Something Evil

I remember watching this movie as a child and it scared the crap out of me.

For years I couldn't look in a dark window without seeing those glowing yellow eyes. After I became an adult I waited patiently for years for this movie to show up on late night TV so I could watch it again and see what scared me so much. It never happened, the movie seemed to have disappeared from the face of the planet. A few weeks ago I ran across a pirated copy of this movie and bought it, My wife still can't understand why I paid almost 30 dollars for a old VHS tape. We watched it last night and of course it was no where near as scary now as it seemed to an 8 year old almost 32 years ago. That being said, I found it to be quite a watchable movie that held my interest despite moving a somewhat slow pace. And the twist at the end caught me totally off guard. Overall I would give this movie a thumbs up especially when comparing it to other movies of its genre and era. If you run across a copy have a look.

SOMETHING EVIL was one of Steven Spielberg's last made-for-TV efforts before he hit the big time with the big screen release JAWS. The film stars Sandy Dennis and Darren McGavin as a happily married couple who unwittingly put their lives and the lives of their two young children into great danger when they move into a Pennsylvania farmhouse that later turns out to be inhabited by evil spirits. Johnnie Whitaker(of FAMILY AFFAIR fame) co-stars as the oldest child.

Had it been made by anyone else but Spielberg, SOMETHING EVIL would be completely forgotten today. Though it came before the lamentable THE AMITYVILLE HORROR, haunted house thrillers were still pretty old hat by the time this TV-made effort came along. Spielberg injects as much life as possible into the deadly dull material, and the great cast does their usual thorough job, but no one can completely disguise the fact that this is second rate stuff. For a more rewarding look at work from Spielberg's early TV years, see the superior DUEL(1971) starring Dennis Weaver.

It's easy to knock something like this because it's cheap, but you have to look beyond production values and see quality for what it really is. On paper, 'Something Evil' is pretty routine stuff, but it has the kind of energy you only get from young, hungry directors. There's a great sense of atmosphere that transcends the movie's low budget, something that would have never been achieved through routine direction. I've always been indifferent to Spielberg, but this is great.

The fact that you could turn on your television in the 70's and find something like this every week makes me wish I grew up a decade earlier.

This film essentially begins with a woman named "Marjorie Worden" (Sandy Dennis) convincing her husband "Paul Worden" (Darren McGavin) to buy a certain house in the Pennsylvania countryside even though it's at least two hours from where he works. At first, everything seems to go quite well and both Paul and Marjorie are extremely content. That changes, however, when Marjorie is awakened one night by a peculiar noise coming from the barn that sounds exactly like a young child crying. Naturally, being quite concerned, she immediately dons her robe and goes to the barn to check it out. It's then that she realizes the sound is actually coming from the house where her young son "Stevie Worden" (Johnny Whitaker) is experiencing a terrible nightmare. And although she manages to calm him down, what she doesn't realize is that there is a demonic force in the area and the nightmare is only beginning for all concerned. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film turned out better than I initially anticipated due in large part to the solid performances put in by both Darren McGavin and Sandy Dennis. I also liked the fact that the director (Steven Spielberg) added a bit of suspense here and there which kept things interesting for the most part as well. Admittedly, the made-for-television format probably limited the overall effect, but even so it was good enough for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

I know that The Possession Of Joel Delany (1972) is often cited as a possible cinematic influence on Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973), but I had never seen this little gem until recently. The finale has little Johnny Whitaker (yes, from Family Affair) possessed by a "devil" yelling weird demonic gibberish in a surprisingly creepy and effective vocal track and attacking his mother (Sandy Dennis) as objects fly around the room. The devil is driven out by the chanting words of love from mom. It's a brief scene that might elicit giggles from some, but it's strange how similar some scenes in The Exorcist would play out nearly two years later.