Back in 1981, home computers were very expensive and far from ubiquitous. Heck, you were lucky if your school had even one. Evilspeak takes the idea of a computer to levels of terror (for the 80s) that were unknown at the time. We all know that you can unearth plenty of personal demons on the internet these days, but the internet was not even a thing in 1981. What if you could use a computer to summon REAL demons?
Evilspeak starts of with a scene of a priest named Father Esteban (Richard Moll, famous as Bull on Night Court) being defrocked for his Satanism, and he and his followers being banished. Then they perform a ritual where a girl is beheaded. Jump to 1981 and we meet Stanley Coopersmith. Stanley is the gawky orphan kid that is the subject of bullying at his military school, brought to life by the legendary Clint Howard. Clint, of course, is Ron Howard's brother and has appeared in too many movies and TV shows to list. This may be his only starring role, but he has more credits as an actor than his brother.
Anyway, as previously mentioned, Stanley is the target of much abuse and humiliation by his classmates, teachers, and staff at West Andover Academy. He is often assigned the worst tasks such as kitchen duty, feeding the hogs, and cleaning the basement. It is while he is working in the basement that he finds a grimoire written by Father Esteban. Fascinated, he uses the school's apple II computer to translate. Being drawn into the book's evil, Stanley begins to gather the materials to summon demons. When his classmates go a step too far over the line (think John Wick), Stanley finally snaps goes completely Carrie on the school. Plenty of death and gore ensues.
There is so much gore in this flick that it originally made the infamous Video Nasty list in the UK, and was banned there. Clint Howard and director Eric Weston both have said there were a lot of things cut from the movie to get it to an "R" rating instead of an "X" for American release. Much was restored for the uncut DVD release, but they said more is probably lost forever.
There some character actors you will easily recognize other than Clint Howard. R.G. Armstrong (Friday The 13th: The Series, Race with The Devil) as Sarge is probably the one that will jump out at you. But, we also get performances from Claude Earl Jones (Bride Of The Re-Animator), Don Stark (That 70s Show), Charles Tyner (Cool Hand Luke) and Hamilton Camp (S.O.B. and TONS of voiceovers).
Now, folks, let's be honest here:M This is not a classic. The script is a mess. Somehow this tome written by Father Esteban made its way from Spain to America several hundred years later, and ends up in the basement of a military academy? What? The acting is marginal at the best of times. The special effects are dated as hell. Even the makeup is laughable.
There are several reasons to watch this though. For one, Clint Howard. Who doesn't love him? Seeing him as a star of a movie is just a hoot. All those character actors I mentioned are also a blast to see. This is a couple of years before Richard Moll finally made it into the spotlight on Night Court, but he had done a number of horror and sword & sorcery flicks previously to that. I love seeing him in these early roles, always as the bad guy.
And, while there is gore aplenty, the effects are so wonderfully bad, that it will make you grin. I do have to say the bathtub death scene IS wonderfully original. The last 30 minutes or so of the movie is the best part.
That, dear readers, is the very best reason to watch Evilspeak: originality. While the idea of using technology for evil is nothing new in the 21st century, it was a fresh idea in 1981. Although I cannot give this movie a hearty thumbs up, it is a movie you should take a look at. Even if just to see how 1981 envisioned binary black magic. Oh, and I don't know what it's final gross totals were, but this film cost $900,00 to make and pulled in $400, 000 in its first week while only playing in L.A. and New York. I think this might have been a minor hit. Go figure.
No comments:
Post a Comment