Written and directed by Dominic Perez, Evil Things is a voyeuristic look at how five collage students end up missing while out for a fun filled, albeit, secluded weekend in upstate New York. On the way to their destination, the group encounter a menacing van on the snowy and dangerous mountain roads, a menacing van that almost seems to be stalking them. They make it to there destination, which is a beautiful Country home lent to them so they have the perfect place to celebrate one of the girls 21st birthday. While enjoying their amazing snow filled surroundings, and a whole lotta beers, they soon begin to think that they aren't alone and that someone, hillbilly's, a bear, or maybe even the person in the van from before, is stalking them.
Filmed in 7 days for a budget just around $10k, Evil Things being a vérité film, uses one of the characters, who is an aspiring documentary filmmaker as the gate way to seeing this lost footage. I really don't even need too much of an explanation for that anyways, so aspiring filmmaker works for me. I will say that the style is used quite efficiently and flows realistically from shot to shot for most of the film. That's important, even in this genre, because it could easily just look like a slop job if poorly shot and edited or if it were to look too forced.
Running at only 75 minutes, Evil Things is kind of slow paced for a major portion of the film. There is a few slight moments of nicely executed threat when they are on their road rage road trip and a few little things happen to stir up a goosebump or two at the house they are staying at, but it's mostly slow goings for a bulk of the movie. With that said, the characters are all very well written (though a lot is improvised), honest, and realistic...I found myself not being bored too much because I enjoyed my time spent with them, watching them act like dorky college kids out having fun together, knowing something bad is eventually going to happen.
Another surprising aspect of Evil Things, is the actors themselves. They are all fairly young, late teen to early 20's, but there really is not a bad actor in the bunch. In fact, overall, the entire cast was very solid, with a standout performance from Laurel Casillo who plays Cassy. Very engaging, with a cute face, Casillo has a definite star quality to her and is quite charming and a joy to watch on screen.
While this film is pretty slow to go, it is all payoff in the last 15 minutes of Evil Things. There is a great voyeuristic reveal that was more than effective in tingling my spine, and the whole ending is very tense and pretty well paced with the exception of a scene that is unrealistically dragged out, but has to be dragged out to serve its purpose. Still, the last moments are genuinely creepy and really sold me on the entire film and this is also where the great secluded location really excels in its lack of protection and ease of access. I do wish there were more of an explanation as to what happens, but ambiguity may be a factor of budget. I should also note, at one point, I saw my coffee maker in the house, and that really drew me in and made me feel a connection to the characters and their impending doom. Kidding.
I have a few quibbles, one of them being the use of music during the third act of the movie. It is very ambient and low key, but it's there and you really do not want to have a score in anyway in this type of film...even if the score is decent. Another thing is less of a complaint, but more of an observation. When the characters are in the snow covered woods, they more than once make reference to a noise probably just being a bear, or a bird. It's winter. I couldn't tell if this was meant to be played comically or not, or possibly this was showing the characters are a bit naive?
So in the pantheon of lost footage horror films, Evil Things certainly deserves a place as it is a solid little horror movie made for less than peanuts. A better term might be peanut shells, or peanut shell dust, perhaps? Either way, I had a good time with this one and with the success of Paranormal Activity, I would really like to see this movie get a bit of a boost and maybe a small theatrical run - it is deserving of such.
Filmed in 7 days for a budget just around $10k, Evil Things being a vérité film, uses one of the characters, who is an aspiring documentary filmmaker as the gate way to seeing this lost footage. I really don't even need too much of an explanation for that anyways, so aspiring filmmaker works for me. I will say that the style is used quite efficiently and flows realistically from shot to shot for most of the film. That's important, even in this genre, because it could easily just look like a slop job if poorly shot and edited or if it were to look too forced.
Running at only 75 minutes, Evil Things is kind of slow paced for a major portion of the film. There is a few slight moments of nicely executed threat when they are on their road rage road trip and a few little things happen to stir up a goosebump or two at the house they are staying at, but it's mostly slow goings for a bulk of the movie. With that said, the characters are all very well written (though a lot is improvised), honest, and realistic...I found myself not being bored too much because I enjoyed my time spent with them, watching them act like dorky college kids out having fun together, knowing something bad is eventually going to happen.
Another surprising aspect of Evil Things, is the actors themselves. They are all fairly young, late teen to early 20's, but there really is not a bad actor in the bunch. In fact, overall, the entire cast was very solid, with a standout performance from Laurel Casillo who plays Cassy. Very engaging, with a cute face, Casillo has a definite star quality to her and is quite charming and a joy to watch on screen.
While this film is pretty slow to go, it is all payoff in the last 15 minutes of Evil Things. There is a great voyeuristic reveal that was more than effective in tingling my spine, and the whole ending is very tense and pretty well paced with the exception of a scene that is unrealistically dragged out, but has to be dragged out to serve its purpose. Still, the last moments are genuinely creepy and really sold me on the entire film and this is also where the great secluded location really excels in its lack of protection and ease of access. I do wish there were more of an explanation as to what happens, but ambiguity may be a factor of budget. I should also note, at one point, I saw my coffee maker in the house, and that really drew me in and made me feel a connection to the characters and their impending doom. Kidding.
I have a few quibbles, one of them being the use of music during the third act of the movie. It is very ambient and low key, but it's there and you really do not want to have a score in anyway in this type of film...even if the score is decent. Another thing is less of a complaint, but more of an observation. When the characters are in the snow covered woods, they more than once make reference to a noise probably just being a bear, or a bird. It's winter. I couldn't tell if this was meant to be played comically or not, or possibly this was showing the characters are a bit naive?
So in the pantheon of lost footage horror films, Evil Things certainly deserves a place as it is a solid little horror movie made for less than peanuts. A better term might be peanut shells, or peanut shell dust, perhaps? Either way, I had a good time with this one and with the success of Paranormal Activity, I would really like to see this movie get a bit of a boost and maybe a small theatrical run - it is deserving of such.