Something Evil

I remember watching this movie as a child and it scared the crap out of me.

For years I couldn't look in a dark window without seeing those glowing yellow eyes. After I became an adult I waited patiently for years for this movie to show up on late night TV so I could watch it again and see what scared me so much. It never happened, the movie seemed to have disappeared from the face of the planet. A few weeks ago I ran across a pirated copy of this movie and bought it, My wife still can't understand why I paid almost 30 dollars for a old VHS tape. We watched it last night and of course it was no where near as scary now as it seemed to an 8 year old almost 32 years ago. That being said, I found it to be quite a watchable movie that held my interest despite moving a somewhat slow pace. And the twist at the end caught me totally off guard. Overall I would give this movie a thumbs up especially when comparing it to other movies of its genre and era. If you run across a copy have a look.

There were a lot of brilliant and spooky TV movies made in the seventies (Night Stalker etc),and it's a lost art now. This is, in fact, one of Spielberg's best films and is chilling. I saw it on a farm in the middle of nowhere, so the whole bit with the barn was terrifying. A reminder of what suggestion and the mind can conjure up without gruesome special effects and pointless noise. What was the horrible thing in the jam jar? What were the buzzing objects falling onto the windscreen of that car? Eerie stuff and brilliantly done. Also features a rare appearance by the unusual and authentic Sandy Dennis who died tragically and is sadly missed. Best scare is the demon eyes caught during the filming of a commercial at the haunted house.

Perhaps coming so soon after his masterful DUEL, SOMETHING EVIL is a slightly weaker effort from Steven Spielberg, who in 1971-72 was still learning his craft.

Nevertheless, this supernatural TV horror movie of a family besieged by an unknown evil force in their home (represented by an ominous baby's cry) is almost a prelude to Spielberg's later 1982 production POLTERGEIST, as well as films like THE SHINING and THE SIXTH SENSE. The screenplay by Robert Clouse also echoes Robert Wise's classic 1963 thriller THE HAUNTING. Darren McGavin and Sandy Dennis give very good performances as the heads of this household under threat. Ralph Bellamy somehow oozes rational menace the same way he did for ROSEMARY'S BABY. Tricky but excellent cinematography by Bill Butler (who later worked with Spielberg on JAWS) enhances this somewhat underrated and rare made-for-TV horror pic.

A married couple and their two children move into an old country estate in rural Pennsylvania. The father spends most of his time working in New York City, but his wife stays home tending to the kids and coming up with various art designs. It isn't long before she's plagued by bizarre happenings, and while her husband is disbelieving, she comes to the conclusion that a devil is haunting the estate.

This TV movie was Steven Spielberg's follow-up to "Duel". While nowhere near that film's level, it is a reasonably effective little haunting yarn. The late Sandy Dennis carries the picture with her frantic, on edge performance. Ralph Bellamy of "Rosemary's Baby" is on the right side of the occult this time as a friendly neighbor who supplies Dennis with info on devils and protection from evil. The haunting is predominately low-key, though it occasionally moves into more pronounced territory when attacking others and even causing a fatal car accident. The creepiest scenes involve the sounds of a baby crying in the still country night and Dennis desperately trying to find out where the cries are emanating from. What she eventually finds makes for a rather disturbing visual.

Less unnerving and more cheesy is a scene where Sandy is flipping out on her son. The aftermath doesn't hit as hard as Spielberg would like it too because of this, but Sandy's performance does lessen the damage. Her husband doesn't seem to think much of it and heads back to New York for more work on the annoying commercial he's been preoccupied with. All of this leads up to a fun, if somewhat limp ending. The climactic surprise is telegraphed well in advance.

As a whole, there's nothing particularly remarkable here, but it all works just fine. Still, I was hoping that "Something Evil" would be something truly special.

It's easy to knock something like this because it's cheap, but you have to look beyond production values and see quality for what it really is. On paper, 'Something Evil' is pretty routine stuff, but it has the kind of energy you only get from young, hungry directors. There's a great sense of atmosphere that transcends the movie's low budget, something that would have never been achieved through routine direction. I've always been indifferent to Spielberg, but this is great.

The fact that you could turn on your television in the 70's and find something like this every week makes me wish I grew up a decade earlier.