La Chose

Early Steven Spielberg TV movie that is a considerable step down from Duel released the previous year, but showing signs of a directorial craft to follow.

Something Evil is not a great horror movie, well it was to those of us at a very young age who were allowed to watch it that is. The plot finds a family of four moving into a pastorally pleasing Pennsylvania farmhouse only to find a demon resides there. Hubbie works all hours in the city while mama and the two young children fall prey to something that manifests itself as red goo in jam jars or via a wind machine. Cue mama fighting the demon trying to take control of her family with love and pentacle art. Yep, it's really that simple, the budget doesn't stretch beyond that.

Spielberg shows some nice skills with his dissolves, close-ups and distorted angle shots, but much of the impact is undone by poor acting and a musical score that belongs on a ghost train ride at the funfair. A couple of characters appear, and then vanish until the last third of the movie needs them, while the special effects on offer are understandable low in quality. For its time, its budget and as an observation to the early work of a man who would become one of America's biggest directors, it's a curio piece worth sampling. But it's hardly essential for horror fans or Spielberg completists. 6/10

Of course Steven Spielberg is a very talented filmmaker. He knows perfectly well how to create tension and give you creeps on your spinal cord. He is one of the best. In this one he was helped by exceptional actors. Sandy Dennis is a unique phenomenon, can not be compared to any other, was and remains a great great actress. It's a shame that she died so young! Darren McGavin and Ralph Bellamy are also two very good actors, natural and credible in everything they do and say. It's not one of the greatest movies by Spielberg, the script is very simple, to not say poor, but is very well made. Worth to be seen!

I remember watching this movie as a child and it scared the crap out of me.

For years I couldn't look in a dark window without seeing those glowing yellow eyes. After I became an adult I waited patiently for years for this movie to show up on late night TV so I could watch it again and see what scared me so much. It never happened, the movie seemed to have disappeared from the face of the planet. A few weeks ago I ran across a pirated copy of this movie and bought it, My wife still can't understand why I paid almost 30 dollars for a old VHS tape. We watched it last night and of course it was no where near as scary now as it seemed to an 8 year old almost 32 years ago. That being said, I found it to be quite a watchable movie that held my interest despite moving a somewhat slow pace. And the twist at the end caught me totally off guard. Overall I would give this movie a thumbs up especially when comparing it to other movies of its genre and era. If you run across a copy have a look.

It's easy to knock something like this because it's cheap, but you have to look beyond production values and see quality for what it really is. On paper, 'Something Evil' is pretty routine stuff, but it has the kind of energy you only get from young, hungry directors. There's a great sense of atmosphere that transcends the movie's low budget, something that would have never been achieved through routine direction. I've always been indifferent to Spielberg, but this is great.

The fact that you could turn on your television in the 70's and find something like this every week makes me wish I grew up a decade earlier.

I know that The Possession Of Joel Delany (1972) is often cited as a possible cinematic influence on Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973), but I had never seen this little gem until recently. The finale has little Johnny Whitaker (yes, from Family Affair) possessed by a "devil" yelling weird demonic gibberish in a surprisingly creepy and effective vocal track and attacking his mother (Sandy Dennis) as objects fly around the room. The devil is driven out by the chanting words of love from mom. It's a brief scene that might elicit giggles from some, but it's strange how similar some scenes in The Exorcist would play out nearly two years later.