Evilenko

In 1995, HBO produced a film called Citizen X which detailed the murder rampage of Andrei Chikatilo, who killed over 50 women and children.

Evilenko is a fictional representation of this serial murder spree which occurred in the Soviet Union during the fall of same in the late 1980's.

In every way, this version is weaker than Citizen X. The acting is inferior. Donald Sutherland, Max Von Sydow and Stephen Rea are exceptional whereas Malcolm McDowell is his usual overacting self and is not credible as the murderer.

The greatest weakness is an almost laughable explanation of how Evilenko seduced his victims. David Grieco, the writer and director, wants us to believe that Evilenko hypnotized his victims by staring at them.

Don't rent this. Instead, see Citizen X; a vastly superior movie in which the killer, using the actual name of the killer, Chikatilo, is played by the fabulous Jeffrey DeMunn with spine chilling conviction.

A teacher by the name of Andrej Evilenko (played by Malcolm McDowell) is fired after he tried to rape one of his young students. This first scene is truly unsettling and shocking. From there is gets worse when this communist man decides he likes to kill. Mr. McDowell does an excellent, creepy job as a real life serial killer. Now, that being said, I'm not all sure how much of the story is actually real. Its pretty believable though. All this being said, everyone who took part in the movie was great, and the acting was well done. The movie as a whole is good, but also a little too much (well, maybe not to some viewers). The movie is quit graphic and intense, but not to gratuitous so that is good. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the story, or anyone in the cast. Other than that though, I'd say its up to whoever if they really wanna see it. I rate this 7/10 (mainly for the superb acting). (my rating) Rated R for disturbing and aberrant violent and sexual content, nudity and some language

A few years ago, I saw "Citizen X". I vaguely remembered this great film and the horrifying story it was about when my attention was drawn to "Evilenko, the real citizen X" in the videostore. It turned out to be a big disappointment. The description on the DVD-cover is more exciting than the film itself. The story jumps randomly forward in time, leaving a lot of questions unanswered, never really grabbing one's attention. The murderer gets a lot of screen time in the first 20 minutes, so you feel like seeing events from his perspective. Clearly, he's a freak, but more in a pathetic than a horrifying manner. His ability to "hypnotise" his victims comes out of the blue near the end of the film and made no sense to me. A lot of could-be-interesting supporting characters don't get enough time to evolve beyond flat-characters.

Watch Citizen X instead of Evilenko.

In 1984, in Kiev, the communist teacher Andrej Romanovic Evilenko (Malcolm McDowell) is dismissed from his position after a pedophilic act against a student. On 15 May 1984, the pedophile Evilenko begins to rape children, and then slashing the victims in pieces and eating them. The magistrate family man Vadim Timurouvic Lesiev (Marton Csokas) is assigned to catch the serial killer and almost eight years later he finally captures the monster that killed fifty-five persons, most of them children and young women. On 22 May 1992, Evilenko goes to the court and on 14 February 1994 he is finally executed. "Evilenko" is a very impressive movie, based on the true story of a serial-killer from Soviet Union that recalls a darker and scarier Dr. Hannibal Lecter of "The Silence of the Lambs". The first point to highlight in this practically unknown gem is the stunning performance of Malcolm McDowell, who seems to be tailored for evil characters and is amazing in the role of a pedophile cannibal. Marton Csokas is also excellent, performing a persistent and firm investigator involved with the sick deaths and frustrated for not finding the monster. The direction of the promising David Grieco is also magnificent, keeping adequate pace and exposition of the scenes. The music score of the composer Angelo Badalamenti is outstanding as usual. In the end, "Evilenko" is a highly recommended movie that deserves to be discovered by the viewers. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): "Evilenko"

Well let's face it. This is in fact a great film. Malcolm Mcdowell is truly amazing. It is a sad film and not the slasher flick that I was expecting. MM is a fantastic actor. Every moment you see him in this film is quality stuff.

The story is quite unsettling and that might be a good thing? Many movies these days have nothing special about them at all! This film has some great acting, great cinematography and many uneasy moments. Not too bad at all.

Watch it - it's not a waste of time. Some movies are. I am looking forward to searching out other MM films (yes I know he did Clockwork Orange). Keep up the good work Malcolm.