Originally Posted by SWFF /forum/thread/304576/the-evil-twice-dead-double-feature#post_3740026
Originally Posted by SWFF
[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]Before I get into the movie I need to talk about the DVD itself first, specifically, the menu concept. After you put the DVD in and it goes through all the screens it has to, it delivers you in front of movie theater that's all decked out with the Bijou logo and the two movies you’re about to watch. You can also hear sounds of cars driving by and honking, and a police car going on its merry way to whatever urban atrocity has been committed by us poor, primitive humans. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]In the foreground, there’s a movie ticket highlighted. Once you click it, you are delivered next to another nice touch: the lobby of a movie theater. And the sounds you can here are another nicely added detail – people mumbling and talking amongst themselves to simulate that crowd experience. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]You now have three choices set before you: the double doors to the theater, the concession stand’s menu, or a trip to the bathroom. A trip to the concession stand will get you a TWICE DEAD [/COLOR]and THE EVIL scene selections; a trip to the bathrooms will give you access to all the extras (i.e. trailers, TV spots, an interview with Jill Whitlow, and the commentaries); and a trip through the theater doors will give you the movie, and three more choices. You can either watch each movie separately, or watch them as part of The Roger Corman Experience. The latter will play both movies back to back, with two trailers before the main feature, then an “intermission,” which gives you two more trailers before the start of the second movie. I never watched the second flick, so, I don’t know if there was anything to see after that movie ended. I bought this DVD specifically for THE EVIL.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]For any of those movie collectors who have enough money to turn their living room, or any room of their house, into a duplication of a movie theater, this Roger Corman[/COLOR] Experience feature will give you guys the closest thing there is to seeing these flicks in an actual theater ala the Grindhouse experience. Minus the crime, shady characters, and lack of upkeep I understand those kinds of places, in that period of our history, were wallowing in.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]I’ve looked over the credits on the insert, and on the back of the DVD cover, but I can find no one who might be specifically responsible for this menu design. Would this happen to be the brainchild of Cliff MacMillan, the Shout! Factory producer who’s in charge of heralding all these Roger Corman[/COLOR] produced gems into the grubby hands of us fans? If it is, then, thanks, Cliff. Big time. If it’s not, then could you get this 'thank you' to the person responsible?[/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]I grew up in a small town, so I have no experience with what it might have felt like to be in the Grindhouse state of mind. I may have come close, though, for there was, and still is, an old time theater right down there on main street. Built way back in the 30s, I think, and I have only seen two flicks in it in my lifetime -- Star Wars and Raiders Of The Lost Ark.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]When two of my grade school friends and I saw Raiders one of them told me of the weird people who worked there and how they liked to take their cloths off and run around naked when no one was around. Never knew if that was true, or not. Thank God, I never had to find out. But the dude who took our money during those two movie going occasions had that serial killer-vibe going for him.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]Okay, now on to the flick itself.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]Let me preface this by saying I have certain criteria that need to be in place for me to enjoy a movie about ghosts. Foremost, if the portrayal of the ghost, or evil force, in question, ends up being an actor, or actress, then the flick is already a failure, and I stop watching immediately. There are only three superb movies about haunted houses in existence, and they are THE UNINVITED (1944), THE HAUNTING (1963), [/COLOR]and LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE (1973). And, what they all have in common is that the there isn’t one actor that shows up in them that's supposed to be the ghost, or a ghost. What makes them successful is that the paranormal phenomenon is the only aspect portrayed, and it’s portrayed rather accurately. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]These kinds of movies about haunted houses work because the so-called, “evil forces” are ephemeral. They don’t have a face you can look at, or body you can punch and kick, or a mind you can reason with.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]THE EVIL, for the most part, falls into this category pretty damn well, with two exceptions, which, in one case, is still done in a creepy fashion even though there is obviously an actor portraying the ghost of Vargas, (not sure about the name), the former owner of the mansion. In the second case, it’s a complete failure, but that failure isn’t given enough screen time to null and void the extremely creepy paranormal events that have come before.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]Thank God, too.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]I’ll get more into this perceived failure in a minute. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]The movie is a quick and effective hour and twenty-eight minutes of a group of people stuck inside a mansion where our lead actor, Richard Crenna, has inadvertently freed and evil force from down in the basement by screwing around with a vault built into the ground. From there on it’s a question of who will get picked on, and offed, by the Evil, and who will live to see their next birthday.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]Right from the start I noticed touches that reminded of other horror movies that scarred my youth. The opening scene where the groundskeeper unlocks the doors and steps in reminded me of a scene from LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE[/COLOR], when the investigators first enter the house. The scene looked almost the same with the house’s pillar in the foreground, and everything. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]Every time the Evil strikes there is terrible cackling that sounded like the kind of cackling I had heard in EQUINOX[/COLOR], and there's an even more disturbing sound that reminded of the guttural noises the giant spider made in EARTH VS. THE SPIDER, only here it was amped up and twisted in such a way that it made me squirm a bit every time I heard it. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]I think I had seen this movie once, either on TV, or after my family had bought HBO and SPOTLGHT (now SHOWTIME) when they were first coming out. There is one scene I had seen and had totally forgotten about until I saw it last night, and when it happened, I got the willies, which is described in the Spoiler Quote below.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]It’s where Andrew Prine’s girlfriend is attacked and pulled into the dark at the top of the stairs by an invisible force. He pursues and is subsequently thrown back down. All the while there are those creepy EARTH VS THE SPIDER sounds going on.[/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]The movie is devoid of gore, except for one scene that had me wincing in shared pain as Andrew Prine is forced by the Evil to take that circular saw he’s using to try and dismantle the front door and use it on his hand. Jesus Christ, that must have killed![/COLOR][/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]Okay, now time to discuss the flicks one major flaw, again hidden in Spoiler Quotes below . . .[/COLOR]
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[SIZE= 14px]The appearance of Old Scratch himself after Crenna and his wife end up having to go down into the bowels of that underground vault. The personification of The Evil is what almost kills the movie. But as I said, Old Scratch isn’t given enough time to deflate all the expertly staged paranormal insanity I had just sat through, no,more like survived. I have yet to listen to the commentary and am seriously hoping this aspect of the flick is adequately dissected. As in, ‘What the fuck were you filmmakers thinking?! You almost destroyed an awesome ghost story!’[/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]The movie’s transfer isn’t as visually impeccable as some of the other Corman[/COLOR] movies. The darks are a bit murky and the flesh tones in some of the scenes are a bit too orangey, and the audio could have used a little punching up. Still, its awesome to get this flick anamorphic, which pretty much makes up for those aforementioned deficiencies. [/SIZE]
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[SIZE= 14px][COLOR= #303030]That’s pretty much it, guys. Has anyone else gotten a chance to see this flick yet? Wait, I forgot to someone, or should I say give props to David Levine. He's responsible for the Package Design on all the Corman[/COLOR] covers. [/SIZE]