To kako

I didn't really expect much from this movie, being a Greek zombie movie and all, but my prejudice was quickly put to shame. "Evil" (or "To Kako") turned out to be somewhat of a surprise.

Think a mixture of "28 Days Later" and Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive" (aka "Braindead"), then you sort of have the thing that is "Evil".

Personally, I am not keen on zombies that are super agile and running around, as they are in this movie. That being said, then the director of this movie managed to uphold a very "28 Days Later" feeling all throughout the entire movie, and for that, thumbs up.

There was a good amount of gore in the movie as well, though the movie was fairly low-budget, they managed to make the effects look nice and realistic enough. And again, thumbs up on that.

However, one thing that didn't really sit well with me was the characters in the movie. They weren't really given much space to unfold or develop. And as such, they were fairly two-dimensional. There were some attempts thrown in at being funny, particularly from the Argyris guy, whether or not that is good, is a personal preference, I, however, just didn't find the forced humor at place in the movie.

Now, this movie is of course a mile and a stone away from being up to most Hollywood productions, but still, if you are a zombie aficionado, there is some good stuff here and good entertainment, and "Evil" should - and deserves - a place in the movie collection of any zombie aficionado.

So you might wonder why I am only rating "Evil" a 5 out of 10 rating. Well, simply because I don't find agile, running zombies particularly enjoyable, and also because of the misplaced attempts of humor in the movie. "Evil" has a lot to offer, but with some adjustments, it could have been so much more. But with "Evil", Greece has put itself on the world map of the zombie infection.

On a closing note, then the ending of the movie was just priceless. It was the best part of the entire movie. And what a way to leave the audience hanging. Several rotting thumbs up for the bold ending of the movie.

An evil force is awakened in downtown Athens transforming the unsuspecting citizens into raving zombies. The few survivors will have to fight hard for their lives. To the death.

I have come to have fairly low expectations from the zombie subgenre of horror films. Every year there seems to be one good one and fifty bad ones. For every "Dead Snow" or "Zombieland" we get any number of kids with a $50 budget slapping makeup on and filming themselves trudging through the city... and it gets old.

That being said, this was a pleasant surprise. Not being overly familiar with Greek cinema I was not sure what to expect -- would there be a budget? Could the actors act? Could the director direct? I am pleased to say the film had all three.

While at times it devolves into poor computer graphics, it is largely an entertaining horror comedy, with more than enough blood and guts to satisfy just about anyone. I loved the reminiscence of some of the great splatter films ("Evil Dead" and "Dead Alive" come to mind). And the clever shots reminded me -- in a good way -- of "Run Lola Run".

There are also some very well-placed crane and overhead shots. If these were real (and not a computer trick), they were incredible. And even if they were a computer trick, they were a darn good one. I would gladly recommend this to any blood-and-guts zombie fan.

It's the first Greek attempt to make a splatter film. Just for that it deserves a credit and an overlook for it's low budget. But believe me this doesn't mean that this movie cannot be compared to Hollywood zombie movies because they couldn't afford tanks, mansions and 1000 zombies. This movie is exactly what a zombie movie has to be. The effects are awesome, and not only for the Greek standards. The zombies are so believable, just for an example a taxi driver happened to pass with his car in some of the "zombie's" takes and started running with his car. The directing is a bit strange but stunning, your eyes are stuck in the screen not to miss anything. The actors are amateurs but play their roles very well and were a bit creepy in some of the scenes when they began to act crazy! I give an 10 for a Greek movie and an 8 for a film not to be judged by it's country. You must see it, it's somehow different for any zombie you have seen so far and it won't disappoint you! I'm really looking forward for "To Kako 2".

p.s. The ending is just NOT a Hollywood one, but i don't want to spoil it, i loved it though!

"To Kako" (aka "Evil") was a film that I didn't expect much out of. A Greek zombie film seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it a noble effort despite it's flaws.

The film does come off as fairly novice. It may be cultural boundaries, but I am also picky. Certain people around here call this film "trash", but I don't think that is fair. Compared to Romero's films, EVERY zombie film COULD be considered somewhere between second rate and "trash". This film is somewhere in between, but is worth a look if you like the genre.

What I did like about the film what what they were able to do with an obviously limited budget. The acting is nothing above average but also not "horrible" as some have suggested. Given the budget, the prosthetics and other optical FX were passable. I was relieved to not see an assault of CGI animated gore. I found a couple of the effects laughable, but others to be much better.

There are come continuity flaws, and some moments where the film drags, but the story is fairly well crafted, and the the gore-hounds in the audience will be happy at the amount of splatter and nastiness. Also, some of the dialog moves rather fast, and you may find yourself having to read a bit quicker than usual. But if you can get past these few limitations, you may find this to be an enjoyable movie. I would give it a 4 or 5 normally, but since it is a cut above the majority of non-Romero zombie films, I gave it a 6. You zombie buffs see it for yourselves and decide for yourselves.

First of all, let's make clear that from the technical viewpoint, this movie isn't even close to what we might call "a decent attempt". The acting is in general horrible, the directing (a few scenes aside) ranges from inadequate to disturbing etc. In a nutshell, there seems to be a mix of very low budget and talentless crew that add up to poor performances and visuals.

However, the story is worth noticing for the way it handles contemporary Greek capital city characters. The group of survivors trying to hold on to life is a mixture of everyday people one would definitely come across if one hanged around Athens for a day or two. That keeps the (otherwise simple) story going and serves as a comical relief Greeks can easily respond to.Furthermore, the movie's ending offers a great visual and also a very satisfying conclusion.

To sum up, this is a rather poor attempt towards a decent Greek splatter film. Even with a low budget, there is no excuse for some of the shortcomings of it. However, it really DESERVES a viewing, because 1) it will make you laugh, 2) the characters will make you feel right at home and 3) it's a Greek splatter horror film, and you won't find many of these (it's the only one I've come across so far).