Evil Come Evil Go

A religious fanatic teams up with a lesbian and they go on a killing spree offing people who have sex. This is a really terrible film. It's barely over an hour in length, and it feels interminably long. Every single scene plays out at a glacial pace. The one highlight is somebody's cat that enters a scene clearly unexpectedly and commands the frame for a few minutes. Give the cat an Oscar and chuck this flick in the trash.

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.

Street preacher Sara Jane (Cleo O'Hara) believes God has put her on this Earth to rid the world of pleasurable sex. She receives shelter from Penny (Sandra Henderson), a lesbian who Sara Jane promises to turn to God. How does she do this? By having Penny help her in killing anything that humps. This is certainly one of the more bizarre horror morality tales out there. Clocking it at a lean 73-minutes, I would say 60% of that time is spent with the camera lens ogling nude bodies. Not that I mind, but it does tend to get a bit monotonous. Things liven up whenever O'Hara is around though. Dolled up like Baby Jane and sporting a southern accent the would fit in perfect in COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER (the first half, that is), she is a hoot as she sings Bible hymns while killing (and dreaming of having her own evangelical show). There are quite a few stabbing deaths in here with some H.G. Lewis blood on display. I have no idea who the target audience for this was - T&A fans? Horror fans? Religious freaks? All of the above?

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.

Obviously one of those sleazy films of the 1970's that always read better in a synopsis better than they play out in front of the eyes, "Evil Come, Evil Go" however does stay in the mind for a while after viewing. It's sure not the uninteresting sex scenes full of pasty, unshaven, unattractive people doing their best to try and act out something passionate that does it, or the lackluster "Hold the cue card closer, I can't read my lines off of it!" acting style. The film comes across as more of a pseudo-documentary, simply following the Preacherwoman through her motions as she acts the hypocrite, snorting fire and brimstone on those stupid young lovers, then picking up guys in bars and butchering them in a hotel room. Badly shot, badly acted, but yet plays out in a way that keeps one's attention. Go figure that one, huh?