The Evil (1978) User Reviews

Very underrated '70s Horror Classic

[tomleyland · 7/10 · 7 May 2019]

The special effects in this film are extremely effective and quite good for the time. In fact, the Ghost effects in particular are even good by today's standards. The later scenes of the Emilio Vargas Ghost are especially impressive and very effective. This movie goes to show that newer SFX techniques are not always better. One can only wish Hollywood would begin doing away with CG and embrace these masterful analog SFX methods.

The story is unique for a Haunted House film and the movie takes things to "The root of all evil" which is often overlooked in these movies.

The movie features the always entertaining Richard Crenna as Dr. C.J. Arnold, a likable shrink and professor, who seeks help from his many former students and patients to help him clean-up an old Victorian Mansion he purchases. From here on-out things get weird, unexplained, and downright sinister.

Lots of disproportionate reactions (typical campy under reactions to what would normally scare the hell out of anyone) to the paranormal events unfolding around the actors. While most of the acting is classic camp (overacting/underacting), Crenna manages to entertain and deliver a solid performance as is typical for him.

There are some genuinely scary moments in the film and also some funny ones.

Victor Buono turns in a devilish performance and is perfectly cast.

This movie is really quite good even amongst its peers and will entertain.

"It's not the house. It's something in the house!"

[lost-in-limbo · 6/10 · 2 October 2010]

A daft, but entertainingly modest low-budget late 70s haunted house variation with horror comic lashings (intentional or not) in what becomes a traditional battle between good vs. evil. Nothing surprises, as no cliché is left untouched, but director Gus Trikonis' able execution is quite well done for what it is. Some creepy or outrageous moments and there's a solid cast led by the ever-reliable Richard Crenna, as he plays a psychologist along with his wife (a doctor) buy an abandon mansion (which does have something of a gloomy past) to hopefully restore to use as a clinic. So some friends and students of his go there to help fix it up, but unknowingly to them a devastating satanic force is unleashed and they find themselves trapped inside trying to survive.

The raw atmospheric make-up emit's a dominating presence, from the grand vast secluded mansion to the eerily placed music score, imaginative camera placement and cue in the cackling evil laughter of the evil entity. It constructs an ominously nightmarish strangle-hold, as it grows claustrophobic but at the same time the whirlwind becomes a random schlock-fest with its climax being the tip of it. It's not as unnerving as it could have been and the ending it feebly done. The story dynamics are old-hat (a stormy night) and it's slow to get going with some plodding opening dialogues, but soon that's made way for impulsively staged deaths / encounters --- consisting of spirit manifestations, possessions, fires, self-mutilation and bodies being thrown about. When these strange occurrences transpire, it's even mentioned for no one to go anywhere on their own, but do they listen… of course not. The dedicated cast also features lively performances by Andrew Prine, Joanna Pettet, Cassie Yates and a memorable sequence with Victor Buono.

Fairly well-done.

[gridoon · 6/10 · 23 February 2001]

The familiarity of the premise (yet another haunted house, ominous sounds, good-vs-evil battles, etc) places a burden on this movie right from the start, a burden that the competent direction and the above-average acting cannot quite shake off. Ultimately, "The Evil" is just as undistinguished as its title, but it remains a respectable, sometimes even imaginative (the "quicksand" scene) time-spender. (**1/2)

Bell bottom horror!!!

[darkcrash · 28 March 1999]

"The Evil" is a fun 70's horror movie. Low budget, cool location, some attractive and familiar cast members, the comforting presence of Richard Crenna, a fabulous troll-like Buono cameo...all add up to a demonic good time if you're in the mood for it. And check out those slacks on Andrew Prine--are those Angel's Flight pants you're wearing?? (Anybody remember those disco-era items?)

Good haunted house movie, bit of an odd ending though (no spoilers)

[Stevieboy666 · 7/10 · 19 January 2020]

I've been watching horror movies for 40 years or more but The Evil has somehow passed me by. That was until now, just watched it on an old VHS tape (this somehow found itself on the British Video Nasties list under Section 3, goodness knows why!). A bunch of people start renovating a large house with a creepy past. One of them, played by the very attractive Joanna Petter, starts to see ghostly apparitions, a warning about an evil force that lurks in the house. They carry on with their work regardless but spooky things start to happen, people start dying (some of these deaths are pretty inventive) and they find themselves trapped inside by an invisible force. All the while a storm rages outside. As haunted house movies go this was pretty good, it held my attention all the way through. The special effects are good and the film does maintain a level of fear. I did feel that the finale was a little weird, but having Victor Buono play the Devil does at least serve as something of a curiosity. One character turns out to be a practical joker, much to his victims' annoyance. We got to see many more of these, turning up in slasher films of the 1980s. Naturally it does look dated - the fashions, the hair, the cars, even the slapping of a woman's face to calm her down. But I enjoyed it and would certainly recommend it as a supernatural horror movie.

Enjoyable seventies horror

[neil-douglas2010 · 7/10 · 22 September 2022]

Another Haunted House horror movie and this is one of the better efforts. Richard Crenna ( CJ ) and his wife Joanna Pettet ( Caroline ) visit an old house and buy it, planning to base a drug rehabilitation centre there. With a group of young friends they plan to do the place up.

As with all these type of film you wouldn't visit this house if you were paid, but these are sensible people so everything will be ok. Wrong, right from the start Caroline sees a spectral figure and when her husband opens an underground entrance all hell starts to happen. One by one they start getting bumped off. There's something in the house and we find out it's the Devil, if only CJ hadn't opened the entrance nothing would've happened, too late now. It's up to Caroline to save the day and kill the Devil. At the end the house lets them leave.

Decent horror film with good performance from a great cast.

The Evil: 70's horror that goes nowhere good

[Platypuschow · 3/10 · 22 December 2017]

Richard Crenna leads in this lackluster 70's horror effort.

It tells the story of a couple who buy a mansion much in need of restoration, they call in some friends to assist but find themselves trapped inside by a supernatural entity.

Alas very little happens, the story doesn't make a tremendous amount of sense and the whole thing is somewhat of a bore.

The IMDB rating for this is quite high so expected more, sadly it misfired on all cylinders and left me scratching my head.

No idea how this got its 18 rating either, it's stupidly tame stuff.

The Good:

Decent setting

The Bad:

Rather bland

Instantly forgettable

Odd ending

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Satan is an old fat bearded guy with a cross allergy

This a slightly above average horror movie that I would recommend seeing once

[kevin_robbins · 6/10 · 3 September 2022]

The Evil (1978) is a movie that I recently watched on Shudder. The storyline follows a doctor who moves into an old mansion in the south to fix it up and open his new clinic. Unfortunately for him the spirits in the house may not want him there.

This movie is directed by Gus Trikonis (Moonshine Count Express) and stars Richard Crenna (Rambo: First Blood), Joanna Pettet (Casino Royale), Andrew Prine (Gettysburg), George O'Hanlon Jr. (Karate Kid II) and Cassie Yates (Magnum PI).

This is a bit of an uneven movie. I didn't feel there were enough kill scenes and the horror elements were lacking, but there were some scenes I enjoyed. The fire opening reminded me of The Burning. There is a good electrocution sequence, the hanging was fun and there's a unique rape scene. The ghost elements were dated. The acting was good and it was fun watching Richard Crenna in this. The storyline was okay.

Overall, this a slightly above average horror movie that I would recommend seeing once and score a 6/10.

This won't give you the shivers!

[emm · 5/10 · 10 November 1998]

At first, I was expecting a shrieky classic haunted house spook show, but that wasn't it. Granted, THE EVIL suffers from a serious lack of diversity. The movie is wasted only by scenes of people sliding around and people getting killed by electric shocks. There isn't enough to qualify this as spine-tingling fun. It is also laughably dated in visual material! Try to watch that sick girl shake all over the floor in her undies for a change and you'll see why! The only exception would be Andrew Prine sinking in mud and attempting to commit suicide. You know a movie that has a conflicting situation between good and evil, and the end always turns out to be quite simple. Any low-budget horror movie can do A LOT better than this, but for the moment, give THE EVIL some extra credit for its dark and thunderous setting that lives up to my expectations. This one spoils the most hardcore horror fans for not being frightening enough.

Not great

[adriangr · 6/10 · 11 March 2008]

The Evil is a brave but rather lacklustre attempt to make a haunted house film in the same style as "The Haunting". It's not too bad but there are a number of reasons why it doesn't really work. The story is very simple...a number of people rent a large old house for a prolonged stay, only to find once they have moved in that something sinister lives there, but they finds out too late and become locked in – many terrible things happen before they few remaining survivors confront the evil entity itself and try to defeat it.

Let me start with the things that did impress me. First of all the cast are on the whole pretty good, with only a few weak links in there. Joanna Pettet makes a convincing heroine, and most of the supporting cast are pretty good too. And for a while the ghostly apparitions that confront the cast are quite effective, especially the white hazy figure of a man who appears fleetingly and indistinctly at the start of the proceedings. Some off the other effects are not bad either. People are flung about by unseen forces, which looks pretty convincing, and there is an effective scene of an assault on one woman who effectively portrays the situation without looking like she's doing it all herself. There's even a brief gore shot involving a circular saw which surprised me! Plus the film all seems to be shot on location, and even though it's evidently not a high budget production, the scenes all look good and are well filmed.

Now for the drawbacks...well I said the film is set inside what appears to be a genuine large empty house, but the place is one of the ugliest, drabbest mansions I have seen in a haunted house movie It looks far too modern to have any ghostly atmosphere, and the outside in particular completely lacks any stylish design, with some dismally plain stained glass windows and a ridiculously top heavy tower to round things off. However, it's certainly huge, and some of the interior rooms look like banqueting halls, although they are all completely devoid of any effective period features.. bar one amazing over-sized fireplace that the director wisely sets a few scenes in front of whenever he gets the chance.

Apart from that it's just a few below-par performances and lame death scenes that stop the tension from mounting as much as it could do, but things roll on in an agreeably entertaining fashion – until, that is...the CLIMAX! Oh my god. The end of the film has caused much debate among film fans, but I'm afraid I fall squarely on the side of the detractors. The climax of the film is a huge mistake. You can read about it elsewhere (I won't spoil it here), but be warned that the force behind "The Evil" which we all knew was lurking in the cellar turns out to be something so un-frightening that you might lose all respect for the film at this point. Which is a shame as everyone involved in the film is obviously trying hard to make it work. Even the background music swells into completely over-the-top dramatics as each "highlight" appears on screen, but nothing can save things from the really bad closing 15 minutes.

Quite hard to get now, as there seems to be no DVD at time of writing and all VHS versions are out of print. As haunted house films go, it's around the middle mark. It could have been higher in the rankings if the climax had been re-thought, but it's too late now, so "The Evil" is stuck with it's reputation as a failure, and all because of the last 15 minutes, which is a real shame as for most of it's running time, the proceedings are all pretty well handled.

ho-hum

[rdoyle29 · 4/10 · 7 September 2017]

Richard Crenna is a psychologist who buys an old abandoned mansion to open his new clinic in. A bunch of friends, colleagues and former students join him for the weekend to help clean up the place, but evil haunted house stuff happens. This is an extraordinarily dull, by-the- numbers evil house flick until it's ridiculous climax where Victor Buono appears as the Devil in a white suit.

Pretty Good Movie

[jrasche2003 · 9/10 · 5 February 2007]

I remember seeing this movie as a child, and how it scared me! Well one day I was lucky to find the VHS at a garage sale. Last night I finally put it on to a DVD, where it will never ever wear out.

I think Richard Crenna did a great job in this film. I think the film itself was a bit before its time with some of the special effects. The look cheesy compared to todays standards, but for a movie coming out of the 80's it is remarkable.

I am really surprised at how little information is out there about this movie, It is one of those small classics that got lost, and I am sure glad that I still have it!

wickedly entertaining, rigorously told, demonized domicile barnstormer

[Weirdling_Wolf · 7/10 · 23 January 2014]

'The Evil' (1978) is some gloriously spooky vintage horror-house hokum starring the delightfully sleek-limbed scion of celluloid schlock, Andrew Prine! 'The Evil' remains a fun, eerily effective, spectacularly shock-slathered haunted house humdinger! The immaculately stern, splendidly bearded, Richard Crenna and the amiable, Prine disturbingly find themselves at the veritable epicentre of a centuries old battle betwixt the righteous forces of good and the bellicose belligerence of an evil incarnate! Merest minims after entering this foreboding, creepily cavernous abode it becomes patently obvious that this malefic, triumphantly ill-tempered mansion means to do our lovable protagonists a seriously Satanic mischief!

This wickedly entertaining, rigorously told, demonized domicile barnstormer is thrillingly peppered with a shuddersome series of freaky-deakey 'no-more sleepy' set pieces. The full-blooded performances from these talented terror-tweaked Thespians, and Johnny 'Fragment of Fear' Harris's palpitatingly shudder-worthy score really boosts Trikonis's brimstone blasted B-Movie! Any fright fans seeking a supernaturally spooky jolt of old school Satanic panic from the golden age of jumbo cord trews, arbitrary nudity, garish Iron-on transfers and high-heeled sandals will dig heavily on 'The Evil'.

Camp horror movie

[mm-39 · 4/10 · 13 October 2018]

Campy, sad horror movie. One of those sad 70's horror films. One that one watches on fast forward, which is what I did. The house attacks people who are trying to fixer up for a drug rehab center. Well more like a mansion, under a hot springs. The usual cast which dies off and a mystery. The mansion is under a port hole to hell. Campy acting and directing. Well a late night movie. Miss this one. 4 out of ten stars. There is a mystery which I will not tell, but the Evil is looking for a something the usually story plot.

A Chilling Little Flick...

[Gislef · 20 August 1998]

...capped by Victor Buono's walk-on as Satan. Some definite chills and thrills, although the basic premise is mildly unbelievable. Still, if you keep your suspension of disbelief on maximum, it's actually pretty enjoyable.

Heavy on atmosphere, heavy on silliness

[drownsoda90 · 6/10 · 15 September 2019]

"The Evil" follows a doctor and his wife who move into a historic mansion where they prepare to open a rehabilitation center for drug addicts. Unfortunately for them, there is a portal to hell in the basement, and it's about to cause a whole lotta trouble.

This aptly-titled, New Mexico-filmed supernatural horror flick is a romp that is somewhat off the beaten path in terms of the genre; it is not a film that is much talked about, and not one I was even aware of until recently. The good? "The Evil" boasts a fantastic setting: The house in which it takes place is glorious, atmospheric, and has a "Scooby Doo" quality that is delightful. It's a menacing, beautiful house that gives the proceedings an ambiance. The film is also fairly heavy on gore, dispatching the group who become trapped inside the home in a number of ways. The special effects are top-notch for the era, and there is a fantastic poltergeist attack that is well-shot and choreographed.

The bad? "The Evil" is a bit predictable, and when it reaches its final act and the bodies start to pile up, it does begin to feel somewhat rote--not enough to weigh it down entirely, but there is a stiff by-the-numbers quality. The film's real cardinal sin as far as I'm concerned is that it goes to the length of visually representing the devil in a kitschy sequence in a white chamber, with Victor Buono portraying Lucifer himself. It's rather ridiculous, and strips the fear of the unknown that permeates up to that point; on the flip side, it does add to the silly "Scooby Doo" nature of the film. This somewhat ties in with a subplot regarding a Spanish colonel ancestor who haunts the house, but the connection here never feels fully-formed.

All in all, I found "The Evil" an amusing product of its time. In some ways, it feels like a hyper-gory made-for-TV movie, and it has a handful of inventive sequences paired with a fantastic, dark atmosphere accentuated by the sets. For genre fans who appreciate the supernatural horror films of yore, there is some legitimate (and at times outrageous) fun to be had here, despite its shortcomings. 6/10.

Chilling and frightening terror movie about a haunted house causing spooky and creepy phenomena

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 20 January 2022]

A gripping film which still packs a punch with grisly murders , tension and plot twists. A two-hundred-year-old haunted mansion , it is the setting for chosen group . The haunted house has an evil history with tragic accidents, and human misjudgement. It seems which the scary mansion has been the place of weird happenings . A doctor (Richard Crenna) and his wife (Joanna Pettet) buy a Civil War era dilapidated mansion at a bargain price to use as a clinic, and hires a few young colleagues (Andrew Prine , Cassie Yate , Lynne Moody , Mary Louise Weller) to fix it up, but the mansion hides a deadly secrets before the evil demon deciding to utilize its powers by attacking the guests . Later on , they're plunged by demonic forces into supernatural attitude. As he and his associates are victimized by supernatural powers within. Escape is just a nerve-shredding scream for salvation! . Witness Its Awakening. An ancient horror slept beneath the old haunted mansion... nothing could stop its escape! .Their only hope of ever leaving alive or dead is the ghostly resident that built the house ! .

Effective chiller about a strange house located at an isolated location that causes creepy goings-on in its new owners . Mindless and acceptable film is packed with thrills , chills , intrigue , suspense, horror and lots of interminable screams with no sense . Moderated budget makes for big scary scream-feast . An intriguing tale of suspense and survival , as the film contains restless terror and great loads of screams , gore , blood and usual poltergeist phenomenon caused by the curse and the usual ghastly shenanigans with a weird threat that manifests itself with violent attacks, doors suddenly slam , deadly fires and anything else . It is produced in limited budget but well recreated with high grade special effects that are frightening and horrifying to spectator. This is the classic version about the haunted mansion in the infamous ¨Amityville¨ house style , with lots of screams and strange deeds in which some visitors fall into supernatural terror . The story starts little by little , some youngsters arrive , but they find only devilish horror , full of nightmares and extreme terror that turns out to be a haven for a demonic force . And soon the poltergeists make their nasty appearance originating a lot of unusual rattles and creaks , things go wrong when a cross is removed from a stone door in the basement and satan himself begins wreak havoc on each person one by one. The main and support cast are acceptable . Richard Crenna is fine as psychologist buys an old mansion as well as his wife played by Joanna Pettet . The original ¨Exorcist¨ film (by William Friedkin) spawned a wave of demonic possession movies that continues unabated today as ¨Changeling¨ (by Peter Medak with George C Scott), ¨Amytiville ¨(by Stuart Rosemberg with James Brolin , Margot Kidder , Rod Steiger) are two further examples of this sub-genre . Following a great number of clumsy , stupid sequels directed by Damiano Damiani , Richard Fleischer ,Sandor Stern (screenwriter of Amityville), Anthony Hitchcock. And the bad following ones just go on and on attempting to cash in on the success of the first movie . However , recently is made a good new adaptation ¨The Amityville Horror¨(2005) by Andrew Douglas with Ryan Reynolds , Melissa George and Philip Baker Hall . And adding other classic films about haunted houses such as ¨House of a haunted Hill´(1959) by william castle¨, ¨ Haunting¨(1963) by Robert Wise , and ¨The Haunting¨ by Jan De Bont (1999)

The motion picture was rofessionally directed by Gus Trikonis . He is a craftman who directed all kind of genres in films as : The Dark side of terror , County Express, The Student Body , Nashville Girl , The Swinging Barmaids , Supercock , This is my Wife' or Life with Goldie , Five the Hard Way. Later on , he moved to television , directing episodes of known series as Baywatch , Viper , Centinel , Pensacola , Quantum Leap , Burke's Law , New York Undercover, Flash , Wiseguy , SeaQuest DSV , among others . The Evil(1978) rating : 6/10 . Aceeptable and passable .

Victor Buono as the Devil?

[Robbstein · 3/10 · 27 May 2000]

Victor Buono as the Devil? Surely somebody must have been drunk when that casting decision was made. That's not the worst part of this silly mish-mash of sundry haunted house devices but it gets my vote for being the funniest part of it. While the film is by no means terrible it doesn't even approach other 1970's "haunted house" flicks like Amityville Horror, The Changeling and The Legend of Hell House. The Evil can be entertaining in spots, but don't expect to be scared. It's better approached as what it is: a silly horror film made all the sillier by it's over-serious approach.

Routine, but watchable.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 28 June 2015]

So-so B horror fare stars Richard Crenna as C.J. Arnold. C.J.'s a psychiatrist looking to open a drug rehabilitation clinic, and because this is a horror film, he selects a run down historical mansion with an ugly past - because the price was right. As he, his wife Caroline (Joanna Pettet), his associates, students, and patients work to get the place in order, they begin to be violently attacked by the demonic forces residing within the mansion.

"The Evil" does take its horror seriously, so it gets points for that. It gets down to business in record time, and delivers a lot of supernatural shocks during its brief, 89 minute run time. While watching it, however, one can hardly fail to notice that it's pretty thin on story, and we know next to nothing about these characters, so it's kind of hard to care too much about what happens to them. The movie has adequate, if not inspired, direction by exploitation veteran Gus Trikonis ("Nashville Girl"), and generally decent special effects. One main problem is that it all feels very familiar for anybody who's watched their fair share of haunted house cinema. Some viewers may be interested to note that the exploitation element comes into play in a particular sequence where the unfortunate Felicia (Lynne Moody) gets her clothes torn off by an unseen entity. There is a little bit of gore to enjoy, especially when cocky professor Raymond Guy (Andrew Prine) is "motivated" to take a saw to his own hand.

Some of the cast deliver sincere performances. Crenna looks throughout as if all he has on his mind is cashing his paycheck, but Pettet is good as the wife who's all too convinced that strange things are afoot in the mansion. Cassie Yates, George O'Hanlon Jr., Mary Louise Weller, Robert Viharo, Milton Selzer, and Ed Bakey co-star. Guest star Victor Buono is amusingly cast as the Devil Himself; scary he's not, but he is fun to watch.

Hurt by an underwhelming ending, but entertaining enough to watch for about an hour and a half.

Six out of 10.

By the Numbers

[BloodTheTelepathicDog · 4/10 · 16 May 2008]

This is a by-the-numbers horror film starring Richard Crenna and Joanna Pettet as a psychologist duo who purchase and old mansion and invite a small crew of friends and patients to help clean the place up. Unbeknownst to them, the mansion harbors a cellar door - the gateway to hell. If you are in the mood for a clichéd horror film, then look no further, but if you want something inventive, then this little film won't appeal to you.

VIOLENCE: $$$ (Rather subdued, albeit the scene where a guy cuts his hand with a saw - rather gruesome mind you. Fans of inventive deaths scenes will not like this as every character seems to be electrocuted in some fashion).

NUDITY: $ (Nothing to speak of. Mary Louise Weller adds the good looks but her character was underdeveloped).

STORY: $$ (Cliched, but view-worthy nonetheless. This offers nothing new to the genre but the casting of Victor Buono - who is about as menacing as a department store Santa - seems to have attracted a few viewers).

ACTING: $$ (The best performances are by Crenna and Pettet with the other actors simply "phoning-in" their roles. The screenwriter fails to develop any characters outside Pettet's character and seemed to have forgotten about Mary Louise Weller (Animal House) who disappears for about twenty minutes and only resurfaces to be electrocuted like everyone else in boring fashion).

Location of the "house".

[gregcastleberry · 7/10 · 27 May 2005]

The "house" that is the main subject in this movie is called the Montezuma Castle and is located in Las Vegas, New Mexico. I grew up with this castle (as it is called by all the locals) right in my back yard. As a child my friends and i would play around and sometimes inside where a lot of the movie props were still stashed away in one of the many rooms downstairs on the main floor. This building was originally built three different times by the SF&AT Railroad in the late 1800's. The current building still standing was the third and final hotel, called the Montezuma hotel and also nicknamed the phoenix. After it closed during the great depression, it was a friary for many years as well as a sanitarium. It sat empty and fell into bad shape and was bought by the Armand Hammer United World College basically for storage, A movie in 1978 and the occasional tour of historic New Mexico sites. It was renovated in 2000 and rededicated By HRM Queen Noor of Jordan in 2001 as the Davis Center. Its a must see if you're a fan of the movie "The Evil" and even if you're not. The entire movie was shot on location in Las Vegas, NM....all of the interior is that of the Montezuma CAstle and the very beginning is at the New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Nothing special here...

[phibes012000 · 1/10 · 26 February 2006]

The Evil is about a big house where a bad spirit is foolishly unleashed to torture all inside. What a washout of a movie! There's not a single scary scene. Not one! Richard Crenna overplays a nothing role. There's some animated ghosts, a disfigurement by power saw, and a ghost-rape. After nothing special happens for almost the whole movie The Evil gets personified into...Victor Buono. Great! Where did the filmmakers get the idea that Buono is scary. He looks like he was on the bum for a guest starring paycheck to pay his liquor bill. By then its too late to turn it off, because the damn thing is over. I felt like throwing the videocassette out the window. Please avoid this junk! Hopefully it will never see the light of DVD and will fade into obscurity.

Scary movie about a Hunted House

[CooperCom · 8/10 · 30 November 1999]

A very good horror-movie about some demons who have their home in an old mansion. The action starts when the new owners tries to move in. -------- This is a real horror-movie of the very rare kind. You seldom find many of this type. And it's scary as hell. The atmosphere manages to thrill over and over and the whole film moves towards a climax that I barely find in horror-films today. Highly recommended (((((9 out of 10))))

For Sale: Antique House with Unique Portal Leading Straight into Hell

[Coventry · 7/10 · 18 January 2009]

"The Evil" is presumably one of the most prototypic Haunted House movies ever made and the screenplay embraces almost every tiniest clichéd element you expect in a film of this sub genre, from ghostly appearances only one character can see over possessed pet dogs and onto puddles of quicksand in the front garden. I'm rather skeptical towards these haunted mansion movies, because usually they're 90% boredom and false scares, but somehow I always had good feeling about "The Evil" and felt an inexplicable desire to track this fairly obscure late 70's movie down. The good news about "The Evil" is that the plot may be clichéd and unoriginal, at least the film never once suffers from a dull or tedious moment. The production values may look cheap and tacky, but there's always something spectacular or engrossing going on to entertain you. The characters are nitwit stereotypes and yet the players depict them vividly and with great enthusiasm. And so the list of contradictory anticipations goes on, making "The Evil" actually a very worthwhile and underrated gem in its kind. Psychiatrist C.J. Arnold (Richard Crenna) and his devoted wife Caroline purchase a very ancient and isolated mansion with the intention of renovating it into a rehab clinic for some of C.J's toughest drug addict patients. Terrible idea, obviously, since the house contains the most ultimately malignant forces and, during the opening sequences, we already witnessed how these forces viciously killed the caretaker in the incinerator room. Caroline immediately senses the spiritual warnings coming from the builder's restless spirit, but stubborn and overly rational C.J. continues with the renovations together with a handful of friends and patients he recruited to help. When he stupidly removes a sacred cross in the basement, the house promptly locks up all entries and all satanic evil from the pit below becomes unleashed. The disposable supportive characters continue to meet their gruesome and nasty deaths (electrocutions, burned alive, drowned in mud…) until C.J. discovers the house actually had a resident already! No less than Satan himself – played by crazy old Victor Buono and resembling an awful lot like what you would expect God to look like – lives in the pit underneath the place and amuses himself a great deal with terrorizing the new tenants! The script of "The Evil" contains several illogical and excessively campy twists (including the whole 'encounter-with-Satan' finale) but it's all strangely tolerable thanks to the fast pacing and high number of imaginative death scenes. The history of the house and its builder Emilio Vargas, as well as why evil chose to live there exactly, never gets properly clarified and there several more things that don't make the slightest bit of sense, but I guess you have to overlook this sort of things. Director Gus Trikonis maintains an admirably sinister atmosphere throughout the entire movie and some of the set pieces look genuinely macabre. The entrance to the pit, more or less illustrated on the gloomy poster image here on the website, looks and sounds really creepy and the house's auto-lock system of doors and windows is grippingly tense as well. "The Evil" isn't the type of film you check out for its intellectual content or superbly written dialogs, but in case you look for sheer thrills, bloodshed and uncanny ambiance you definitely won't regret a viewing.

Maybe packed a punch in the 70s but tame and boring now

[goods116 · 4/10 · 21 January 2020]

Nothing to see here. If you are even a mild horror film fan you will find this mostly laughable. All powerful haunted house. Based on what happens it seems the house could kill everyone in an instant. A 70s curiosity at best.