On Evil Grounds (2007)

Pretty Good

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Absolutely Fantastic

The acting in this movie is really good.

There are various ways to interpret "On Evil Grounds", the mental state of seriousness definitely NOT being one of them. This incredibly low-budgeted and amateur produced "new-age Grindhouse" movie is completely shameless, vulgar, tasteless, nonsensical, offensive and demented. At the festival where I attended the Belgian premiere, writer/director Peter Koller – as well as half of the film's cast – was present and he himself described the film as a psychotic survival-version of … "Romeo and Juliet". Yeah, okay! Who knows what to expect from a vague and bizarre one-line summery like that? Only five minutes far into the film, however, and you'll have to admit it's a pretty accurate description! We follow a young couple referred to as Romeo and Juliet. He's a sadistic freak in desperate need of anger management and she's a hopeless romanticist with insatiable sexual desires. They're looking for a loft to settle down together but run into a pair of freaks that are even crazier then themselves. The real estate agent and his boss, some kind of inbred car technician, use the loft to lure young couples, capture them and subsequently submit them to sheer torture. Romeo literally ends up to his neck in trouble, but he's not exactly an obedient hostage and Juliet won't surrender without putting up a fight, neither. The comparisons between "On Evil Grounds" and Tex Avery's lifework are more than justified. The filming style, sense of humor and especially the violence in this movie are very cartoonesque. In terms of exploitation/horror cinema, this translates as OTT extreme vulgarity and splatters that yet never once feels disturbing or even remotely scary. Peter Koller and C° are simply out to disgust people and succeed quite well, I may add. There's random vomiting, wife beating, rough sex, bondage and the wildest masturbation scene ever filmed. Needless to say "On Evil Grounds" isn't a very good film story-wise, but it uses some terrific locations, ingenious set pieces and inventive photography. The limited cast gives away enthusiast performances and Peter Koller obviously knows his horror/spaghetti western/euro-trash classics.

'On Evil Grounds' clearly shows, what is possible if you are a passionate filmmaker. Without large budget, Peter Koller made it to create an absolutely extraordinary movie, which contains new, funny and sometimes absurd ideas. The good cast leaves no doubt about that movie, especially Kari Rakkola in his role as a psychopathic but pitiable killer is just perfect.I saw the movie and the director at the 'Diagonale' film festival in Graz and I was thrilled by such a great genre mix. Solid trash horror elements mixed with totally funny scenes make 'On Evil Grounds' a movie that you want to see again.Thumbs up for the young digital film-making community!

'On Evil Grounds' is a great popcorn fun flick to watch! The genre being grindhouse/a bit horror-thriller/comedy delivered in a 70's Italo-Western look, I enjoyed watching this independent movie. What really caught my attention though, was the fact - I happened to learn about it afterward - that the apparent budget was only 50K (ok,...Euros, but still)! It did catch my attention, because the on screen production value compares to that of much higher budgeted films. Me, being an independent filmmaker myself, I have to give 'hands up' to the crew for achieving this. I suppose the reason it only gets a high 7 out of 10 from me has mainly to do with the script!

"On Evil Grounds" is very special: It shows that you need not many ingredients to make a great movie: - take takes a greasy-crazy real-estate broker - take a strange young couple - take a maniac - make them all completely odd but lovable characters - make them all fetishists of violence - put them in an absurdly violent situation - add s..x - add blood - add gallon of fun, and - important! - - stir them all until they go nuts one certain afternoon...And you get a visually compelling and must-see "Tour De Force" through comedy, slapstick and unnecessary violence <:)))Of course there's everything else to make "On Evil Grounds" a full meal, like the "funny wannabe-cool cops" sides (austrian!!), a messed-up but rotten-aesthetic setting to garnish the dish, and of course a bucket - wait, what do you need a bucket for? Oh, yeah, for the head *under* the bucket! ;)