The Evil Within

It is such as tough movie to critique after one viewing. It is without doubt a flawed attempt, but the concept makes it worth a viewing. it is not a gore fest, but more of a mind bender, or at least tries to be. I applaud the effort and concept, but it lacks in a few key areas. Some basic details are forgotten and the continuity is stuttering, having said all that it is a film you want to like and this is probably due to the lead character giving a good performance, whilst others in the cast struggle.

Brilliant special effects and avant garde theatrics - this movie comes ever so close to being an instant cult classic. The brilliant, but ultimately annoying portrayal of the mentally retarded and easily manipulated Dennis puts the other poor acting and awkward scenes to shame however it does show an insidious subculture of deliberate manipulation and entrapment under the guise of a Tales from the Crypt style presentation. This could have been truly great.

The plot. The sadistic tale of a lonely, mentally handicapped boy who befriends his reflection in an antique mirror.

This demonic creature orders him to go on a murderous rampage to kill the people he loves most.

To appreciate this movie, I suspect you need to know something of the back story.

It was written, directed and financed by a reclusive heir to the Getty fortune who plowed millions into this movie but ultimately ran out of funds! Apparently he bought all the equipment instead of renting it and had meth addict dreams of becoming a movie mogul.

It's a really bizarre movie and it's hard to take your eyes off it. I think it could only be made by someone super high who was also very creative.

The movie gets increasingly odd and surreal as it progresses. But you won't be able to turn away. Getty's death was as weird as this movie. Only in Hollywood could any of this happen.

On its own, it was fairly good; not very much to say since I couldn't help but think about the context. The ending was a little confusing, but if you saw the movie you'd probably be surprised if it wasn't confusing.

Now for the context. No one's first film is great or even good, but this was a very good first effort from the writer-director and I think it showed a great natural artistic capability that a longer career would have honed. I was amazed at how good this was for a first film and it's tragic to think there will never be another movie from this clearly gifted artist.

That being said, if I didn't know the backstory behind the film, I probably wouldn't have sought it out, let alone even heard of it, and it's better to judge a film on its own rather than the context around its making. I acknowledge that I had a bias going into this movie as I went in knowing the tragic story of the writer-director, but the bias should not be judged too harshly as I've gone into many movies wanting them to be good and that's never stopped me from judging them to be bad if they were indeed bad. While The Evil Within is not great, it's certainly memorable. 6/10 might not sound like a good rating, but I prefer a 4-star scale, with 2 stars being average, not bad but not exactly memorable, and 3 stars being good, and this movie's in between, so my rating is 2.5/4 stars. A not exactly good but certainly memorable movie, and an incredible first and only film from an untapped talent.

This is a film about a young man with mental disabilities who is being toyed with by a demon that lives inside mirrors. The demon infects the man's dreams but also conveniences him to do unspeakable things by having conversations through mirrors.

This isn't a bad film. I found it horrific because of the way spiders were used. I am an arachnophobic and was literally having to cover my eyes at times because it was so disturbing for me. I watch a lot of horror without ever being scared but if you want to see me jump and act scared for my life, just put me in close proximity of a spider and I will give you a show.

This was also horrific and kinda sad in that it was the manipulation of someone with disabilities. However, evil roots itself wherever it can and showing that it can be found with this young man makes you think. This is a lower budgeted film but I thought it was acted and filmed well. I'm glad I took a chance on it even though the spiders were rough.