Evil Come Evil Go

Evil Come Evil Go (1972)

* (out of 4)

Insane sexploitation film has a God-loving woman calling herself Sister Sarah Jane (Cleo O'Hara) and she goes across the country teaching people that sex is evil. This Sister thinks the best way to teach people this lesson is by picking men up in bars, taking them to a motel and then cutting them up. Whenever you dive into the world of DVDs released by Something Weird you know you're going to get something weird and that's the case here. This is an extremely strange little film that features a lot of sex and nudity but very little plot. The idea of a religious nut going around killing people who have sex is something funny but not for a feature film. The plot here is enough for a short film but this here runs 72-minutes, which is just way too long as the film grows old very quickly. As is to be expected, the performances are all rather bad and the direction is even worse. The low-budget nature of the film doesn't leave for many pretty technical things but then again if you're watching something from Something Weird then you know this already. Another problem I had is that the lead actresses just aren't cute enough to carry this type of sexploitation film. If you're a fan of weird films then this here is certainly a must see but keep the remote handy.

Evil Come, Evil Go has the strongest opening 20 minutes of an exploitation film I've seen for quite some time, with the main character singing a hymn on the way to pick up her first lucky/unlucky victim. When they're laying in bed together the rotten sleazebag berates her for continuing to sing hymns whilst he's "tryin' to give head" to her. Amusingly this ultra prude allows him to go all the way before sticking a knife in his back, ending his reign of wanton lust.

Unfortunately the pace does eventually let up, the numerous fateful sex scenes becoming increasingly dull. Sarah Jane's meeting with a lesbian named Penny does liven things up somewhat, she meekly agrees to assist her puritan rampage which yields several rather tasty murder scenes. The ending is a bit of a let down, but overall I had a fun time with this one and if the premise appeals to you then I imagine you will too. The running time is appropriate given the lack of variety within and prevents things from getting too stagnant. 2 years earlier Walt Davis directed the utterly perverted Sex Psycho, which is a real treat for lovers of cinematic depravity and must have surely been one of the most outrageous films to ever grace a grindhouse at the time.

Sister Sarah is a Bible-thumping evangelist nutcase who dresses like Baby Jane Hudson.

She travels from one rural American ragdump to the next, vociferating the evils of recreational sex. Between her holy-rolling streetcorner castigations, she pacifies crowds with her mellifluous hymns(not only is she the Lord's golden-throated songbird, she also plays the accordion). By night, Sarah frequents bars, intent on luring "sinful" men to their bloody deaths. By-and-by, she takes on a wealthy, brick-ugly lesbian minion...together, these goose-stepping Christian crusaders become a holy force to be reckoned with.

Craggy little exploitation cowplop is too over-the-top to possibly be sincere...I suspect it has tongue lodged firmly in cheek when it's not lodged firmly elsewhere. EVIL COME EVIL GO is neither fish nor fowl...while nothing about it is exactly praiseworthy, it's generally more rounded than the centroid of its kindred contemporaries. And while the film's underpinnings may be of an erotic nature, it certainly won't serve to enhance xerotripsis for most fellows.

4/10

One of the better horrible movies I have seen from the 70's. The story line is good and could make a great movie today, but the acting and quality of the picture is poor. Regardless, I was captured by the film and was really wanting to see where it would end.

Unusual, sex/slasher/comedy, with evangelical theme. In truth the sex is fairly well done, let down only by the low lighting (and frequency), the bloody scenes are also not bad and it really is amusing now and again. Sister Sara is a self styled 'anti- pleasurable sex' evangelist who enlists another to help lure men and then do them in, because they are so evil. This is all made watchable though by decent use of original music and hymn singing(!) sometimes accompanied by tambourine thumping. It is particularly impressive at the start and we see the girls on the street but it looses it's way a little two thirds in when we reckon it's all over but it then steps up a gear and finishes with a flourish. If you think this review is a bit muddled, you should see the film. Fun to be had nonetheless.