Where Evil Lives

If any horror movie deserved distribution then "Where Evil Lives" is that movie.This lost Florida treasure was only seen by a select few people who had worked on it,and only a few VHS copies of this 16mm film to video were ever seen by the public. I happened to be one of those lucky few.This movie brings you back to those campy 1980's when horror films did not rely on CG special effects.Instead plenty of blood and screaming did the trick.This movie has something that is lacking in todays horror films,Characters!The great great Claude Akins plays one of the greatest characters of his veteran career.He is a Caretaker at an old spooky mansion.A possible rich buyer (Jim Coffey) of the property meets Claude's character "Jack Devlin" who tells the Buyer about the insane and evil happenings that have taken place on the property over a 40 year period. Mass murders,Zombies,Vampires,and Witches are all connect into the house "Where Evil Lives." Troma films is releasing this in September.Just in time for Halloween!

"Where Evil Lives" is an obscure anthology horror film recently acquired by Troma and available on youtube. Very uneven in tone and quality, parts of this could be a Lifetime original, others are very Troma-esque in violence and outlandishness. It has some hilarious "so-bad-it's-good" moments, and some genuinely disturbing moments, but the stories leave much to be desired.

The first is about a recently released mass killer revisiting the scene of the crime (the titular house). It starts out promising, but has a dull ending, and is forgettable besides the opening "swordfish scene".

Still, that swordfish sequence is essential viewing.

The second tale is a generic suburban vampire story, like a lamer version of Salem's Lot. A succubus battles a young psychic girl and her two horny brothers. The best/worst part is a ridiculous, verbose voice-over by the grown psychic, now a middle age woman, frequently talking about teenagers' sex drives in an awful monotone delivery. Truly bizarre.

The third story is about a serial killer murdering girls and harvesting their organs for a strip- mall version of Dr. Frankenstein. Nico, the killer, has a rapist-mustache, wears a black vest, and harvests the organs by putting them in a zip lock baggie - he's seriously creepy. And it gets weirder - the police hire a witch to track down the creep. It's awful, near indecipherable, and my favorite of the bunch.

These all take place in the same house, with a boring wrap-around involving a grounds-keeper chatting with a potential home-buyer. Competently made with some enjoyable b-movie awfulness, it's worth a watch if you're into that sort of thing, but is no diamond in the rough.

I'm confused.

First of all the cover art says this is one of the greatest horror movies from the 80's. Well other than the fact that's a near offensive lie, it was also filmed and released in the 90's! In fact in some places it wasn't even released until as late as 2011.

But it doesn't stop there, it claims that it's a Lloyd Kaufman Troma film! It's neither Kaufman or Troma. So what the hell is going on?

Well it's a low budget horror anthology but not a great one at all. It features ghosts, vampires, witches and a serial killer who harvests his victims organs.

Some of it is watchable, some of it isn't. That is the problem with anthology movies, they can only be as good as the weakest story and some of the stories are pretty weak. The wrap around is also pretty terrible.

Not the worst out there but instantly forgetable and surrounded by considerably better similiar films.

The Good:

Some of the writing is interesting enough

The Bad:

Some weak sound editing

A few moments of stupid writing

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Blue marlins should be your first source of weaponry upon running out of ammo

I have no problem with camp. I also have no problem with "bad" horror movies. In fact, I have a soft spot in my heart for them. I also am a believer in the idea that some movies are so bad they are good. This, however, is not one of those movies.

The acting was so horrible, so cheesy, so amateurish it seemed like an audition tape for a high school production. I cannot recommend this. It not only was a terrible movie, it wasn't even that frightening. The three scenarios were not that inventive. The monsters were stilted and very dated (and not in the good way).

There are so many low budget horror movies out there that are worthy of your time, pass this one and see something better.

As a big fan of late 80's and early 90's campy horror films this is a good one with 3 unique stories all tied together with veteran actor Claude Akins (in his final role)Zombies, Vampires and witches all tied together in a neat package. All three stories take place in an old country club style Mansion that was built over 100 years ago. Don't miss this one as it brings horror mixed with some great one liners and even a few laughs as your emotions take you on a wild ride back about 20 or so years ago. If you are an 80's horror buff you must add this one to your collection especially if you are a Troma film fan who expects only the best in campy horror films.