Beyond Evil (1980)

Please don't spend money on this.

Just perfect...

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Heading off for a honeymoon, a couple arrives at a small island getaway where they move into a local house only to soon experience strange accidents and as they come to realize they've been touched by the spirit of those who lived there before tries to stop her before she's completely possessed.While it wasn't that great, it did have a few really good parts. One of the main aspects of this one is the early setup featured here which manages to start this one off on a solid note. The early scenes detailing the history of the island and the different local legends involved with the people who live there manage to give this a solid backstory here with the use of satanic rituals and black magic that gets brought up in here. That allows this one to get a solid base throughout here with the possession scenes taking place here with the ritualized chanting and ceremonial setups that it comes off as a great starting piece to the few accidents that come about from the possession. That also leads into the fun here with the fact that there's a lot of cheesy action to this, especially in the later half which has some really great amounts to it that really push this along. There are some really nice scenes here, including the confrontation with the possessed woman in the bedroom which is a really nice, hard-hitting fight, and along with the final fight that throws everything around the room in another rather decent encounter that really works. All of the cheese that's present in the scene is what's really helpful, from the way the change happens and makes her look with the distorted mouth, darkened eyes, weird facial features and extended claws, and to have the cheesy effect of green lasers shot out of her eyes at victims, blowing up the scenery or forcing them to duck behind furniture makes them look really great and cheesy. Alongside the look of the house, these are what help the film out as there's not a whole lot to this one. The biggest one to this is the fact that the film is way too short on action and accounts for most of the film's problems. There are only a few action scenes that add any sort of excitement into the film, and the rest of the time is taken up with the dull and sleep-inducing banter including all the different conversations that are done with the different methods of treating the situation. That this one has numerous several-minute long conversations about it is a little much, and tends to take up a lot of time in the film. This is also done with the backstory, which has too many scenes of the ones who know about it telling the ones who don't everything they know, and the repetition hurts the film a lot. That also means that the few action scenes are really short, which is mostly seen in the later half since it picks up the pace somewhat but only just barely has any momentum from them since the film slows it down enough to have the other parts of the film stand out even more. There's also a large amount of cheese to this, from the way the possession takes over to the action and the special effects quality, which may not sit well with all out there. These here are the main flaws to this.Rated R: Violence and Graphic Language.

Beyond Evil was directed by Herb Freed (you might know him from Graduation Day) and stars John Saxon as Larry Andrews, a construction worker or contractor of some sort who moves with his wife, Barbara (Lynda Day George) into a new home in the Caribbean. His friend Del Giorgio (Michael Dante) and Del's friend Dr. Frank Albanos (Mario Milano) - who adds barely anything to the plot except being a tag-along to Del, and a suspicious yet unfulfilled character - obtained the place for them after the owners died, and it's a damn castle. Of course, Barbara and Larry are taken with it, even after the tale of the owners' deaths. It seems that the lady who had owned the house was in a loveless marriage with her husband, who would fool around on her, and she practiced black magic as revenge on him. He ended up killing her, but not before she killed him too, and now the house is supposed to be haunted by the vengeful black witch. The hoodoo doesn't get to the newlyweds, until Barbara is possessed by the evil spirit, and then it's up to Larry to save his wife before it's too late.If it sounds like a familiar plot line, it is. It plays out exactly like anything from The Exorcist to The Amityville Horror. While not original, it is pretty entertaining. I love John Saxon - he's a great actor and seems like a pretty cool guy. But one thing that gets me in this movie are all the flaws.For example, at one point it seems like Del Giorgio is out to get Larry and Barbara. For what reason? Well, it would make sense to assume that Del is trying to break it off between Larry and Barbara, since it is mentioned that Del had had a fling with Barb in the past. It almost plays out - Barb is possessed, and starts making out with Del, and the audience thinks that maybe, just maybe, this vengeful plot arc will play out, only to find that Barb kills Del before anything can actually happen and makes everything suspicious that Del was planning a moot point. I just wonder if it was actually supposed to seem like Del was in cahoots with Dr. Frank Albanos, or if it was just something that I misinterpreted. Either way, I also found it weird that Frank was both a doctor and always at the construction site.Which leads me to another question - what's up with the construction site? It's never really explained what's going on, and while it's not important, there are scenes at the work site where I was left wondering what exactly they were doing.The movie's not boring - the hauntings are semi-dramatic, and it was fun to see Saxon almost get killed by a falling wooden idol, but much of the movie is really loosely pulled together into a coherent plot. There's also a witch doctor that Saxon goes to to help exorcise the demon in Barbara, but to no avail - nothing happens. There's also only about 5 deaths in the whole movie, but they're spaced out enough so that one doesn't get bored too quickly.Bluntly, though, the movie has too many wordy moments and not enough action. And whoever's idea it was that possessed bodies are cloaked in, and shoot, green mist was a little whacked. Barbara seriously looks spooky - that is, until she becomes Superman with green lasers firing from her eyes - then it just throws the suspense all down the drain.I will use a Playwriting vocab term here - deus ex machina. In Beyond Evil, Freed uses this to max effect. A little backstory to let you in on what happened here - Larry gets fed up with the wooden idol doll that he has upstairs and throws it in the river outside. Yet at the end of the movie, what magically apparates in the fireplace? That same idol doll. No one ever picked it up, or made mention of it, in the last 20 or so minutes of the film when it was thrown away, but it magically appears in the fireplace, and Larry burns it to exorcise the demon spirit from Barb. So basically, what happened was the writers got too confused as to how to end the film and decided that the easiest way was to miraculously place the idol in the fire to be consumed by flames, freeing Barb. It's a suspension of disbelief that just doesn't seem to work well, and it's pretty confusing, actually.But hey - you could do worse for an hour and a half movie. It's not original or creative, or even scary, but it's pretty funny AND fun to watch, and also, the music is pretty catchy. So if you're in the mood for a possession, or John Saxon (that dreamy hunk, and here, he's pretty young) then rent this movie. It's not evil, but it'll have to do.

Newly married couple, Larry and Barbara Andrews(John Saxon & Lynda Day George)move to a reputedly haunted mansion, Casa Fortuna, which yields a vengeful witch's spirit with strong powers. Poor Barbara's body and soul are slowly taken over by the spirit, Alma Martin(Janice Lynde, under various wigs), and those Larry works with during the construction of a major hotel, such as pal Del Giorgio(Michael Dante)and Dr. Frank Albanos(Mario Milano)both men with a lot riding on the job and it's business potential, are in danger of her wrath. A worried Larry, whose own life is threatened when a crane, operated by Alma's spirit, carrying heavy material used for construction which nearly falls on top of him(..killing a co-worker by him), will seek help from a faith healer Doctor Solomon(David Opatoshu). But, as Alma slowly gains control of Barbara her powers emerge, such as green laser blasts from the eyes, superhuman abilities to lift and throw men in the air, pulling a car apart before exploding it down a cliff, etc. Larry and Solomon will have to work together to somehow stop Alma from totally taking control.From the director of "Graduation Day"(..another Troma release), Herb Freed tries his hand in the demonic thriller genre. I think the cast gives it their best shot, but the budget is just too small and so many scenes show signs of post production tinkering where one scene doesn't transition smoothly to the next and the special effects(..particularly when Alma uses her powers, with green tint often appearing like a halo around Day George's head before she blasts somebody)are rather cheap. I think one often needs an appropriate budget when approaching a film about demonic possession and a lot of the special effects undermine a decent effort from the director. I must also admit that there are some lighting issues, with a lot of scenes so dark you could barely see the actors, especially at night. I'm certainly not against low-budget film-making, and I think setting your film on an island inside a mansion which carries a certain flavor of it's surroundings certainly helps. I think the leads are fine. Saxon is the concerned husband, often playing him as conflicted and confused. Day George shows the battle of personalities raging inside, the sweet innocent Babs, and the evil Alma starting to take over. Lynde as Alma is actually pretty creepy with how she widens her mad eyes, opening her fingers exposing those long nails as she shoots green light. I think if Herb just had some more money, and decidedly remained away from using special effects concerning colors, he'd had a better film. But, it's assured that people will watch this with uncontrollable laughter, certainly at the special effects and perhaps hold a feeling of embarrassment for Saxon and Day George who deserve a better film. There are some make-up effects concerning Solomon's faith healing rituals where he slices open the stomach of "patients" removing the problems plaguing them(..one case goes wrong, to a child no less, when Alma interferes)that work well.

This is really quite an awful movie, but there are a number of moments when it is so awful you can't help but laugh. See the badly animated green laser eyes! See the car which explodes before hitting the ground! Hear the man explain to his wife that the accident at work occurred when a crane "came out of nowhere!" I definitely recommend this film if you like bad movies.