Evil

Evil (2005)

When three workers break into an underground cavern the unwittingly unleash something terrible. At first the three seem to be fine and return to their normal lives. But without warning they turn into zombies and start to kill and eat anyone they can find. Those that are killed also rise and go off in search for more victims. The movie then introduces us to our group of survivors including a funny taxi cab driver, a woman passenger he was hitting on, an army Lieutenant that has lost his marbles, a teenage girl and her neighbor, as well as others. This being a zombie movie there is a lot of chasing and fighting as the group gets smaller and smaller. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but it is one of the best endings of any zombie films I’ve seen.

It is very cool to see a zombie film from another country, though some of the Japanese ones are a bit odd. Evil or To Kako is a Greek zombie movie that follows many of the narrative points that U.S. and European zombie flicks use as well. You have the group of survivors tossed together to fight the hordes of living dead. There is some good tension and camaraderie between the characters that helps to drive the movie. I’ve always considered this the difference between a good zombie film and a bad one, which is the focus on the characters and not the zombies. Evil has some great characters that are well developed and likeable. Not only that but this movie has one of the best almost sex scenes and lines of dialogue that I’ve ever heard uttered in a zombie film. Again I won’t spoil it but you’ll know what I’m talking about when you get to it. The cast is made up of Greek actors and actresses that I’ve never heard of before. The performances range from okay (the teenage girl) to really great (the cabbie). Normally I’d mention the actor’s by name, but honestly I think that Greek names are tougher than Japanese ones!

Can we talk about a zombie movie and not get into the special effects? Of course we can’t. The effects in Evil are a mixed bag of annoying CGI and well-done practical effects. There is an attack on the street that includes some killer appliances as the man’s skin is ripped off and a bone is exposed. There is also some nifty work done with some of the zombie “kills” in the restaurant attack. But at the same time there are a couple of obvious CGI shots with the bullet hits and muzzle flashes. Then again the final shot of the movie is CGI and it works really well. The movie also has quite a bit of the shaky camera work that seems to have cursed horror movies for the last decade. The flip side of that is how well many of the other shots are set up and executed, especially the nighttime shots.

Anyone who has followed my reviews is well aware of how much I dislike CGI and the shaky camera work that so many filmmakers have adopted. Evil contains both of these pet peeves of mine, yet I found myself really liking it. I dug the characters, the dialogue, and really appreciated the non-stop action. I recommend that you guys go out right now and pick this one up you won’t be disappointed. For more information check out the TLA Danger After Dark website at http://www.tlareleasing.com/results/product_list.cfm?oid=1119&g=1263&from=1

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer