The Evil could easily be seen as a front runner to eighties classics such as The Evil Dead and Night of the Demons. I don't doubt the possibility that this film had some sort of influence on the aforementioned titles, probably some others too; but in it's own right, it's not all that special. The plot is something of a mixture between the popular demonic horror theme, and the even more popular haunted house theme as we follow a group of people trapped inside an old house that happens to have something to do with an old Indian burial ground. The film was obviously shot on a low budget, and it's nowhere near as grisly as its eighties counterparts - so The Evil is unlikely to give you any nightmares. The plot follows psychologist C.J. Arnold. He buys an old mansion at a low price and decides to ask some of his college pupils to help him fix things up. Everything's going fine until somebody is stupid enough to remove an old cross from a basement door - and then all hell breaks loose! It would seem that the devil wants everyone inside dead, and so begins a night of terror as the occupants try to escape.
'Evil' is a very general term, so any film dealing with it as an entity needs an original way of handling things. This film does it in a similar fashion to how The Evil Dead went on to do, as the evil is explored through certain characters going mad and others being chased by a disjointed camera angle. The film does feature a number of set pieces that show the effect of 'evil', and these vary in quality although in the main body of the film is really terrible. The film features things such as a man sawing through his own hand, a ghost taking possession of a woman and a man being dragged into the ground quicksand style after escaping from the house. The acting is all pretty terrible, and the copy I saw was of rather poor quality; so my overall impression of the film's production values isn't exactly good. The Evil isn't exactly a famous film, but one sequence that does have a fair amount of people talking about comes at the end. Victor Buono gets to appear as the Devil in one of the most of the oddest satanic scenes I think I've ever seen. Quite why the producers decided to film the Dark Lord in this way is anyone's guess - but I can't say too many bad things about it because it is at least memorable! Overall, I wouldn't exactly call this film a must see; but its decent enough and you could do a lot worse!
'Evil' is a very general term, so any film dealing with it as an entity needs an original way of handling things. This film does it in a similar fashion to how The Evil Dead went on to do, as the evil is explored through certain characters going mad and others being chased by a disjointed camera angle. The film does feature a number of set pieces that show the effect of 'evil', and these vary in quality although in the main body of the film is really terrible. The film features things such as a man sawing through his own hand, a ghost taking possession of a woman and a man being dragged into the ground quicksand style after escaping from the house. The acting is all pretty terrible, and the copy I saw was of rather poor quality; so my overall impression of the film's production values isn't exactly good. The Evil isn't exactly a famous film, but one sequence that does have a fair amount of people talking about comes at the end. Victor Buono gets to appear as the Devil in one of the most of the oddest satanic scenes I think I've ever seen. Quite why the producers decided to film the Dark Lord in this way is anyone's guess - but I can't say too many bad things about it because it is at least memorable! Overall, I wouldn't exactly call this film a must see; but its decent enough and you could do a lot worse!