Evil Angel

It was what it was. It intended to be a fun addition to the horror movie genre, and it was. Technical quality was great. FX were fine without being absurdly over the top. Ving Rhames was classy to watch. Half the cast from "States of Grace" appeared in it.

And if you like naked babes, you'll have a feast in this movie.

What it was not, which I did expect it to be, was an involved exploration of the "Lilith" legend. The old Jewish legend of a wife for Adam previous to Eve was just a device exploited to justify all the murder and mayhem.

In a sense that disappointed me, but in another sense, I'm glad. I was irked that he beat me to the punch of using the Lilith legend in a movie. But since he never explored it in depth, that still leaves open the possibility of someone else doing it.

You have to keep on your toes in the first 15 minutes to sort out all the characters being introduced, but things finally gel, and the ride begins. The real spice of the film comes when Dutcher himself enters the movie playing an eccentric character.

Probably my biggest beef with the film is Rachel Emmers died early, and she never had a nude scene.

If you're a fan of horror movies, this is an enjoyable addition to the repertoire. If you're not, it's a horror film classy enough to watch anyway.

I personally am not into horror movies generally, but I do like a good one, and few seem to be good. "Evil Angel" does nothing to be a break-out film, but it does qualify among the upper tier of quality horror films.

I was expecting more from the movie, as it looked so promising. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not a bad movie. Quite the contrary. The movie is quite good, and got some nice effects.

The movie suffered from a lack of thrills or scares. There were some fairly cool-looking scenes, but there were no building up to scares. You could pretty much see everything coming a mile away. And the ending? Well, it was amazingly predictable.

But still, the movie was not a waste of time. It has a good story, that keeps going at a good pace. You are never bored throughout the movie. And there are some really nice gory scenes and effects as well.

For me, what really made it worth it was Ving Rhames, as usual he did a good job.

If you got nothing better to do for an evening and want to watch a fairly straight forward "by the Hollywood book" horror movie, sit down and watch "Evil Angel".

When the young woman Emma Carillo (Rachel Emmers) is stabbed five times, the paramedic Marcus Galan (Kristopher Shepard) feels a great empathy for her and unsuccessfully tries to save her life in the Mercy Hospital. Meanwhile the near death patient Caroline Kuntz (JJ Newards) awakes; kills two people; and leaves the hospital. When Marcus arrives home, he finds his suicidal wife Carla (Ava Gaudel) cheating on him with a stranger. On the next morning, Marcus goes to a hearing due to a diabetic shock and death of the hooker Elizabeth Markham. The private detective Carruthers (Ving Rhames) is assigned to investigate the case. Meanwhile Caroline visits Carruthers's son Vic and slaughters him in his office. Carruthers visits Elizabeth's mother and sooner he discloses that the case is actually a supernatural plan of the demon Lilith to revenge against the human race.

"Evil Angel" has a messy beginning with Jeff Morgan haunted by many evil demons and this sequence has no explanation and is only to mislead the viewers since there is only one demon in the whole story. Then entwines many different situations with erotic exploitation and it is difficult to follow the mainstream of the plot. The wooden Kristopher Shepard keeps the same expression in every scene and is too weak to the lead role. But the film is entertaining in the end, when the screenplay finally clarifies what is happening. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Anjo Maldito" ("Damned Angel")

If you are a fan of Ving Rhames, you cannot go wrong with this I guess. But if you are not so much, he won't convince you with this movie, that he is an actor to be looking out for. And while the movie looks good (nice cinematography and set design, considering the small budget this must have had), it never really takes off.

So while not entirely a bad movie, it depends on how many movies you are watching on a regular basis, to really justify you watching this. Most people won't bother from the get go (apart from the aforementioned Rhames fans) and the rest might be more than disappointed when watching this. Still nice turns (for a small independent movie) and executed well enough, not to be a complete waste (of time)

I was lucky enough to hit the first screening in Salt Lake City last night. Richard and many of the cast and crew were in the audience. Richard did an introduction and a short Q&A after the flick. He asked for real feedback.

Here's what I basically said on the form... There were a few segments of the film that seemed to drag a little bit. There were also a few awkward lines mostly spoken by folks in the film that weren't the main actors.

However, In my opinion, this is a very solid horror flick. The main characters did a great job. There was some well-timed humor. There were also some decent death scenes.

Not the greatest film that I've ever seen... but not even close to the worst movie I've seen (this week). Definitely worth checking out.