A Name for Evil

The video box makes "A Name For Evil" look like an ordinary thriller but it's got a very distinct flavor to it. Robert Culp plays a man who gets fed up with the rat race and heads off with his wife (Samantha Eggar) to the forest to try to get himself back together. He soon begins having odd hallucinations. This is where the film comes into it's own. During the scenes in which Culp rides off on a white horse (the spirit of his grand-father) the film seems to become a bizarre nightmare. It gets hard to tell what is real and what is fantasy. It's almost like being on an acid trip. The film is disjointed and confusing at times which makes it annoying but the end result is a most unusual film that lingers in one's mind long after watching it.

Perhaps it takes a certain kind of film viewer to appreciate the charms of A Name for Evil. As has been bemoaned by other reviewers, A Name for Evil has a disjointed story, a hippie orgy, and a full frontal sex scene with past his prime Robert Culp. Yet, for some viewers these eccentricities can be strengths. I have seen A Name for Evil twice now. I was not bored either time. The film kept me watching because, on the first viewing, I did not know what to expect next, and on the second viewing, I admired the film's mixtures of styles as a Gothic horror film is given early swinging seventies treatment, from Penthouse Films no less.

According to IMDb, A Name for Evil had a troubled production. It appears to this viewer that certain scenes were not shot, either because of time or because the filmmakers thought certain points were clearer than they were. However, the lack of a linear narrative does lend the film a certain disquieting mood, as the viewer is left almost as confused as Robert Culp's character.

There is a certain type of viewer who occasionally tires of professionally told plots and seeks out films not afraid to go off the rails, a viewer who loves when artiness is wedded to exploitation. All my years of watching Euro-horror, where plots did not matter as long as a scene was moody, surprising, or odd, has turned me into such a viewer. A Name for Evil surprises the viewer. From the opening credits over surreal paintings of twisted figures to the abrupt finale, A Name for Evil keeps the viewer off balance. I also think parts of it are well filmed. For instance, unlike one other reviewer, I find the underwater sex scene moody and hypnotic, having some of the off-kilter quality of Let's Scare Jessica to Death (another film I champion). Obviously, I cannot recommend A Name for Evil to most people, yet I will probably watch the film for a third time.

Much has been made of this movie's 'plot', or lack of one. The white horse is just not scary! The hippy scenes are dated and unintentionally humorous (I guess hippies love noodles). It could easily qualify for a Mystery Science Theater 3000 feature. But I really enjoyed the first thirty minutes or so of this movie. I liked the intro, and the photography is great. The dilapitated house in what appears to be the middle of nowhere is one of the more interesting settings I've ever seen in a ghost film. I like the fact that the caretakers wanted it to rot away. If they stayed away from the counter-culture movement and focused soley on telling a ghost story it would have been a better film.

Others have commented on the evidently different versions of this film, the nudity, beautiful cinematography, and scrambled plot. My two cents: "A Name For Evil" looks like a film that has gone through many hands. It definitely has it's strengths: the afore-mentioned photography of some spectacular locations, good performances from Culp and Egger, a stunning evocation of early '70's wackiness, and a few nicely creepy moments.

But I have to mention something else no one else has yet talked about: Dominic Frontiere's grand score. If you like Frontiere's work, especially his "Outer Limits" music which this strongly resembles, you owe it to yourself to at least listen to this movie.

Poor Robert Culp looks utterly bewildered in this strange oddity that never decides just what kind of film it wants to be. The production values are surprisingly strong, and the movie does have some striking visuals that will stick in your head. But the story is just about totally incoherent, with scenes seeming to be missing, scenes that don't seem to serve any purpose, and scenes that just don't make any kind of sense. If you do stick around, you will be rewarded with what just might be one of the most unintentionally funny orgy sequences every put onto film... as well as a frontal nude Culp, which must have made him glad that the movie was first shelved for several years, subsequently barely released to theaters, and only given a small video release on a now-defunct video label.