Evil & Twice Dead [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

The Evil is that rarest of b movies completely watchable over and over . The cast of Joanna Pettit Andrew Prine and the hot cheerleader from animal house raise the bar slightly in this trapped in a haunted house story . The true genius of this film is that it reflects a bygone time when films like this were made on a shoestring and distributed independently . I like most who love this film saw it on the old HBO before true blood and sopranos when it came on at 5pm . This effective chiller cuts off a group trying to start a drug rehab facility in an old and obviously haunted conservatory . Demons jump from dark corners ,handsaws take on alife of there own and one by one the house ( and something far more sinister in the basement) take on more permanent guests . The performance of Richard Crenna rivals the ham and pomp of Vincent Price . Mr Crenna turns it up full volume and although you might think it strange he finds a way to make this all work . If you havent seen this movie but love films like lets scare jessica to death or superstition this movie is a must have . Simply put if you love b horror movies heres one of the best!!!!!!

I bought this for The Evil, a scary haunted house movie that is unique, well-written, well-acted, and for the era and budget, really impressive. I first saw The Evil on a pay cable movie channel in the 80's after it was first released and never forgot about it due to it being a truly scary movie. After watching it on a VHS tape several times over the years, I was excited to see it's release on DVD. The DVD itself was disappointing in a few ways. Foremost for me was the terrible commentary that is provided for the DVD version of the The Evil. I love a good commentary, but they are hard to find and you wont find one here. After learning that it was shot in 30 days for $700,000.00 the Director and his head camara operator have nothing left to say for the rest of the movie. "I don't remember" is the most common comment on the commentary when the moderator asks them questions about the movie. It was a movie made quickly over 30 years ago and obviously was just another job to them so I understand why they don't remember anything interesting about making the movie, but why bother with a commentary with nothing to say? Very disappointing. The transfer of The Evil is rough, or to put it another way, still has lots of the scratches on the film showing its age and wear, so it was not cleaned up so you would notice. This doesn't bother me so much as it has an authentic feel to it, like listening to an old record album, but it may bother some. There is a short feature on Roger Corman's movies which isn't bad for being so short, and you get the "coming attractions" with the cool music and swirling lights that we watched before movies in the 70's and Quinten Tarantino paid tribute to by putting it at the beginning of 'Kill Bill.' I can't recommend The Evil enough to those who love horror movies, it is a great film, I don't consider it a B movie. The second movie on the disk is Twice Dead. This is a bad movie. If you are familiar with Mystery Science Theatre 3000, then you will probably wonder how this movie escaped their radar, yes it's that level of bad. Buy the disk to own a copy of a great haunted house horror movie that doesn't lose it's luster even after repeated viewings.

Well, here we now have a haunted house themed double feature from the Roger Corman collection.
Both films are fun to watch, but certainly aren't great and won't be something I need to watch on a regular basis.
The first film, The Evil, has Richard "You don't seem to want to accept the fact you're dealing with an expert in guerrilla warfare, with a man who's the best, with guns, with knives, with his bare hands. A man who's been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land, to eat things that would make a billy goat puke. In Vietnam his job was to dispose of enemy personnel. To kill! Period! Win by attrition. Well Rambo was the best" Crenna as a doctor who buys a creepy old house(with a history of course) along with his wife, in order to set up a drug rehabilitation clinic. Some buddies drop by to help out with the gutting and cleaning of the house-one of them Andrew Prine-but during the renovation, Crenna unleashes The Evil from the basement. "The Evil" being Satan himself. The Evil puts the house in supernatural lockdown, and proceeds to kill off the "guests" in ghostly hocus pocus-y ways. Crenna must now come to grips with what he really believes if he wants to battle The Evil.
Not a bad film, the supernatural shenanigans are fun-Andrew Prine saws off half of his hand and there are two shocking scenes of electrocution as well. Worth a viewing.
Next is Twice Dead, which is kind of like Casper the Friendly Ghost with an attitude.
Jill Whitlow(from Night of the Creeps) and her family move into a house haunted by the ghost of an actor who'd committed suicide years before. Unlike The Evil, the entity doesn't set them on fire or make them cut off their hands, but gives them a helping hand when Whitlow and her brother are harassed by a gang, a gang that looks more 80s than the gang from Class of 1984, and considerably less threatening too(the kids from Class of 1984 were mean little SOBs). So the ghostly mayhem is reserved for the gang.
Not quite as cool as it sounds, but again, it is fun and worth the watch.
Not much for extras, only the usual trailers, and there is an interview with Whitlow. The DVD menu is cool though, designed like a movie theater.
Both films feature dumbwaiters.

These are really fun movies. It's a good example of just how entertaining a low budget movie can be.

This is celebrated B movie entertainment. Simple plots, plenty of gore; feature secluded evil old mansions, and all the other elements that make these movies simple and entertaining Cult Classics. Although these aren't movies for everyone, most horror fans will appreciate them.

The Evil aka "House of Evil" (1978) is a haunted house horror thriller concerning a group who encounter a demon, and release an ancient evil in a castle-like house.

Twice Dead (1988) has a family moving into a haunted mansion, and winds up being haunted by and helped by the ghost in their battle against an 80's street punk gang.

You should definitely check these out if you're a fan of horror, Cult Classics, and especially if you're a B movie fan.

THE EVIL is unleashed beneath a newly-reopened drug rehabilitation center when its earthly prison is disturbed in the building's basement. The unstoppable entity drives everyone in the household mad, and then leads them to their bloody deaths when they try to escape. Gus Trikonis' 1978 haunted house thriller is extremely eerie and highly effective, pulling together many of the most successful elements found in everything from THE HAUNTING to LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE and THE AMITYVILLE HORROR. Its haunts include moving statues, ghastly apparitions, possessed animals, and invisible assailants that attack anyone daring enough to enter the home. Trikonis overcomes hid budgetary limitations by using a number of easily-achieved but entirely convincing special effects. Whether it was accomplished using hidden wires or agile performers, the force with which the actors are pushed, shoved, and strewn about the set looks frighteningly realistic. Richard Crenna and Joanna Pettet put forth strong performances as each of the characters explore every rational explanation behind the attacks before finally realizing that The Evil is too powerful to ignore. THE EVIL is undeserving of its relative obscurity, but its recent re-release on DVD will hopefully breath some life into this late-70's gem!

TWICE DEAD is another haunted house cheapie that found a release under Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures in the late 80's. Like THE BOOGEYMAN from 1980, TWICE DEAD combines elements of the classic ghost tale with the splatter effects of the teen slasher. It centers around a poor family that inherits their uncle's mansion, but it isn't long before the spirit of an actor who had killed himself in the home begins terrorizing his new housemates! Or so it would seem... The family experiences a few odd occurrences like doors rattling and beds shaking early on, but these events are completely forgotten in minutes. TWICE DEAD spends more time pitting the two teen characters against the local gang than it ever does developing the supernatural aspects of the plot. This has clearly been done to increase the body count once the bullies break into the haunted mansion. What it lacks in scares, the film more than makes up for in bloody gore, however the first set of kills leaves the audience feeling cheated when they learn the deaths were staged in the same manner as APRIL FOOL'S DAY. Thankfully, the title TWICE DEAD takes on a literal meaning in the final act. Cheesy B-movie fodder at best.

-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies