It can never be a good sign when you have a cast literally chock-full of fantastic and beloved B-movie actors/actresses, and yet the film itself is completely unknown.
Oh well, "Evil Spirits" perhaps isn't the schlocky & purely fun horror flick that it should have been, but it's worth seeing if only for the names in the cast and the wondrously absurd characters they are depicting. Karen Black, one of the most astounding horror-wenches in history, shines as utterly deranged landlady Ella Purdy who butchers the residents of her LA boardinghouse, but keeps collecting their social security cheques. That's not such an unusual plot for a cheap horror flick, but the film is memorably because every single resident in the house is utterly insane. Mrs. Purdy herself, of course, because she kills and still has conversations with her sarcastic dead husband George. Also her tenants are quite bonkers, including a peeping tom novelist (Michael Berryman), a self-declared spiritual medium (Martine Beswick), a mute girl addicted to dancing (Debra Lamb), and an alcoholic who somehow resurrects after every murder attempt. Oh right, there's also a sort of cannibalistic ghoul chained in the basement.
"Evil Spirits" is primarily silly and tongue-in-cheek; - not too gory and definitely not scary or suspenseful. There are a couple of lovely highlights (Lamb's strip-dance, a few eye-stabbings, dead George's sardonic remarks, ...) but the film is overall too slow-paced, occasionally dull, and unsurprising. More veteran horror icons show up in tiny supportive roles, like Robert Quarry, Bert Remsen, and Yvette Vickers.
