Movie Review - The Evil Within

The Evil Within

2017

Supernova LLC / The Writers Studio : Vision Films

7.5 / 10

This is a special movie, not just because it's a brilliant and original horror movie, but because of the story behind the making of the film.

The writer and director Andrew Getty started this film back in 2002 when it was titled "The Storyteller" and was released in 2017 under the current title, two years after Getty's death due to an ulcer causing internal bleeding.  This is a shame as he spent so much money on the project and wasn't around to see his creation brought to life... or take credit for it.

The story is about a mentally handicapped man, Dennis (expertly portrayed by Frederick Koehler), living in his brother's, John (Sean Patrick Flannery), care.  Dennis is plagued by twisted and dark nightmares for which a tall grey man claims responsibility.  Then one day John and his girlfriend, Lydia (Dina Meyer) bring home a mirror for Dennis' bedroom.  Dennis hates the mirror as he doesn't want to loose his hamsters like he's lost his comic collection.  However, his decision changes when his reflection starts talking to him and offers him a way to get better... to get smarter...

It was the trailer that had me salivating at the thought of watching the film.  However, be aware the movie isn't how it looks on the trailer.  Instead of an exciting run-of-the-mill horror what Getty gives his audience is a deep and powerful insight into the human psyche and not just through Dennis, but all of the other characters have some kind of dysfunction.  John is hiding a secret.  Lydia has relationship issues.  Even Pete (Tim Bagley) - who is only in the film a few minutes - hates people touching him and invading his person space.

The film can even be taken a couple of ways.  It could be a very dark psychological thriller or it could be a supernatural entity possession, making it a horror.  It works in either genre.

The star of the show is Frederick Koehler as Dennis.  He is brilliant at portraying the character, giving him facial ticks, body form, hand gestures, and a speech impediment.  His acting is really believable and draws the audience into the film more.  However, it's Flannery's and Meyer's characters that appear flat at times, a little too dimensional and wooden; I think this may be the characters they were playing or the direction at the time of the scenes, as both of them are good actors.  It just jars the mood and atmosphere at times and this is a bad thing as the movie depends on mood and atmosphere, which Getty builds beautifully.  It's also great to see Michael Berryman again.

This film reminds me of Phantasm in its essence and spirit, and like Phantasm I will gladly watch this film again... and again... and, probably, again...  There are a lot of interesting and well thought out concepts in this story, which should send a chill down your spine.  However, if you prefer shock horror over creepy and atmospheric then this probably won't be your cup of tea.

  

Movie Review - The Crooked Man

The Crooked Man

2016

The Cast

This was a better film than I thought it would be.  As soon as I saw the SyFy tag, I thought, OH OH!!!  So it was a good day as I was pleasantly surprised by this little film.

Though it follows plenty of other movies in the genre, particularly The Ring, Candyman, and Bloody Mary, the lightness with which the subject is directed make this a stronger film, than a run-of-the-mill clone.

Instead of watching a video or saying a name into a mirror a few times you have to sing the song which will kill you.  Seems like a daft thing to do...  I mean it's known as "The Song That Will Kill You."  But when you're a girl having a sleepover with her girlfriends and mum stops you watching scary films, what else will you do... especially if you're dared.  No sooner has the song been sung than the Crooked Man is hunting.  Unfortunately for our heroine, the Crooked Man makes good his escape leaving her stood over the dead body of her friend, with a bloody dripping knife in her hand.

Years later, she returns to her hometown where she realises the Crooked Man has been a patient killer.  On her arrival, people start dying again.

As I previously stated, it's the direction along with the above average acting that keep this boat from sinking.  There are four decent actors on the cast, though their skills aren't used much, Dina Meyer, Marco Rodriguez, Amber Benson, and Michael Jai White (who gets top billing).  These get very little air time as it's the youngsters the film is about, as it should be.  Though at times, all of the newbies, have scenes where they falter and the director decided not to shoot again.  These are few and far between and mostly don't occur at pivotal moments of the story.

The main drawback is the Song itself as it's a Nursery Rhyme, though it doesn't depict a killer, in fact, the opposite is true.  The Rhyme is about Sir Alexander Leslie who resolved the religious and political freedom of Scotland.  So this Hollywood bastardisation of an English Nursery Rhyme stuck in my claw.  The writers could have looked up the origin and worked out a different hook for the Crooked Man, but that might have been too much work...

Another thing that disrupts the flow of the film is the location of the Crooked House.  Saying the rhynme and the spirit are worldwide, I find it amazing that the House is within driving distance.  The location crew couldn't find a crooked tree next to a couple of rocks where the animators could render a CGI Crooked House.  So they got them to render all of the above in a field.  Bad luck for them, the budget must have been blown on the Crooked Man's disjointed movements, which works really well, they should have added bone cracking sounds to it as well, it would've made it nastier.  The crew would've been better getting the polystyrene rocks and fake tree from the Original Star Trek as the CGI landscape was pathetic.

That said, I did like the way the heroine could defeat the Crooked Man, though I've seen differing takes on this feature, it was put to good use.

All-in-all, it's not too bad a film.  It was wet and cold outside when I watched the movie and eventhough there were times when I was annoyed I was never bored.  So if you find yourself in this situation, turn the lights down, leave your brain at the door, and cuddle up with a loved one and enjoy.

I give this a daemonic scare of 5.25 out of 10.

The Trailer