Evil Things
Directed by: Dominic PerezStarring: Elyssa Mersdorf, Morgan Hooper, Ryan Maslin, Torrey Weiss, Laurel Casillio Synopsis: It's Miriam's 21st Birthday. As a birthday gift, Miriam's aunt Gail has decided to lend Miriam her beautiful country house for an entire weekend. Aunt Gail's country house is amazing. It's a four bedroom house surrounded by breathtaking mountains and miles and miles of woods. Miriam invites her young college friends Cassy, Mark, Tanya and Leo to join her at the country house for what looks to be the most amazing weekend ever. Things get off to a sinister start though, as they encounter a van on route that starts stalking them. After they get settled into the house, they are unsettled by strange noises and occurances which lead them to believe that their “friend” in the van might still be nearby...and then a videotape arrives on their doorstep... (NB: that "black bar" effect over the eyes is only for the trailer's benefit and doesn't appear in the film proper.)Review: Evil Things is definitive proof that the “found footage” genre has been done to death now, and that it needs to be left alone for a while. While there is nothing particularly wrong with Dominic Perez’s debut feature, there is very little here that we haven’t seen before. It’s very competently made but has very little impact. I pointed out the pitfalls of the “found footage” genre in my review of Atrocious , quoting fellow internet critic Outlaw Vern’s summation of the genre. The photography and acting are both very good – there is very little “shaky cam” going on and the cast are very believable, their fear at key moments very palpable. The problems arrive in the “downtime”. Unlike a “proper movie”, there is very little in the way of narrative. There is no real drama, the threat comes from outside the group and we the audience have no clue as to it’s schedule or agenda. Luckily, the film changes tack with the arrival of the videotape on their doorstep. The footage it contains is very unsettling indeed, and it’s worth taking a moment to put yourself in their position as they watch that tape’s contents, and imagine how they go from being agitated to down-right petrified. Which is of course the antagonist’s plan... That sense of dread is unfortunately the only thing for the film, as there are grand total of one jump-scares, and that amounts to a door slamming (and keen-eyed viewers might want to take a second to wonder whether that particular scare even makes sense...) 
One thing that needs to be taken into consideration with Evil Things is the presentation. This has been designed to truly resemble a “found footage” tape, a tape that has been edited together by person(s) unknown from two sources, one of which is Leo’s new camera which he insists on using during every minute of the weekend. There is nothing, no narrative, no extra exposition added to elaborate on what’s been presented, other than a FBI evidence card seen at the beginning and end of the tape. There is a scene towards the end where we actually see “someone” in silhouette actually editing the footage together (and presumably adding the incidental music which appears out of nowhere in the final act!).If you can bear that in mind when it comes to the finale, then you might get some mileage out of it. The ending truly has a feel of being the product of a deranged mind and strongly suggests that by the time the FBI have analysed the tape, another group of teens will be being stalked. For everyone else, and especially those actually expecting to see the climax of a horror movie, they are going to be sorely disappointed: Evil Things ends as an enigma inside a conundrum wrapped around a puzzle. But to try and distract you from this disappointment, try and work out whether there is one, or more, antagonists... Verdict: Although well-acted and well made, Evil Things adds very little to the “found footage” genre, and coming so quickly behind “Atrocious”, seems to be very bland in comparison. It does have an interesting tweak with the videotape, and the ending needs to be taken in context, this is likely to leave you frustrated rather than scared. 5 out of 10 (MikeOutWest) New! CommentsHave your say about this! Leave me a comment in the box below. |
