The Evil Within

A young mentally handicapped boy who lives with his older brother life begins to crumple after he's brother brings him an antique mirror in his room, and a old demon who lives in it demend he do evil things to his family. The Evil Within is a very sadistic and twistic tale of loneliness and how it is to be different in this world. What I liked the most about this film is it's originality, and what limit the director is ready to go. The young Frederick Koehler, is really greati in this film.

A mentally handicapped young man lives with his older brother. The older sibling has guilt in that he was responsible for an incident leading to his brother's condition. One day he buys him a large antique mirror which unfortunately turns out to be an evil artefact that talks to the little brother from another dimension, imploring him to commit horrendous acts.

Quite amazingly, this movie was filmed over a period of fifteen years, which is a huge time period to focus on one project and which is not really at all obvious from the finished film. The director was Andrew Getty who was one of the heirs to the Getty family fortune, this allowed him to plough millions of his own money into the film but he seems to have been a troubled individual and ended up dying before the film was released. If I'm being totally honest, I'm not sure the end results justify the huge amount of time that was invested in this project. It certainly has some good Lovecraftian imagination at times, with some imaginative macabre imagery and creatures but I felt it was held back somewhat by the central performance of Frederick Koehler as the disturbed brother, who I found quite grating throughout. The story in general is okay but not especially remarkable, the strengths of this one lie mainly with some of its visual ideas which are often successfully surreal and nightmarish. On the whole, there are some worthwhile ideas interwoven into this one but I thought it to be a bit uneven on the whole.

Found it at random, and decided to give it a watch, as the storyline picked my attention. Being a horror movie veteran, I know ratings are not trustworthy, so I tend to ignore them (I'd think that there may be at least 2 points of error in the ratings in horror movies).

It turned out to be quite a surprise. At first, it won't look like a big deal. One of the characters may come across as a little tiring and the acting may seem to be going a bit over the top. Although I did not find acting brilliant, it was good overall, and my first impressions dispelled. I believe that, rather than acting, it was the bad text written for a couple of scenes that caused me discomfort.

At any rate, the movie is quite dark and it grew on me. The disturbing dreams, which seems to interweave with reality, gradually throwing a fragile person out of balance, and the quite unusual narrative. The way the move progresses fascinated me; it's dark, disturbing, and verisimilar. The character plunges further into a path he can longer emerge from; he is no longer himself, but is a captive in his own body. The symbolism used pleased me.

The disturbing characters that sprang as the movie neared it's conclusion were fascinating. From one point, I was confused as to whether it was a dream of the characters, an other-worldly dimension, or simply a quite disturbing reality.

My sole disappointment was the writer felt he should he resort to Christian clichés to describe evil ("legion"). I wish writers were more creative in this respect. If they can't find words to describe evil, they should not use words. After all, that's one advantage of movies.

This is a special movie, not just because it's a brilliant and original horror movie, but because of the story behind the making of the film.

The writer and director Andrew Getty started this film back in 2002 when it was titled "The Storyteller" and was released in 2017 under the current title, two years after Getty's death due to an ulcer causing internal bleeding. This is a shame as he spent so much money on the project and wasn't around to see his creation brought to life... or take credit for it.

The story is about a mentally handicapped man, Dennis (expertly portrayed by Frederick Koehler), living in his brother's, John (Sean Patrick Flannery), care. Dennis is plagued by twisted and dark nightmares for which a tall grey man claims responsibility. Then one day John and his girlfriend, Lydia (Dina Meyer) bring home a mirror for Dennis' bedroom. Dennis hates the mirror as he doesn't want to loose his hamsters like he's lost his comic collection. However, his decision changes when his reflection starts talking to him and offers him a way to get better... to get smarter...

It was the trailer that had me salivating at the thought of watching the film. However, be aware the movie isn't how it looks on the trailer. Instead of an exciting run-of-the-mill horror what Getty gives his audience is a deep and powerful insight into the human psyche and not just through Dennis, but all of the other characters have some kind of dysfunction. John is hiding a secret. Lydia has relationship issues. Even Pete (Tim Bagley) - who is only in the film a few minutes - hates people touching him and invading his person space.

The film can even be taken a couple of ways. It could be a very dark psychological thriller or it could be a supernatural entity possession, making it a horror. It works in either genre.

The star of the show is Frederick Koehler as Dennis. He is brilliant at portraying the character, giving him facial ticks, body form, hand gestures, and a speech impediment. His acting is really believable and draws the audience into the film more. However, it's Flannery's and Meyer's characters that appear flat at times, a little too dimensional and wooden; I think this may be the characters they were playing or the direction at the time of the scenes, as both of them are good actors. It just jars the mood and atmosphere at times and this is a bad thing as the movie depends on mood and atmosphere, which Getty builds beautifully. It's also great to see Michael Berryman again.

This film reminds me of Phantasm in its essence and spirit, and like Phantasm I will gladly watch this film again... and again... and, probably, again... There are a lot of interesting and well thought out concepts in this story, which should send a chill down your spine. However, if you prefer shock horror over creepy and atmospheric then this probably won't be your cup of tea.

It is such as tough movie to critique after one viewing. It is without doubt a flawed attempt, but the concept makes it worth a viewing. it is not a gore fest, but more of a mind bender, or at least tries to be. I applaud the effort and concept, but it lacks in a few key areas. Some basic details are forgotten and the continuity is stuttering, having said all that it is a film you want to like and this is probably due to the lead character giving a good performance, whilst others in the cast struggle.