Video Nasty - Evilspeak

Evilspeak

1981

Leisure Investment Company / Coronet Film Corporation : Warner Bros. / Anchor Bay Entertainment / Warner Home Video

7.25 / 10

What surprises me most about this title is that I haven't seen it up until recently, as it's right up my alley... dark, nasty, and messed up.

This is the story of Stanley Coopersmith, a strange gawky kid who finds it hard to make friends and so ends up as a joke and punching bag for the other cadets at military school.  However, while he's being punished by having to tidy up the chapel's basement he finds a secret room and a book of Satanic spells and worship. These were hidden away by a rogue priest Father Esteban, who had been banished to the Americas.

Unable to read the scriptures in the book, Coopersmith uses the schools' computer to translate them. and when he finally carries out the Black Mass all hell breaks loose at the school and the chapel.

One of the better aspects of this film is the cast as it stars Clint Howard as Coopersmith and it's really nice to see him in a lead role and not just playing a strange and creepy secondary role.  Though he's young here, he does a good job.

Then there's R J Armstrong who plays Sarge, the drunk janitor looking after the school and chapel, who hates kids and has it out for Coopersmith.  Armstrong is great in this portrayal, he gives the air of a man you just wouldn't trust.

Charles Tyner does a brilliant representation of a prig of a Colonel who finds it demeaning and below him to run the military school.

Finally, Richard Moll is excellent in the role of the Evil Father Esteban.  He adds the right amount of power, menace and violence to the character to make him believable as being the hand of Satan.

For the time, the special effects would have been superb, especially the computer graphics (which today are cringeworthy and laughable) and most are still passable today.  The climax of the film in the destruction of the God's house is very well done and created.

All in all, this is a pretty decent horror movie with a lot of the right elements and well directed by Eric Weston. A definite watch for a horror nut and if you're not, it's still worth a look-see on a dark night...

Nergling - The Video Nasties Scare - Evilspeak

Video Nasty - Dead And Buried

Dead And Buried

1981

Barclays Mercantile Industrial Finance

Embassy Pictures / Vestron Video / Blue Underground

7.5 / 10

Oh my God, this was so nearly a perfect horror film...  So what went wrong?

This starts off brilliantly with the titles which give the audience the feel of a classy and elegant movie.  This is a bold move for a horror but the director, Gary Sherman knew exactly what he was doing.  Sherman continues this ambiance into the opening scene of a photographer snapping piccies of driftwood and fishing tackle.  He is joined on the beach by the beautiful Lisa (played by Lisa Blount) and after a few flirtations she removes her blouse and asks if she could be a model.  As the photographer closes in for a romantic clinch...

This is when all hell breaks loose...  I cannot say anything else otherwise "Spoilers" - and we don't like them do we.

The opening sequence does a fantastic job of drawing in the viewer in and making them wonder just what the hell is going on in the little seaside village of Potter's Bluff.  It's up to Sheriff Dan Gillis (strongly portrayed by James Farentino) to solve the murders and the mysteries behind them.  Coroner William G Dobbs (splendidly played by Jack Albertson) is helping him with his investigations.  These are the main two characters in the movie and are well crafted with their own personal attributes and qualities making them likable and relatable.

The writers, Jeff Millar, Alex Stern, who wrote the story based on a Chelsea Quinn Yarbro novel, and screenwriters Ronald Shusett and the skillful Dan O'Bannon, give the Zombie mythos a new spin.  Along with special effects wizard Stan Winston they all create a tangible tension and eeriness that adds to the power and atmosphere of the movie.

Then the reveal comes... 

...and everything falls apart.

Suddenly the strong personality of Sheriff Gillis becomes that of a screaming and wailing weak-willed person; the off-beat Dodds becomes comically insane; Gillis' wife Janet (played by Melody Anderson) falls apart mentally; and the story ends with a whimper rather than a scream.  This ending makes a brilliant movie a mess and a shambles.

However, it's still worth watching for the earlier part of the film and not the last ten minutes.  I now want to find a copy of the novel to read to see if this ending is also the book's finale... it may work better in words and in imagination than it does on film.