Benutzerrezensionen

I saw this little bootlegged DVD at the local mom and pop discount store for $1.99 and was attracted by the title. It was released under the title "Eternal Evil" and the distribution company that released this feature isn't even on the box, if that means anything (the back of the DVD only reads, "(c) 2005 Mircale Pictures a division of PMC Corp. De.") I read the synopsis and thought it would be rather interesting ... then i read the credits and find that this film was directed by none other than George Mihalka - - the director behind the cult fave & horror classic "My Bloody Valentine" (which is in my top five of all time, by the way). Well, the premise is great, but it doesn't quite deliver the way it should. There are loops in the plot and the story tends to d-r-a-g in places. Not to mention the forty minutes in the film where I was completely lost as to where the story was going. There are scenes that don't make sense and don't cohere with the story line, also. The final "twist" of the film was satisfying, if I can use the term loosely. I guessed it wrong though, even during the exact moment in the film where you can pretty much tell how it will end...lol. The opening sequence is very effective, and it's one of the few highlights of the film itself. I read somewhere that this was a made-for-TV movie, which would explain the lack of gore and the absence of any type of foul language for a film of this nature. Oh yes, the soundtrack wasn't all that great for the film, but there are one or two scenes where the music shifts in the direction that masters Goblin did with "Suspiria" back in '77 to get your attention. I was sorry that didn't last any longer than it did.

All in all, this isn't a bad film, but it's not as great as I was hoping from the director of a great classic like MBV.

A television commercial director is loosing his 'artistic juice' as he calls it. He's also discontent with his wife and complains of her cooking, and with his son who seems to have insomnia. Seems a good prospect for giving his life over to Astral Projection! The main character's been experimenting as of late with astral projection and is finding the time he spends developing this new hobby of his is starting to be much more fulfilling than his actual creative life and career.

Within the first few minutes of the film we see the first of one of his projections. We fly around with him from his perspective and view people and places. There is a sense of foreboding to these travels we witness as we begin to think that he may be able to transcend the physical as he follows people who run, terrified, from something unseen but they can sense.

And then there are some slight horrific moments. Where some of the people in his projections are harmed, well, let's just say there is a subplot of sorts where an investigator is trying to find the reason behind many killings of late where the victims implode or die without any evidence of assailants. When he awakes...he wonders if he was dreaming instead. Or perhaps the projection is not his? As I'm watching the film, though, I am trying to figure out just what I'm supposed to be thinking about. Some films are for simple enjoyment, some have something to say, but this one is just kinda...bland. Ah, then I look and notice it was a made for TV movie, which explains a lot. As the film winds down I still don't know anything more about the subject of astral projection apart from Professor Xavier doing it in comic books and everyone can see a ghost-like form of him, or it being something usually associated as 'hippie' or new age and something about meditating and traveling and all that. Here there is something about taking over another's body in a sort of spiritual vampirism. Is THAT what projection is? Not sure, I don't think it is, but they're trying to sell this as a horror movie and there really is not much horror related in it...more thriller or psychological mystery.

The music is a bit distracting and seems out of place in mood quite a lot. I guess the pan flute and tabla is of course what comes to mind with new age things such as astral projection, huh? It's a little pandering. The acting isn't bad, it's just a bit soap opera quality in it's delivery. Karen Black is here and she always seems to get into her roles, as the spiritual guide who's teaching our main character the art of projection. Yet, in her teachings, nothing is conveyed to us the viewer to have any idea of what exactly it is except closing ones eyes and floating around POV style. The rest of the cast are not as recognizable, except for seeing Lois Maxwell, James Bond's "Ms. Moneypenny" ('62-'85) for a minute.

The title on the DVD I got, which came in a huge 50 pack collection of similar grade films from Mill Creek Entertainment, is "Eternal Evil," but that's the Australian title, for some reason. In Canada, where the film was made, it is aptly titled, "The Blue Man." Ah, yes, you see when the main character is floating around...he IS somehow seen by others as a 'blue man.' We, the lucky viewers, don't get that wonderful opportunity. That would cost more for special effects. But, as the film ends, and with a slight twist in a few spots, you will see that "Eternal Evil" is a bit fitting.

A Canadian production brought to us by the man who previously gave us the '80s slasher favorite "My Bloody Valentine". As a director, George Mihalka is an interesting fellow, especially when you take a look at his choice of projects during the '80s. He really caught my interest some years ago after having seen his offbeat & eerie hostage thriller/drama "Hostile Takeover" aka "Office Party" (1988). "Eternal Evil" - which may not be the best of aka-titles possible to slap on this production, although "The Blue Man" just sounds too silly - is yet again an interested effort not at all lacking a sense of originality. It deals with a burned-out TV-director who, after having met the mysterious dancer Janus (Karen Black), learns to control the powers of astral projection. 'To control' might be a bit overstating things, as events turn for the worse and people from his circle of acquaintances start dying unnatural deaths. A detective starts puzzling the pieces together. Granted, the film has a hard time to keep the viewer excited, as the pace is a little slow and it's not exactly a spectacular thrill ride. But the story does try to provide a bit of mystery, and that's basically what keeps the viewer going. The film's decently made and Mihalka has some impressive camera-tricks up his sleeve (especially during the astral projection sequences). And the story does have some original elements and a satisfying conclusion (don't expect a terrifying climax, though). So it receives a whole extra point for that. If you want to see another horror film revolving around the concept of astral projection, you might want to check out Brian Trenchard-Smith's "Out Of The Body" (1989). It's also half-way decent.

Paul Sharpe (Winston Rekert) believes that he can use astral projection to leave his body while he sleeps. Coincidentally, Paul's friends and relatives start dropping like flies. Somehow, their hearts are exploding in their chest cavities.

Meanwhile, Detective Kauffman (John Novak) tries to make sense of it all. He's led to a strange woman named Janus (Karen Black), who harbors a deadly secret.

ETERNAL EVIL (aka: THE BLUE MAN) holds up well for its vintage, in spite of the silly 1980's fashions. There's some actual suspense and the paranormal instances are effective...

This is a good plot concept, so why-o-why is it such a poor film. The acting is terrible and every shock is signposted so far in advance that it is almost laughable by the time it reaches you. Spend your time and money elsewhere, this is not worth watching.

I never figured out what the attraction of Karen Black was. She always had those beady eyes and kind of an odd look about her. She seemed to often be eccentric or cast as the "other" woman. In this one, she is the psychic adviser and expert on the occult to a crummy producer of bad commercials as he learns astral projection. He is a mean sucker, even without the new baggage. Apparently this is the avenue to immortality, because if you get good at it, you can inhabit the bodies of future generations. I believe Star Trek had a plot like this with Jack the Ripper hanging on for several centuries. Anyway, this guy is really dangerous. He has a nice family and makes them miserable. He begins to murder friends, just because they have an unkind comment for them, or he doesn't like them. You can see the ending coming from the back row in left field. It's a very harsh, humorless movie. Most of it must be taken as truth. Why are some called but few chosen? I found it long and not very satisfying.

"Eternal Evil" is an incredibly strange film. I think I liked it overall, but it was such a strange and uneven experience, I still am a bit at a loss as to what to say about this film. It is obviously a very low-budget film with mostly non-stars (apart from Karen Black), a very cheap and cheesy sound track and some dialog that seemed weird and unreal. There also is an annoying use of skipped frames during key scenes—making the film look almost like it's being done in stop-motion! Yet, on the other hand, the film was awfully original and creepy.

The film begins with a man (Winston Rekert) attempting to do astral projection—to leave his body and travel with his mind! It's pretty weird and his wife and friends think it's pretty weird. But what is weirder is that despite having a great life, he is a bit unsatisfied with it. Additionally, soon folks near and dear to him begin dying—and a dogged cop is determined to investigate (he's a bit annoying and poorly written). For a while, I felt a bit disengaged about the film until there is a strange tie-in. One of the man's films he made some time ago seems to be a key—that there are some spiritual vampires who can change bodies with others—essentially stealing them. However, to do so, the donor must be willing—and to make them willing, these 'beings' make their lives horrible—so horrible they want to die. What happens next in this creepy thriller? See for yourself.

As I mentioned, the film is pretty cheesy in spots—especially the soundtrack. But, the idea is so original that I cannot help but think the film is worth seeing.

"A bored television director is introduced to the black arts and astral projection by his girlfriend. Learning the ability to separate his spirit from his body, the man finds a renewed interest in his life and a sense of wellbeing. Unfortunately, the man discovers while he is sleeping, his spirit leaves his body and his uncontrolled body roams the streets in a murderous rampage," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

The synopsis isn't entirely correct, as it turns out.

Anyway, the movie opens with a dizzying "out-of-body" example of handsome director Winston Rekert (as Paul Sharpe)'s newly discovered "astral body" experience; it also foreshadows an upcoming dogfight. Young Andrew Bednarski (as Matthew Sharpe), being a kid, draws pictures of "The Blue Man", as his murder spree begins. Handsome detective John Novak (as Stewart Kaufman) discovers the victims are connected to Mr. Rekert. Mr. Novak's investigation leads to the supernatural; a prime example of which is Karen Black (as Janus), with whom Rekert fears he is falling in love.

Several in the cast perform well; but, "The Blue Man" winds up tying itself up in a knot. Aka "Eternal Evil", its unsatisfying story tries to be far too clever for its own good.

My god! The Horror! Don't have the guts to see this twice.

Where to begin....

Now it begins with a man (Paul Sharpe played by Vincent Rekert) having an astral projection (a.k.a. an out of body experience like a disembodied soul). He is hovering over the farm of his father in law.

He is woken up by his young son just as he was being observed and recognized by his father in law.

Paul is a director, directing commercials. Previously he directed a documentary film about Australian Aboriginal long distance communication by astral projection. He interviews an elderly couple who have been using this process to find younger bodies for themselves as they grow old and wear out their existing bodies. The explain this process to the man in detail. They say that they have lived for thousands of years hence the alternate title of the film Eternal Evil.

What Paul doesn't realize is the elderly couple's secret agenda.

Very good plot. Very well acted and directed. This film wisely avoids over the top special effects.

In short: an eye-opening film. You will never look at people the same way again.

10 out of 10. You're lucky if you own it on DVD.

Other recommendations: 1. Out of the Body (1989). 2. The Astral Factor (1976). 3. Fallen (1998) starring Denzel Washington.

Thank you for reading!

Winston Rekert is a fairly successful, but unsatisfied director of television commercials who learns the art of astral projection (letting his spirit travel around without his body) from Karen Black. This all seems cool until people around him start dying mysteriously. Cop John Novak investigates and the film crawls towards it's utterly predictable conclusion.

Hungarian born Canadian director George Mihalka directed this, his 2nd horror outing after the pretty nifty slasher flick "My Bloody Valentine". That film suffered from some pretty serious cuts to avoid an X rating. This film was clearly never in any such danger.

It was made as "The Blue Man". That title refers to how someone is supposed to appear when they are astrally projecting ... a shimmering blue phantasm of themselves. This effect was clearly beyond the budgetary means of the film, so instead they're invisible, even though the dialogue still describes them as the missing effect. We do see blurry POV footage of the travelling spirits, but basically, there's no effects in this film.

There's not much of anything else either. It's an interminably slow and uneventful film. It's hard to imagine any viewer that won't be miles ahead of this plot and wildly impatient for the film to catch up.

Eternal Evil (1985) is a Canadian horror 🇨🇦 film currently available on Tubi. The story follows a Canadian film director who learns a method to leave his body, only to discover he can't control it. When people around him begin dying, he's left struggling to stop the chaos.

Directed by George Mihalka (My Bloody Valentine), the film stars Karen Black (Five Easy Pieces), Winston Rekert (The Art of War II), John Novak (Legends of the Fall), and Vlasta Vrana (Upside Down).

This film is worth watching primarily for Karen Black, as the rest feels underwhelming. The storyline comes across as lazy and poorly executed, with dated horror effects. While the dream sequences offer a few decent jump scares, the kill scenes are weak, relying heavily on cutaways. The movie carries some giallo-inspired elements, but they don't fully land. However, the twist at the end is a fun highlight.

In conclusion, Eternal Evil is an average horror film best appreciated for Karen Black's performance. I'd rate it a 5/10.

I don't know if astral projection is actually possible - I like to keep an open mind about such things - but I love the idea of it, and it's perfect for the horror genre, as evidenced in entertaining films such as Psychic Killer (1975) and Out of the Body (1989).

Canadian horror Eternal Evil (AKA The Blue Man) also explores the supernatural world of soul wandering, but the result is far less enjoyable than the aforementioned movies thanks to muddled storytelling from director George Mihalka (the man who gave us the excellent slasher classic My Bloody Valentine) and the fact that his protagonist isn't a very likeable character from the start.

Paul Sharpe (Winston Rekert) is an ex-film-maker turned director of commercials who learns the art of astral projection from the enigmatic Janus (Karen Black, in one of her stock-in-trade eccentric roles). When those around Paul start to turn up dead, their internal organs having haemorrhaged, a curious cop (John Novak) starts to investigate...

Despite a very promising premise, this film doesn't do anything very interesting with it (obvious budgetary limitations means no special effects and no gore) - stuff happens, but nothing to prevent the viewer from slowly drifting off. Hey, maybe I'll watch this film again to help me reach the meditative hypnagogic state necessary for my soul to leave my body and travel to the astral plane - gotta be worth a try.

3.5/10, rounded up to 4 for IMDb.

Paul Sharpe (Winston Rekert), a successful, yet frustrated ad director, discovers that his initially exhilarating experiences with Astral projection has disturbingly unleashed an evil aspect to his wondering spirit he is unable to control. The inimitable Karen Black and handsome Winston Rekert deliver credible performances in this relatively obscure, supernaturally kooky 80s Canadian horror gem. While I'm sure astral projection has been appropriated for other films, George Mihalka's greatly atmospheric spookshow is the only one I can recall utilizing it so effectively. The engagingly written Eternal Evil proves to be an imaginative little supernatural shocker, one reliant on quality performances, mystery, intriguing ideas, and eerie atmosphere, rather than explicit gore. I admire Canadian horror, since they quite frequently have an amenable quirk, or eccentricity, that excitingly separates them from most mainstream American horror. The dramatic and supernatural elements of 'Eternal Evil' are well conceived, concluding in a satisfyingly sinister fashion. As one would readily imagine, the always exquisite, Karen Black brightly illuminates every scene as the sexy, spooky siren Janus.

A surprisingly good, high quality (1980's - you must remember that part) movie, nice production, very gothic in nature. Having Karen Black in it doesn't hurt, either. I especially loved the opening/closing music too, which is easily 10-15 years before its time.