Live Evil

The story is creative, well thought out, and offers the chance at a very fun, and thrilling night of Halloween hell-raising mayhem. The cinematography gives the right atmosphere and the cast are fully committed to their characters, well most are anyway. There are a few characters that seem almost forced into the story. Anyway, I did enjoy the concept of evil unleashed on the town on Halloween night, and the fact that we only know as much about what is happening as the characters do. It kept "Live-Evil" somewhat intriguing.

The special effects are quite frustrating. The film is heavily dependent on CGI for about 95 percent of the movie. It was pretty cheap, even for a low-budget horror. The quality falls somewhere between Asylum films and Syfy Channel. The cool thing, which does seem to focus on practical effects, is the use of almost Eddie (Iron Maiden) styled zombie monsters. They are the most interesting thing happening in "Live-Evil". The film's musical score and effects are a dud and offer nothing to the film.

Overall " Live-Evil " is more disappointing than entertaining. The horror never becomes thrilling, the comedy falls flat, and the plot is way overwritten with too much of everything. I did like the art-house style starting out with a black-n-white story only splashed with surreal moments of color, then switching to a all color film for the last half. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to make anymore connection with what is happening on screen than the CGI bullets hitting the zombies. "Live-Evil" is a strange movie with a lot happening, but it doesn't seem to understand that about itself. Watch with caution and low expectations.

I honestly didn't know what to expect from Live Evil. Because it was listed as a horror/comedy I went in thinking it was going to be something along the lines of Scary Movie or Deathgasm. It's not. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to really call it a comedy. There were some funny moments, well, a lot of funny moments, but horror has always been a genre that can fuse horror and comedy but still be a straight-up horror movie. I think that's more where Live Evil falls.

The cast was great together. I particularly loved Hancock (Charlene Amoia) and Sheriff Pete (Vladimir Kulich). They were awesome together and had a wonderful chemistry. Not a romantic chemistry but more like very good friends/mentor relationship. In fact, I was very pleased at the lack of romance between them. It was very refreshing. Most Wanted #11 and Most Wanted #12 were great as well. I honestly don't remember if the movie says they were brothers or not but for some reason that's the impression that I got. Either way, it worked well.

Live Evil is split into chapters, which I'll admit threw me at first. But it's clear from the start that it sets out to have its own, unique style. I particularly liked the black and white aesthetic with the splashes of red. For those who aren't keen on back and white the movie does go to full color later in the movie. The effects work well for the most part. I loved the look of the Not-Zombies (I still have to wonder if they weren't inspired by Iron Maiden's 'Eddie' just a smidgen). I would love to say more about their eyes but since it ties into the plot I'll let you see for yourselves.The only effects that seemed a bit off to me were the gunfire. It looked kind of weird.

I would have loved to give it a five but there were some things I was a little less than enthused about. The plot was a little looser in spots than it should have been. While some of the unexplained things fit in with the mystery of it, others could have/should have been more explained. One of the bigger disappointments was the end. It seemed very abrupt and I'm not really a fan of movies (or books, or video games) that just end. To me it seems to be a cop-out to where they don't have to think of an ending. It doesn't have to be a big ball of Happy Ever After but I want some kind of resolution. Unfortunately I can't go into many of the others as they are mostly plot related. The one thing I can wonder about is the bell. It seems important but I'm not sure why or what it does or what it did. There was a semi-twist to it that I thought was set up well. There are hints to it (I started wondering mid-way through) but it's not so telegraphed that it's disappointing.

All in all while I wasn't "I have got to get this!" I was not disappointed, either. And I can't stress enough how much of a role the cast played in that. The actors give their characters their all and it shows. With a weaker cast and less chemistry between Hancock and Sheriff Pete it could have easily flopped. If you go in expecting slapstick you will most likely be disappointed. If, however, you appreciate a more quiet humour then you'll be pleased with Live Evil. Probably Evil.