User reviews

I recently watched History of Evil (2024) on Shudder. The storyline unfolds in a post-apocalyptic society devastated by civil war, where the US government has been overthrown. A group of rebels attempting to sneak an activist under the radar find themselves trapped in a haunted house. The ghost(s) in the house causes some of them to flip perspectives which threatens everyone's lives.

This film, written and directed by Bo Mirhosseni in his directorial debut, features Jackie Cruz (Orange is the New Black), Paul Wesley (The Vampire Diaries), Rhonda Johnson Dents (Renfield), Murphee Bloom (Clock), and Thomas Francis Murphy (12 Years a Slave).

While it had a promising start reminiscent of "The Handmaid's Tale," the haunted elements fell short for me, particularly with a less-than-creepy misogynistic ghost. The characters' reactions felt oddly handled, leading to a rapid deterioration of the storyline after the initial setup. The horror elements lacked intensity, and there was a shortage of impactful kills.

In conclusion, History of Evil fails to deliver in any area, making it a waste of time. I would give it a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.

Anyone paying any sort of attention would have gotten the message without it. But with it, the film ends on a heavy-handed, overwrought, redundant and corny note.

Other than that, it is fairly obvious metaphor horror destined to rile those who empathize with the BBEG here.

The Vampire Diaries guy is okay. The mixing of techno-future dystopia and ghosty past is kinda cool. There is a matte-finish black truck with people riding in it. And a commercial for white sugar. I did notice that several of the supports for the wrap-around porch of the house were in need of repair. Seemed kinda like a safety hazard - all things considered.

The film starts as a knock-off of "Civil War." The year is 2045. America is a fascist nation and has taken over Mexico but not Canada. They form the North American Federation. States form militias to hunt down people of the resistance who have not bowed down to what appears to be White Christian Nationalism. People swear oaths on Bible apps. Resistance leader Allegra Diah Rodriguez has escaped the Louisiana prison and is on the run with her family and Trudy (Rhonda Johnson Dents) of the resistance. They hide out at an old abandoned home the locals claim is bad and stay away. We quickly discover the house is haunted by the former residence. Cain (Thomas Francis Murphy) was a Klansman who killed his wife and child because they didn't like his politics. Cain gets inside the head of husband Ron (Paul Wesley) to "take back your power." Their daughter also sees ghosts of the dead family, but it doesn't play any real part in the plot.

The mashing of genres didn't work well. There were things we missed, like what did the cellar look like. The plot went nowhere. Characters are not well developed. Dialogue was poor.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

One of the worst movies I have seen in a very long time. I can not describe how bad it truly is. There is no need for me to be more verbose. The actors have clearly chosen a career that is not suitable for them, with the exception of the older gentleman who played the ghost\malevolent spirit. He was the only thing worth watching, and there was not enough of him.

It is so tiring to see these types of uninspired films being released all the time. This movie doesn't even know what it is, or what it's trying to say. It just vaguely alludes to trendy, triggering topics in a way that will appeal only to children raised on a diet of internet memes and tik tok videos.

This movie made No sense. Absolutely no sense at all. There was no flow to it. Nothing scary, nothing mind bending, nothing that made you think. It was just a bunch of jumbled confusing nonsense.

I found myself fast forwarding all parts that had no spoken dialogue (which made no difference cause it was all so slow and boring, and nothing made any sense.) Can't believe two good actors - one from vampire diaries and one from Orange is the New Black - actually agreed to be in this pile of hot garbage.

It was comical putting your hand on a picture of a bible on an iPad. Lol. What was that !?

It was a poor cliche mix of a wanna be future apocalypse that I still don't understand any part of.

Why was the female a wanted fugitive? Why was she being hunted ? Why was the house they squatted in supposed to be scary?

I'm a big horror fan - so listen to me when I tell u-- MOVE ON-- SKIP this !!! It was not horror, not thriller , it was annoyingly stupid and boring., and a waste of time.

I have to preface this by saying I'm not the biggest horror movie fan. However, I really wanted to give this one a shot. While the atmosphere is quite intense throughout the movie and the plot moves reasonably fast, there were some big flaws with the characters.

The couple has barely any chemistry even in the beginning of the movie and the mother seems quite uninterested in her daughter. Therefore, it's really hard to be invested in their story, feel sorry for them or root for any of them.

The movie had potential, but it was executed quite poorly. Even so, it's not the worst movie out there and if you really just want to watch something I say you can give it a try.

This movie has no idea what it wants to be. A horror movie? A political thriller? Dystopian post-civil war thing? It never really grasped on to any idea and ran with it. It alludes to some much stuff that it makes you wonder what the actual story is. It's not scary, it's not thought provoking, it doesn't advance any political ideology, it really doesn't do anything. 97 minutes and it turns out, the real villian was inside the whole time? I don't know. Is it just a mash up of all the stories that got pitched to the production company that month? Was this a dare that someone put way too much money into? I don't know and I doubt anyone who worked on this film in any shape or form knows either.

When I stumbled upon this 2024 movie from writer and director Bo Mirhosseni, I had never actually heard about it. But that hardly mattered, as it being a movie that I hadn't already seen was sufficient enough to make me opt to sit down and watch it. And thus, I had zero idea what I was in for.

It was a little bit difficult to delve into the storyline and concept of the movie, because there simply wasn't sufficient information to make it believable. So it was not an easy movie to enjoy. The whole thing about some resistance fighting against a nation-wide regime just never came off as being believable at any point throughout the course of the 98 minutes that the movie ran for.

The movie is listed as a horror/thriller, but it was a pretty weak one at that. Perhaps if you are a newcomer to the horror and thriller genres, then the movie might actually come off as being either of the two, if not actually both. But for a life-long horror fan, then "History of Evil" just didn't cut it.

I actually wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, aside from Thomas Francis Murphy, but they did have a good ensemble of talents put together to portray the characters and bring the story to life on the screen. The acting performances were good.

"History of Evil" was by no means a movie that captured my interest, much less provided me with much of any entertainment. And truth be told, I gave up on the ordeal 52 minutes into the movie. I just couldn't take much more of the boredom by then. This is definitely not a movie that I will return to attempt finish watching. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend for horror or thriller fans.

My rating of "History of Evil" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Living in a dystopian society, a group of refugees trying to hide out from the totalitarian government trailing them manage to seek shelter at a remote house in the wilderness until they can complete the next step of their escape, but when they come under the houses' grisly history must try to stop it from spreading.

This was a mildly disappointing if somewhat still enjoyable genre effort. One of the better elements here is the solid starting point to everything which manages to provide some rather intriguing starting point to everything. The main setup of the totalitarian state that's found here with just enough of a preamble to get an idea of the type of setup at play here and the need for the secrecy in their operation to the safe house and the concurrent dangers that are in place with staying there. That's given quite a fine balance with the qualities involving how they're trying to remain out of sight of the authorities as they wait for the pick-up to get them to safety which is a great enough touch to be had even without the introduction of the supernatural qualities. It's the introduction of the supernatural qualities that tends to show where the film starts wavering from what it really wants to be. The idea of the house being haunted and the father coming under the spell of the ghost involved in the house' history that starts to bring about a strong series of scenes featuring his behavior change in front of others white staying there, but this just turns into a colossal bore with hardly any kind of rational build-up for what's going on or why no one seems to notice the change. This leads to a decreased sense of terror involving the ghost who is much more hands-on and noncommittal to doing anything as the majority of the scenes consist of horribly-misguided advice and logic that doesn't come off in the least bit frightening, much less worthy of being followed. This type of identity crisis is what's the biggest issue facing this one overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

"History of Evil" boasts significant potential, drawing inspiration from Stephen King's "The Shining." The film excels in creating an eerie atmosphere with commendable cinematography and sound design. The actors deliver strong performances, enhancing the suspenseful narrative. However, the movie falters in its conclusion. The ending feels rushed and leaves many questions unanswered, undermining the buildup. Despite its promising start, the film's inability to deliver a satisfying resolution diminishes its overall impact. "History of Evil" offers a thrilling journey but ultimately fails to provide a fulfilling destination. Overall History of Evil literally has the same idea as one of my ongoing horror films. This is because of its small nature, cannot use the idea properly. The dystopic idea is quite intriguing, but past struggles, which is the main subject, cannot be exercised well enough. The kills were offscreen which reminds me of 80's slashers.

It was not your usual horror with predictable story lines where there is an entity and you have to figure out how to kill it, contact some priest or spirit person. A lot is left for you to understand on your own without cliche dialogues. There's an interesting additional story to the horror which shows that the country is taken over by Christian fanatics and everyone else is being captured or killed it seems. Check points and escape. I think more could have been added to this movie with this additional story line. It makes me want to know more. It was good! Ignore the negative reviews, everyone has different taste.

It's 2045 America under a fascist Christian government called The North American Federation. Ron Dyer (Paul Wesley) and Trudy (Rhonda Johnson Dents) rescue his revolutionary leader wife Alegre Dyer (Jackie Cruz) and their daughter Daria from prison. They find refuge in an old house as they wait for evacuation.

Civil War got into the recent popular zeitgeist. This Shudder horror lives in the same neighborhood, but is playing a different tune. It is going for the ghost in an old haunted house movie. I would place the story ten years into the future rather than twenty. I expect the tech to have advanced a lot more in twenty years and ten years would de-emphasize the futurism aspect of the movie. In the end, they put the story in an old house to give it the spooky element. I really like the concept that the story is going for. The battle in the last act does need some more tension. It's a mistake to pit the bad guys against each other.