Evil Judgment

This was actually an OK film! The character development was a little sloppy, but the plot was actually complex and kept my interest. Janet, a blonde waitress, is trying to make it as a dancer in the big city, but the money just isn't flowing fast enough. Her prozzy friend April suggests she try hooking because she can make an entire week's salary in one night. What?! I had to put my knitting down when I heard that. An entire week!? And to think I've just been giving it away. Janet's first night as a proz turns into a nightmare when her friend and current john are murdered, apparently by a mad man with Mother Mary complex who must punish the impure. A subplot involving the mafia and a corrupt police is also presented, yadda yadda, but back to my new found entrepreneurial idea.... A whole week's salary!? As shown in this fine film, the only possible drawback would be being murdered whilst on the job. But if I were to show my Red Umbrella/SWOP membership card, I'm sure I could avoid any trouble.

It's never a good sign when a mid-80s slasher movie/thriller lays lingering on a shelf for several years and ends up being obscure and unknown. There were (too) many similar movies back then and it's difficult to stand out in the crowd, I know, but if a film is so forgotten like "Evil Judgment" it's usually for a good reason. And yet, any slasher flick that features two grisly murders before the opening credits have even finished screen receives my full attention and the benefit of the doubt!

The film also remains intriguing after that, with a sequence at a sleazy diner where an elderly customer urinates in a bowl of soup (allegedly because the soup also tastes like urine) and where a woman insists to her friend, the waitress, that she should consider becoming a prostitute because it pays much better. Career advice, always nice! The waitress discusses the idea with her boyfriend, who's an errand boy for the mafia, and he promptly throws her out of the apartment. Naked. That persuades her to give prostitution a chance. Her friend takes her to a fancy mansion for a threesome with a rich customer, and only then the bizarre slasher/murder mystery plot shifts into gear.

I won't elaborate on the plot too much, but it's convoluted and predictable at the same time. It's also original but boring at the same time, and it's silly but strangely compelling at the same time as well. Those are some very contradictory descriptions, but "Evil Judgment" simply is that kind of unfathomable early 80s low-budget horror flick. Just to illustrate how uneven the script is: Janet's nitwit boyfriend Dino goes from being a heartless jerk, who throws her out of the door naked, to a caring and semi-heroic dream lover who's the only one who believes her and even helps solving the mystery. Why does she go back to someone who treated her so badly in the first place?

There isn't any suspense in this Canadian exploitation flick, and in terms of gore and bloodshed it also doesn't deliver like an 80s horror movie should. The handful of throat-slits are reasonably graphical, but there's practically nothing else. Everything else that could possibly improve the viewing experience is missing here as well (acting, photography, soundtrack, set pieces...). I never heard about writer/director Claudio Castravelli before, but I noticed that - in 1971 - he also made a movie that is called "Up Uranus". I will make it my life's mission to track that one down.