family one. The caretaker, who's the first character you see, is portrayed like he came out of that sitcom or a Scooby Doo cartoon. His death is bloodless but violent. Most of the deaths involve minimal gore - except one scene - which is saying a lot considering there are two incinerations and three electrocutions.Speaking of which, it's hard to connect with the character's deaths in The Evil, because their deaths are so cartoonish. We're talking electrocutions of the zapping noises, sparks flying from the body, actor shaking back and forth variety.Special effects are practical, but OK-to-bad. There's a scene involving quicksand and it looks terrible. The corpse makeup is not too shabby but it's not Tom Savini quality.The house, which is the movie's only set, was likely a historical spot rented for the film. It's an awesome looking mansion, one of the better I've seen used for haunted house films. It has a Haunted at Hill House vibe to it, though the film itself has none of that masterpiece's mood.The plot: there really isn't much of one. Two people buy an old house, the house is reputed to be haunted. Several friends come up to renovate it. The open has already showed you bad stuff is going down, so the movie gets right to it and whittles the cast down to two survivors. Point a, to b, to c, done.Now I have to mention the ending. This is where The Evil goes right off the rails. Victor Buono, whom played King Tut in the Batman TV series, plays the Devil. He does Satan just like he's King Tut setting a trap for Batman and Robin. It's so far off the mark for a horror tone and yet, I couldn't stop watching. It's hilarious.Now for the good stuff: The Evil is, for camp value and retro stylings, awesomely bad. The characters are at least written enough so you know who they are, and care about their fate, which is grisly but again, PG-13. Lead actor, Richard Crenna is credible as the skeptic psychologist. Co-star, Joanna Pettet is decent as his physician wife. It's supremely bad and very fun to watch. It's downright hilarious at times. I don't think Rifftrax has done this one but there's enough continuity errors, questionable logic, plot holes, and overall silly atmosphere where you could do one yourself. It might even be what Gus Trikonis wanted all along?

The special effects in this film are extremely effective and quite good for the time. In fact, the Ghost effects in particular are even good by today's standards. The later scenes of the Emilio Vargas Ghost are especially impressive and very effective. This movie goes to show that newer SFX techniques are not always better. One can only wish Hollywood would begin doing away with CG and embrace these masterful analog SFX methods.FUN FACT: During the second scene where Kaiser attacks Mary, as Mary runs down the hallway, you can clearly hear a Star Wars Tie Fighter as a sound effect. If you pay attention, you’ll hear it again later in the movie.The story is unique for a Haunted House film and the movie takes things to "The root of all evil" which is often overlooked in these movies.The movie features the always entertaining Richard Crenna as Dr. C.J. Arnold, a likable shrink and professor, who seeks help from his many former students and patients to help him clean-up an old Victorian Mansion he purchases. From here on-out things get weird, unexplained, and downright sinister.Lots of disproportionate reactions (typical campy under reactions to what would normally scare the hell out of anyone) to the paranormal events unfolding around the actors. While most of the acting is classic camp (overacting/underacting), Crenna manages to entertain and deliver a solid performance as is typical for him.There are some genuinely scary moments in the film and also some downright funny ones.Victor Buono turns in a devilish performance and is perfectly cast. He doesn’t disappoint.This movie is really quite good even amongst its peers and will certainly entertain.

Warning, this is not UK region!!!! I bought this in the basis that it was being sold on the UK Amazon site and no information was specified about the region. Well after buying it I must warn that it cannot be played in the uk so it should not have been sold on the uk site. Also, the delivery arrived later than was promised. All told a bad customer experience. Not impressed!

Non è un capolavoro, ma è un film dignitoso con una trama ben congegnata (una delle tante storie di case infestate) e una regia che assicura un andamento abbastanza avvincente, complice anche la durata piuttosto breve, circa 77 minuti.Inutile cercare però l'autentico senso di paura e orrore che danno i grandi film, e comunque momenti che vadano al di là della buona routine.

The Evil just came out a short while ago on Bluray which was an excellent transfer for Picture and Sound quality. This being an old movie is about a haunted house is fun to watch but not really scary. Don't expect it to be like the Conjuring films which are the type of films made these days. I do recommend this to add to your collection. Michael

Discreto film del sottogenere "case infestate" nato prima del più riuscito e famoso Amityville.Qualita' audio/video scadente,fastidioso e persistente rumore di sottofondo tipo "interferenza" che rende l'ascolto più che fastidioso,nessun extra.Solo per i collezionisti,per gli altri assolutamente da evitare!!

Il film, che personalmente ho trovato gradevole malgrado alcuni momenti di noia cosmica, tratta di una villa infestata dal maligno(improvvisamente risvegliato dopo l'apertura di una botola in cantina?!?!).Tra gli attori spicca Richard Crenna (il colonnello Trautman della saga di 'Rambo').La qualità è tutto sommato accettabile, mentre l'audio è un pò disturbato, ci troviamo di fronte ad un DVD che altro non è che un riversamento da VHS (in buono stato però)...ho detto tutto.Una nota di merito gliela concedo alla Mosaico Media giaachè ha riesumato un film del quale ignoravo l'esistenza.video: 6--audio: 5