Le radici della paura

"The Evil" is a fun 70's horror movie. Low budget, cool location, some attractive and familiar cast members, the comforting presence of Richard Crenna, a fabulous troll-like Buono cameo...all add up to a demonic good time if you're in the mood for it. And check out those slacks on Andrew Prine--are those Angel's Flight pants you're wearing?? (Anybody remember those disco-era items?)

I've been watching horror movies for 40 years or more but The Evil has somehow passed me by. That was until now, just watched it on an old VHS tape (this somehow found itself on the British Video Nasties list under Section 3, goodness knows why!). A bunch of people start renovating a large house with a creepy past. One of them, played by the very attractive Joanna Petter, starts to see ghostly apparitions, a warning about an evil force that lurks in the house. They carry on with their work regardless but spooky things start to happen, people start dying (some of these deaths are pretty inventive) and they find themselves trapped inside by an invisible force. All the while a storm rages outside. As haunted house movies go this was pretty good, it held my attention all the way through. The special effects are good and the film does maintain a level of fear. I did feel that the finale was a little weird, but having Victor Buono play the Devil does at least serve as something of a curiosity. One character turns out to be a practical joker, much to his victims' annoyance. We got to see many more of these, turning up in slasher films of the 1980s. Naturally it does look dated - the fashions, the hair, the cars, even the slapping of a woman's face to calm her down. But I enjoyed it and would certainly recommend it as a supernatural horror movie.

A very good horror-movie about some demons who have their home in an old mansion. The action starts when the new owners tries to move in. -------- This is a real horror-movie of the very rare kind. You seldom find many of this type. And it's scary as hell. The atmosphere manages to thrill over and over and the whole film moves towards a climax that I barely find in horror-films today. Highly recommended (((((9 out of 10))))

I remember seeing this movie as a child, and how it scared me! Well one day I was lucky to find the VHS at a garage sale. Last night I finally put it on to a DVD, where it will never ever wear out.

I think Richard Crenna did a great job in this film. I think the film itself was a bit before its time with some of the special effects. The look cheesy compared to todays standards, but for a movie coming out of the 80's it is remarkable.

I am really surprised at how little information is out there about this movie, It is one of those small classics that got lost, and I am sure glad that I still have it!

At first, I was expecting a shrieky classic haunted house spook show, but that wasn't it. Granted, THE EVIL suffers from a serious lack of diversity. The movie is wasted only by scenes of people sliding around and people getting killed by electric shocks. There isn't enough to qualify this as spine-tingling fun. It is also laughably dated in visual material! Try to watch that sick girl shake all over the floor in her undies for a change and you'll see why! The only exception would be Andrew Prine sinking in mud and attempting to commit suicide. You know a movie that has a conflicting situation between good and evil, and the end always turns out to be quite simple. Any low-budget horror movie can do A LOT better than this, but for the moment, give THE EVIL some extra credit for its dark and thunderous setting that lives up to my expectations. This one spoils the most hardcore horror fans for not being frightening enough.