FILM REVIEW: THE EVIL (aka HOUSE OF EVIL) (1978)

Richard Crenna leads an excellent cast in the horror film THE EVIL (1978).  Crenna is C.J. Arnold who is a professor who recently purchased a civil war era house in need of lots of repairs.  He assembles a group of old colleagues and students to help him restore the house but while exploring the basement of the house he comes across a doorway in the floor.  When he removes a cross keeping the doorway closed he unleashes an evil force that locks them all in the house with no means of escape.  The evil force decides that each person in the house is nothing more than a plaything at its disposal and C.J. and his friends must find a way out of the house before they are all killed.

As ludicrous as the concept for the film is Crenna has always had a knack for grounding these types of films such as DEATH SHIP (1980), DEVIL DOG: THE HOUND OF HELL (1978), NIGHTMARE (1974), LEVIATHAN (1989), and MURDER TIMES SEVEN (1990), to name a few.  He has a great supporting cast in Joanna Pettet, Andrew Prine, Cassie Yates, George O’Hanlon, Jr., and Victor Buono, to name a few.   The only main problem with the film is the fact that the female characters are not very fully developed (a product of ‘70s horror films) and make the film dated.

Written by Galen Thompson and Gus Trikonis, who also directs, the film is a very suspenseful thriller that has a mean streak in terms of how each person is killed making for a very entertaining film.  Only when the film delves into religious philosophy towards the end does the film misstep but this can be forgiven as there were many films of this era that tackled this question.  Otherwise this is a very interesting film.

Film Review: DEF BY TEMPTATION (1990)

There is a deadly temptress plaguing the bars of New York City killing men one by one in the film Def By Temptation (1990).  Joel (James Bond III) has decided to make a trip to the city to visit his best friend K (Kadeem Hardison) because he’s having a crisis of faith.  Joel is from the country where he has been studying as a minister-in-training but journeying to the city his eyes has been opened to the underbelly of the dark side of life starting with a dark temptress (Cynthia Bond) whom shows him passion and seduction like he’s never experienced before in his life. 

Now with the help of K and Dougy (Bill Nunn), a barfly who knows more about the suspicious disappearances of men, Joel’s faith will be tested as will his soul as he must overcome the greatest evil he has ever faced.  Written and directed by Bond the film is a character driven film about a man whose sheltered life and faith is tested when he comes up against an unspeakable evil.

Def By Temptation has a unique charm in that it is a film made up entirely of an African American cast and is a horror film with a female antagonist that is ruthless and relentless while also tackling the ideas of faith and religion in a battle between good and evil.  Some of the film’s techniques may seem dated and simplistic but the story itself holds up well despite these flaws.