La ligne du diable

Some moments work better than others and the film takes a trip to bizarro world towards the end and you stop caring, but for Robert Englund's directorial debut, 976-Evil has more style than expected and at least two great performances from Stephen Geoffreys and Sandy Dennis. Geoffreys is great as the put upon high school dork who gains his confidence due to demonic possession and Dennis swings from the rafters as his campy religious freak mother. Also worth seeing for some great effects even if it seems like this movie got the MPAA on a bad day. Even the so-called uncensored version feels like it was cut to ribbons.

I watched this movie after years of really wanting to. Funny that I watch it now in an age where a number such as this is pretty outdated. I also am surprised to see that Robert Englund directed this one and I think he did okay as most of the problems I found with the film came more from the story and from the editing. The imagery is great and it has some okay acting as it is not stiff, the end has the killer getting a bit too cute with the one liners actually reminding one a bit of Freddy Krueger's lines in the Elm Street horror films.

The story has a strange phone number that seems to predict things a bit too well being used by a dude named Spike; however, Spike soon stops using the number after nearly being killed by a runaway car. His cousin, though, finds the number and listens to it and heeds it and is soon transformed into a supernatural killer with the power to take revenge on all those that wronged him.

The story is a bit rushed, we are introduced to Spike who finds the number and then quickly uses it. He has a girlfriend who seems integral to the plot, then cast away suddenly. There is a guy who is sort of a reporter that seems to be important, but at the same time he doesn't. A teacher who seems inconsequential becomes a main character at the end. Editing that made me wonder what was going on at times. Spike, who seems to be the main character, disappears just as his cousin begins his killing spree and does not reappear till the final showdown. Still, loved the imagery especially at the end as Hoax (the cousin) has some interesting powers. Hoax is played by Stephen Geoffreys, best known as Evil from Fright Night. He is pretty much the same character, just a bigger nerd this time around.

The film had some good moments and I liked it somewhat. Just needed work (a running theme in most horrors). They needed to either establish that teacher and reporter more or simply do not have them at all. They could have had Spike try to dig for further evidence or something. The ending though has some nice kills and effects, but it also has some pretty bad one liners. It is as if they were trying to make Hoax sound like Freddy Krueger at the end with the puns and such. I am glad I finally saw this one though, because now I can watch 976-EVIL II as I have that one in a collection of DVDs. I caught this one on Encore.

Stephen Geoffreys is the type of actor that Bob Saget and Eminem wish they could be! Stephen takes a bland horror flick and transforms it into a surreal epic! Stephen is Hoax, a shut-in of a teenager who lives with his insane and controlling mother. Stephen rules, dude! He is one of the best actors that I can think of, and his performance in this film will make you, as the viewer, feel quite a variety of emotions all at once! Good stuff, man!

Receiving a strange calling card, a teen living with his cousin realize that a growing obsession with the horoscope line after it's predictions come true realize he's gained Satanic powers through the line and when a spate of violent murders occurs they ban together to stop him.

For the most part, this here wasn't all that bad. One of the main elements to this one is the fact that this is one of the cheesiest films of it's time, as most of this is taken up by the general tone of the plot. The very idea of it's central premise, being invested of Satanic powers through a horoscope hot-line is pretty goofy, and yet there are certain scenes here that play off that goofiness with gusto here as the action of that occurring is where this one really gets enjoyable. The opening stalking scene of the victim being blown up and set on fire in a phone booth, having the spiders in the oven- dinner, the bathroom stalking when he's possessed taking out the gang- members who bullied him and the second poker game held during the rampage are perfect examples of the cheesiness throughout here, as they should not be taken seriously and yet come across as perfectly serious during it's time. As well, the film's at its best at the last half hour, which is where all the fun really starts to happen since the body count picks up and we get the highlight with the trip through the frozen house is ably chilling as it contains a few nice suspense sequences and features a really nice jump at the end in addition to the big final confrontation that works rather nicely. Alongside the fine gore for the kills and the great cheese here, these are the film's positive points as there wasn't a whole lot against this one. One of the biggest detriments, which is also it's greatest asset, is the high amount of cheese on display. While it makes the film a lot of fun, the fact is that it makes it appealing only to those who enjoy that in their films. For those who want it more serious, the cheese here will make it a lot harder to get into. The central premise is a little hard to swallow, the joke- filled nature of it drags it down slightly, and the biggest drawback is the tone given to the film. There's a bluish hue surrounding most of the film that gives it a low-budget feel and really does make it a little tougher to sit through. The other big problem against it is a slow beginning. This is a necessity to build it up, but to make the first forty minutes of it so uneventful beyond setting up angles to play off later is a problem to overcome. Though not as prominent as the cheese factor, it still hurts it to a degree. Likewise, the rather confusing narrative doesn't help this by seemingly introducing characters here for no real reason and letting them survive as they do is a little surprising, which doesn't really do the film many favors either, and all told these here are the film's biggest issues.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, a brief sex scene and drug use.

Well I personally found the film about average. The story centres around cousins Spike (Patrick O'Bryan) and Hoax (Stephen Geoffreys). Also in the picture is Hoax's religious nut mother Lucy (Sandy Dennis), who wins my award for the most annoying character I've ever seen in a movie, and that's not a good thing.

At the start of the movie Spike loses a game of poker to a gang and as a result must give up his motorcycle. Not really seeming too bothered by it all he phones up a number, 976-EVIL, which puts him through to some cheesy sounding "horrorscope" service. Paying some attention to what he hears Spike finds a way of getting the money for the gang so he isn't required to give up his bike. Hoax, who is basically a nerd, the subject of constant bullying also in turn phones the number and starts to hear the twisted horrorscope's advice...

The film itself is ok. Nothing special at all, but fun in it's own little way. O'Bryan and Geoffrey's performances were quite good, unlike the majority of the cast. 976-Evil is badly made in my opinion. The acting is bad and the direction is lacklustre...but lets give Rob some credit, at least the film wasn't too bad. The major problems with the film lie in the screenplay, acting in horror can be forgiven occasionally, and sometimes shaky direction can actually be of benefit to horror, but the screenplay needed to be solid and it wasn't.

The plot evolves far too quickly in some places and not near fast enough in others. After a particular incident in the film involving fish falling from the sky Jim Metzler is introduced as Marty, a journalist for a religious magazine, or at least I think he was, at one point he did pass himself off as a private investigator! Considering the rather small amount of information Marty was given throughout the film he certainly seems to trace the problems to the '976-EVIL' number rather quickly, this to me was a major plot fall.

Also some characters in the film just seemed to appear, while others disappeared for a while then came back with no explanation for their absence or why they've chosen to suddenly show up. The whole story seems very inconsistent on the speed at which it moves. To watch this film and fully enjoy it I think you need to keep concentrating which unfortunately in a film like this can be quite difficult to do now and again, but I think that's the only way for the whole film to make sense.

All in all a quite enjoyable, yet unsatisfying horror film, don't expect too much gore though there were some quite cool special effects and make-up and don't expect a masterpiece. Also, as the story is rather weak don't expect too much from that either, otherwise you will be disappointed. It's the type of horror film I'd probably watch again on sleepless nights.