L'élixir du mal

Mix of horror, sex and black humor took almost a decade to reach home video (as "Evil Lives"). It caught my attention primarily for a supporting role by, of all people, lovely Dawn Wells, well remembered by the TV-bound for a certain 1960s sitcom about castaways on an island with a guy named Gilligan. What is SHE doing here?

Well, flick exceeded my expectations (I do not know if it did Dawn's, though), a little. Unpromising opening is lots of breasts and heaving sex - again, going back to the credits, busy pinup queen and frequent nude Julie Strain is in there for a few seconds. Ultimately we get the plot lowdown, that back in the dark ages, sorcerer Richard Wayborn (Tristan Rogers) and his witch wife Rachel bargained with Satan in exchange for immortality. But Rachel got burned at the stake (we are spared costly flashback footage, probably a good move).

Now, 600 years later, Richard masquerades as a best-selling author of historical horror novels - that are actually true stories of his long life and crimes - and on book tours and writer-residencies, he regularly murders attractive female fans.

As long as corpses stay pre-decomposition fresh, Rachel's ghost can possess the cadavers, and the pair enjoy some conjugal visitations and husband-and-wife dates. Hey, I know it's tacky and Satanic, but how many other marriages you know that have lasted that long?

Still, we gather that from one century to another, Richard actually developed feelings for a few victims. So shape-shifting Rachal has simmering issues over his fidelity. Currently, Richard tries to poison winsome college-student admirer Sara (Arabella Holzbog), but does not succeed in administrating a fatal dose. She survives, suspicious that something more than the usual date-rape drug deal with a lascivious older man is going on.

Sara involves her boyfriend in the investigation. Meanwhile a jealous Rachel, possessing a succession of convenient dead folks, nags poor Richard to finish Sara off and stick to his marital vows, or else. Thus does the steamy-erotic-thriller routine of bedroom interludes actually yields to a genuine plot, for once.

I kinda took interest in what would happen next. And how Dawn Wells fit in (she mostly just stands in a doorway for one scene, still looking castaway-cute). Cult actor Paul Bartel also has a wry but probably filmed-in-one-day cameo bit as an academic. The twist ending was satisfyingly sardonic, and there is a late burst of CGI special effects, not overdone.

One could argue that in long years this feature spent buried in some crypt, awareness of "Me Too" assaults and high-placed sex predators, on and off campuses, endows this eros and thanatos with a more edginess than intended. Still, it earned a mild passing grade from me. And if other horror fans, don't agree, at least have lively argument over whether or not it qualifies as "zombie" cinema.

Now I am all for cheese and in fact I rented this film full well knowing that I was not going to be seeing anything of high art. However there is a dramatic difference between a film that is so awful it is good and a film that is just plain awful. If perhaps the film itself had not taken itself seriously it may have worked better as black comedy. Instead the events on screen seem to be done with no humor while the music (some of which sounding carnival in nature) is anything but serious. So if they were indeed attempting humor they did manage it but not in the way they may have been intending.

Acting wise the film is a wash as well but for nudity buffs this is one of the first films in a while not to shy away that aspect of the genre.

So if you have a hankering for self abuse you may in the end enjoy it enough for a few minor kicks.

Now, I've seen a lot of films, but this just blew me away. With how bad it was, of course. My dad picked it up at a value bin because on the back, it said "If you enjoyed The Sixth Sense, House on Haunted Hill, and a Stir of Echoes, you'll love Evil Lives". Now, I look back at that an really do laugh. The film contains no suspenseful or scary moments. The acting is awful, and the plot is ridiculous. The spirit of a loved one coming into recently dead bodies to make love, then die again? Even that concept isn't taken too far because most of the film strays away from what it is supposed to be doing: entertaining. The special effects are also pretty bad. The makeup is horrid. It'd be a black comedy (and a poor one at that) if the film was taken lightheartedly. But that's not the case; these people actually TRIED. The fact that this film was made seriously is rather pathetic. Did I mention the music was ripped straight from the circus? This is one of the worst films you'll ever see, so don't't even give it a chance.

Boy, oh, boy... What was this? I have great difficulties categorizing this flick. For one thing, it says in the video-box: "If you're a fan of: The Sixth Sense, The House On Haunted Hill, Stir Of Echoes, you'll love Evil Lives". Now if you look at which year this movie was made in, you know right away what that means, right? It's one of the biggest lies I've ever read and a perfect example of shameless advertising with the sole purpose of ripping off the unsuspecting viewer. It also says: "A Horrifying Supernatural Thriller". No it's not! It has hints at comedy. A bit of drama. Lots of naked boobies and some sex-scenes. It tries to be a thriller. Yes, there's some dark supernatural powers at play. But it's anything but a successful "horrifying supernatural thriller", I can tell you that much. The so-called surprise-twist this movie has, actually happens, more or less, in the opening-scene of the movie! It has some extremely silly dialogues that are actually pretty funny to hear. And in the final conclusion it has make-up effects vaguely reminiscent of Brian Yuzna's "Society" (or perhaps even better: Lamberto Bava's "Per Sempre aka Until Death" comes to mind), so you can count that as a bonus. Anyway, yes, it's a pretty damn bad movie. But strangely, all this nonsense to me was still rather amusing. Didn't even mind the ending, haha! However, even though I had no problems finishing this dubious movie, this, ladies and gentlemen, is another perfect example why the 90's very much sucked when it comes to horror.

Horror novelist Richard Wayborn (Tristan Rogers, straying from the soaps) is an immortal who kills young women so that the soul of his 600- year-old mate can inhabit them for a day or so before they start to go stiff. Kinky. Anyway, trouble arrives when young college student Sara (Arabella Holzbog) doesn't die when Wayborn tries to poison her and he has to try again so she doesn't blow his cover. Making matters worse is her ex Scott (Tyrone Power Jr.) is a cop handling the case. I'm obviously not picky when it comes to my viewing if I picked this up, so sometimes the slightest hint of a good idea can win me over. I like the idea and, while the film is too low budget to effectively pull it off, it makes for something like a high end Concorde production with nice locations and decent acting. Deliciously named director Thunder Levin also makes sure every body the ghost inhabits get nude beforehand (including Melissa Moore) and offers a "I've never seen that before" bit where a girl clad only in a g-string jumps off a roof. Paul Bartel has two scenes as a "boring professor." Also watch for the guy introducing Wayborn at a book signing. He is in front of a big banner for the novel that reads Blood Love (the film's UK title as well) and he calls it Blood Luck. D'oh! No second takes for you, pal. Of course, I still can't decide if the title is EVIL LIVES (as in lives that are evil) or EVIL LIVES (as in evil that lives).