Necessary Evil

I viewed "Necessary Evil" the other day and I must say, I rather enjoyed the experience.

Smart, unpredictable, and multi-layered, I saw it as a statement about the ever-growing, ubiquitous presence of pharmaceuticals in our daily lives, couched inside a creepy thriller.

The film unfolds through multiple viewpoints and weaves a tale of corruption and conspiracy with supernatural roots.

As usual, Lance Henriksen delivers a strong performance.

The film certainly has its share of flaws. But all in all, I recommend it.

I pride myself on being able to watch terrible movies and still finding them enjoyable. Unfortunately, Necessary Evil defeated any chances of viewing pleasure. Generally, I feel some connection to at least one of the characters in the film. This is one movie that I can say that I couldn't find any connection and instead just had spite. Was it wrong for me to wish that the "heroes" of the film would die? Probably, but they were just that uninteresting that I couldn't care less about what happened to them.

The writing would have made a better novel than a movie. I understand the film had multiple plot points, but conveying them with a narration was perhaps the wrong tool to move along the story. I think they chose narration because it slowed the movie down so they could a hit an hour and a half of viewing displeasure. To make matters worse the movie was already plodding along at such a slow pace that drawing it out was a completely unbearable addition.

It's sad to think the most interesting part of the movie was watching the seconds tick by when I'd hit the display button on the DVD player. As far as thrillers go "Necessary Evil" was about as thrilling as cottage cheese.

While I had indeed never even heard about this 2008 horror movie titled "Necessary Evil", seeing that it was a horror movie with Lance Henriksen on the cast list, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch the movie. I virtually had no idea what I was in for here, except for the little information given by the synopsis. So I suppose director Peter J. Eaton had every opportunity to entertain me.

The storyline in the movie, as written by Christopher James Harvill, Eric Feldman and Peter J. Eaton was okay. I mean, it was watchable and sort of entertaining, but it was at the same time also a bland and generic narrative. Sure, if you're a newcomer to the horror genre, then you might be getting a bigger kick out of "Necessary Evil" as in comparison to me as a seasoned horror veteran.

Aside from Lance Henriksen, then I was only familiar with Danny Trejo, Richard Riehle, Mirelly Taylor and Kathryn Fiore. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

Visually, then the movie was okay. It had a couple of special effects and they worked out well enough.

Watchable, sure, but hardly an outstanding or memorable moment in horror cinema. It is not a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time.

My rating of director Peter J. Eaton's 2008 movie "Necessary Evil" lands on a four out of ten stars.

But then again it was Lance Henriksen - and I would forgive him anything. Big smile :-D

It's about time the IMDb stopped with the minimum line length for reviews: it only encourages crap. Okay, this was a very B movie that I watched only because I absolutely love Lance Henriksen. Or is it Lance Hendrikson? Has that gained me another few characters? This is a very B Movie but that voice makes any movie he appears in worth watching, in my opinion. :-)

Have I got to 10 lines of text yet? Sheesh: watch this if you love Lance. Otherwise, don't bother.

Having re-watched this movie just recently, I thought I should add a review. I am not a film critic, by any means, I just know what I like. And I like this. Lance Henriksen is always good. This role was suited for him in every way and I can't wait to see where they take this in the future. The idea of how much pharmaceuticals play in our lives makes for a good story. The movie paced good enough to keep me interested throughout. Timing was perfect. The actors did a good job of really bringing the scrip to life, and Lance Henriksen's narration, gave the movie a nice creepiness that played well with the theme. I look forward to a sequel with Lance Henriksen reprising the role and Peter Eaton at the helm.