The Evil - Die Macht des Bösen

"The Evil" is a fun 70's horror movie. Low budget, cool location, some attractive and familiar cast members, the comforting presence of Richard Crenna, a fabulous troll-like Buono cameo...all add up to a demonic good time if you're in the mood for it. And check out those slacks on Andrew Prine--are those Angel's Flight pants you're wearing?? (Anybody remember those disco-era items?)

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.

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 funny ones.

Victor Buono turns in a devilish performance and is perfectly cast.

This movie is really quite good even amongst its peers and will entertain.

A daft, but entertainingly modest low-budget late 70s haunted house variation with horror comic lashings (intentional or not) in what becomes a traditional battle between good vs. evil. Nothing surprises, as no cliché is left untouched, but director Gus Trikonis' able execution is quite well done for what it is. Some creepy or outrageous moments and there's a solid cast led by the ever-reliable Richard Crenna, as he plays a psychologist along with his wife (a doctor) buy an abandon mansion (which does have something of a gloomy past) to hopefully restore to use as a clinic. So some friends and students of his go there to help fix it up, but unknowingly to them a devastating satanic force is unleashed and they find themselves trapped inside trying to survive.

The raw atmospheric make-up emit's a dominating presence, from the grand vast secluded mansion to the eerily placed music score, imaginative camera placement and cue in the cackling evil laughter of the evil entity. It constructs an ominously nightmarish strangle-hold, as it grows claustrophobic but at the same time the whirlwind becomes a random schlock-fest with its climax being the tip of it. It's not as unnerving as it could have been and the ending it feebly done. The story dynamics are old-hat (a stormy night) and it's slow to get going with some plodding opening dialogues, but soon that's made way for impulsively staged deaths / encounters --- consisting of spirit manifestations, possessions, fires, self-mutilation and bodies being thrown about. When these strange occurrences transpire, it's even mentioned for no one to go anywhere on their own, but do they listen… of course not. The dedicated cast also features lively performances by Andrew Prine, Joanna Pettet, Cassie Yates and a memorable sequence with Victor Buono.

I've been watching horror movies for 40 years or more but The Evil has somehow passed me by. That was until now, just watched it on an old VHS tape (this somehow found itself on the British Video Nasties list under Section 3, goodness knows why!). A bunch of people start renovating a large house with a creepy past. One of them, played by the very attractive Joanna Petter, starts to see ghostly apparitions, a warning about an evil force that lurks in the house. They carry on with their work regardless but spooky things start to happen, people start dying (some of these deaths are pretty inventive) and they find themselves trapped inside by an invisible force. All the while a storm rages outside. As haunted house movies go this was pretty good, it held my attention all the way through. The special effects are good and the film does maintain a level of fear. I did feel that the finale was a little weird, but having Victor Buono play the Devil does at least serve as something of a curiosity. One character turns out to be a practical joker, much to his victims' annoyance. We got to see many more of these, turning up in slasher films of the 1980s. Naturally it does look dated - the fashions, the hair, the cars, even the slapping of a woman's face to calm her down. But I enjoyed it and would certainly recommend it as a supernatural horror movie.

I remember seeing this movie as a child, and how it scared me! Well one day I was lucky to find the VHS at a garage sale. Last night I finally put it on to a DVD, where it will never ever wear out.

I think Richard Crenna did a great job in this film. I think the film itself was a bit before its time with some of the special effects. The look cheesy compared to todays standards, but for a movie coming out of the 80's it is remarkable.

I am really surprised at how little information is out there about this movie, It is one of those small classics that got lost, and I am sure glad that I still have it!