A Name for Evil

Like so many movies I've seen recently, A NAME FOR EVIL starts off promisingly but it quickly, and I mean QUICKLY, degenerates into a stunning mess. Once Robert Culp rides that horse and accidentally joins a a bunch of partying hippies who all shed their clothes and have an orgy all over the forest, the film self-destructs, literally. BOOM!!! The whole thing becomes stultifyingly, inexplicably bad. What were they thinking? The ending is the weirdest looking one I've ever seen (the whole moment of Samantha Eggar falling towards the ground). And the scene when Culp makes love under water has to be the worst conceived scene ever put on film. It's 100% fake looking. The film is very short (thank god), which only points out how the folks behind the camera had no idea what they were doing and wanted to end the whole thing fast.

But the odd thing about this seldom seen movie is that the cinematography is stunning. I love this kind of photography. As bad as everything else is in this disaster, I have to give credit to the DP. Had the cinematography been average or just bad, then I think I would qualify A NAME FOR EVIL as one of the worst films ever made.

Poor Robert Culp looks utterly bewildered in this strange oddity that never decides just what kind of film it wants to be. The production values are surprisingly strong, and the movie does have some striking visuals that will stick in your head. But the story is just about totally incoherent, with scenes seeming to be missing, scenes that don't seem to serve any purpose, and scenes that just don't make any kind of sense. If you do stick around, you will be rewarded with what just might be one of the most unintentionally funny orgy sequences every put onto film... as well as a frontal nude Culp, which must have made him glad that the movie was first shelved for several years, subsequently barely released to theaters, and only given a small video release on a now-defunct video label.

Others have commented on the evidently different versions of this film, the nudity, beautiful cinematography, and scrambled plot. My two cents: "A Name For Evil" looks like a film that has gone through many hands. It definitely has it's strengths: the afore-mentioned photography of some spectacular locations, good performances from Culp and Egger, a stunning evocation of early '70's wackiness, and a few nicely creepy moments.

But I have to mention something else no one else has yet talked about: Dominic Frontiere's grand score. If you like Frontiere's work, especially his "Outer Limits" music which this strongly resembles, you owe it to yourself to at least listen to this movie.

Perhaps it takes a certain kind of film viewer to appreciate the charms of A Name for Evil. As has been bemoaned by other reviewers, A Name for Evil has a disjointed story, a hippie orgy, and a full frontal sex scene with past his prime Robert Culp. Yet, for some viewers these eccentricities can be strengths. I have seen A Name for Evil twice now. I was not bored either time. The film kept me watching because, on the first viewing, I did not know what to expect next, and on the second viewing, I admired the film's mixtures of styles as a Gothic horror film is given early swinging seventies treatment, from Penthouse Films no less.

According to IMDb, A Name for Evil had a troubled production. It appears to this viewer that certain scenes were not shot, either because of time or because the filmmakers thought certain points were clearer than they were. However, the lack of a linear narrative does lend the film a certain disquieting mood, as the viewer is left almost as confused as Robert Culp's character.

There is a certain type of viewer who occasionally tires of professionally told plots and seeks out films not afraid to go off the rails, a viewer who loves when artiness is wedded to exploitation. All my years of watching Euro-horror, where plots did not matter as long as a scene was moody, surprising, or odd, has turned me into such a viewer. A Name for Evil surprises the viewer. From the opening credits over surreal paintings of twisted figures to the abrupt finale, A Name for Evil keeps the viewer off balance. I also think parts of it are well filmed. For instance, unlike one other reviewer, I find the underwater sex scene moody and hypnotic, having some of the off-kilter quality of Let's Scare Jessica to Death (another film I champion). Obviously, I cannot recommend A Name for Evil to most people, yet I will probably watch the film for a third time.

This was one poor film. While at times it does keep your attention, the muddled plot is too hard to follow. And besides, it is hard to focus on the plot of a film when Robert Culp is running around NAKED! NO human being should be subjected to such mental torture.