Evil Things (2009) User Reviews

I really think this movie had something.

[dld2012 · 3/10 · 2 December 2013]

As many of the other negative reviews have mentioned, the performances are really quite good. The concept is also interesting - an unidentified stalker filing the kids as they are filming each other. But I see two major downfalls in this film - one is the poor use of a terrible soundtrack over the last 1/3 of the film. It shouldn't have one at all (found footage, remember?) - and it's also badly done. WAY too loud, you can't even hear the dialogue through it. The other flaw is that too much time is spent on chaos without obvious cause. The group of friends start freaking out and running around too quickly, and then it just continues in that manner for what seems like an eternity. Of course, once everything falls apart, there's nowhere else to go.

It's a shame. Wasted opportunity.

Screening FRIGHTFEST - Poor

[razorblade_kiss93 · 3/10 · 31 August 2009]

Just got back from Film4's Frightfest after seeing "Evil Things". Now - the thing with this movie that is quite sad is that the story was quite interesting - not original, just interesting.

Now the thing that bothered me most was the fact that about 30 minutes of the movie was just these really irritating characters talking about nothing particularly interesting. So - by the time you get to the scenes where things go 'wrong' - you really don't care for them whatsoever.

As for the 'things going wrong', nothing actually happens, its done and over with in about 10-15 minutes. You see nothing of interest, feel nothing but sheer boredom and a wish that this movie would end.

But then when it does end, you're left with something ridiculous that i thought it was a joke. I couldn't believe that was the end of the movie! Nothing happened at all, you just watched some teenagers talk rubbish and wander around for a bit with a few horror clichés glued in between.

Fortunately i handed Mr Perez my 'Evil Things Review Sheet' and gave him a smile as i walked off feeling glad that he could read my review and change his movie before its international release - whether that'll happen or not after this i have no idea.

Mr Perez, if you happen to read this, let me tell you this - I enjoyed a maximum of about 15 minutes of your movie, from the video package up to when 'HD' camera is dropped and we start seeing the Killer's camera. Although i liked the idea of seeing the Killer's perspective, i don't think it was done well enough to be memorable.

Decent Premise. Badly Executed.

[mf2812 · 3/10 · 6 October 2020]

I love found-footage movies and even some of the bad ones but this doesn't follow basic rules of the genre.

1. There's a soundtrack 2. Ambiguity can be a major plus, but there has to be something in the movie that gives you something to think about after. 3. Don't fill the 90 min movie with 65/70 mins of b-role. 4. Don't let the actors go over the top until the end. 5. If you get lost in the woods then fair enough but not when there's f#%king snow on the ground and your footprints would lead you all the way back home! 🙄

Birthday getaway turns home invasion

[nekojiru67 · 17 September 2011]

Some friends celebrating the 21st birthday of one of their members decide to spend a winter weekend in the country, relaxing in a large modern home in the woods. Before they even arrive they begin to feel they're being followed.

The story is told solely from the point of view of found footage, apparently anonymously delivered to the FBI.

I found the acting to be quite good - at no point did I not believe these were some kids out on a weekend trip.... except for the unnatural way the one kid CONSTANTLY filmed everything. Guess I can look the other way since without him we'd miss much of the movie.

On the whole, not enough happens and the ending is confusing and I'm left wondering what happened.

The filmmakers completely and utterly ruined their film by adding a soundtrack to the latter fourth of the film. It adds nothing, breaks any "this is real found footage" spell successfully cast up to that point, and WORST OF ALL covered up certain sounds like the phone ringing and some of the kids' panicked conversation. What a bummer.

I can't recommend this movie. Even if there was a more natural version lacking a silly soundtrack, not enough happens at the end to justify the time it takes to watch the movie.

Save an hour of your life. "Spoilers" ahead (I used quotations bc it's impossible to "spoil" this movie)

[Ocrisia · 1/10 · 10 April 2012]

Before getting into this review, I want to point out that I am a HUGE horror fan, but that I like horror that is different from what most horror fans are into. So when I see bad reviews I don't think much of it-some of my favorites have had some pretty crappy reviews on IMDb.

Also, I did check the little box that says my review contains spoilers, but let me say it again, I am definitely including spoilers in this review. If you can call them that. Personally I wouldn't call them spoilers, because I would have rather read someone's summary of the movie than have wasted an hour of my life on it. So there are spoilers ahead, but really, nothing in this movie could possibly be spoiled any more than what the filmmaker has already done.

It was the name of the movie that got me really interested in watching. It started out decent, not great but I thought maybe it would go somewhere. The creepy van kept me on edge before they get to their destination, I was actually pretty freaked out for a little while. When they finally got to the "cabin" (I've never seen a cabin that big in my life) and the b-day girl's aunt showed up, I was actually relieved. I thought, okay awesome they can tell her about the creepy van that seems to have been following them for HOURS, just in case, that way maybe the aunt can call every once in a while and if there's no answer she'll know something is wrong and call the police. But no, birthday girl says "please don't mention the van to my aunt, she's way overprotective." So everyone agrees, because apparently they've never seen a scary movie before. (These kids are supposed to be from NYC, you'd think they'd be a little more street smart.) Everything seems OK now, we see the kids hanging out and filming each other being silly/annoying for a half hour. The next morning they go into the woods, for some reason (to see a cave I believe?), and somehow get lost. I thought this was going somewhere..but it doesn't, it's just a bunch of whining and fighting and Tanya being annoying. They are actually lost in the woods for the entire day, then when it gets dark they start freaking out about a noise, run, and magically find their way back to the mansion cabin which has been lit up like a Christmas tree the whole time (either these kids know nothing about not wasting electricity since they left in the morning and when they get back every light in and on the house is lit up, or they don't realize "hey who turned all the lights on") and apparently has been less that 500 feet away. They get home, and by this point, I'm actually hoping something will happen to Tanya because I can't understand how ANYONE would be friends w the girl, let alone bring her on a weekend getaway.

So now they're back, there's a knock on the door but no one is there except a videotape (no footprints or anything even though there's snow on the ground), the kids realize the van guy has been filming them since leaving the city, and the van comes creeping up the driveway. I don't want to give the rest of the plot away (not that there is much, by this point the movie is more than 2/3s over) but I will say conveniently the phone lines get cut, their cells have no service, and apparently the birthday girl's aunt doesn't have any internet service (I realize the phone lines are cut but this woman has top of the line everything, I'd think she'd have some kind of back up something in case of an emergency) we see nothing happen but people keep disappearing (at one point the kid with the camera has a three minute argument w Tanya telling her to hold his camera so he can go look around, she argues that she CAN'T, she's too scared, then finally she takes it and she decides to FOLLOW him around to find the guy/guys/entities that are messing with them. This girl who has been whining the ENTIRE MOVIE that just refused to even move or hold the camera in her hand somehow got the nerve to go looking for the bad guys.) Then we hear a bang and some screaming, and the camera goes out, and it switched to the stalker's camera. Last thing we see if the stalker's camera in night vision following a girl as she's feeling her way along the wall, she makes it to the door, opens it, screams, looks behind her, we hear some weird popping noises and then we get a freeze frame of the girl screaming. I don't know if the stalker was supposed to be supernatural, it kind of sounded like the noise from the grudge but not as creepy...I have no idea what was supposed to have happened in this movie.

If I'd known how bad this was going to be I absolutely would not have watched it, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, ever. Save the hour of your life, and read a book, or watch TV, or fold laundry for an hour, anything would be better than this movie. I like some creeze movies that not many other people would want to watch, but even I thoughgt this was crap, and I'm actually really annoyed because the title had me thinking it was actually going to be scary. Don't waste your time.

Boring Things

[metalrage666 · 1/10 · 14 November 2013]

This movie is an exercise in tedium and boredom. For most of it, absolutely nothing happens and given that this is yet another piece of alleged found footage garbage, you know that this is going to be another close encounter of the shaky kind.

5 friends decide to spend some time away at a remote house somewhere in the country and they end up disappearing. Early on in the movie, there's some kind of weird run in with a van as they travel along and straight away you know that this is going to be the antagonist throughout the coming ordeal.

For a great deal of the movie it's just 5 idiots talking about nothing. At one point they decide to go for a long walk into the woods and lose track of where they are and end up hopelessly lost. As night falls they begin to hear strange noises and it becomes a rehash of the Blair Witch as they run around in circles trying to get away from a "noise". They eventually make it back to the house all shaken up and it's around this time that they hear a "thump" at the front door and on investigation they discover a package which turns out to be a VHS tape. On viewing this they discover that they are the victims of a stalker and that they have been filmed since they left the city and have even been filmed asleep in their beds, so it's clear that whomever this van driver is, they clearly have the upper hand.

All the action takes place in the last 10 minutes, so if you feel you need to watch this piece of clap-trap, watch the first 5 minutes and then fast-forward to the end and you'll miss nothing at all as you'll still know everything that went on. Everything in-between can be burned and it won't be missed. There is the obligatory FBI notice at the start and end, so we get a feel that this is supposed to be a real missing persons case. The more movies like this I see, it's hard not to think of the U.S as a country full of whack jobs, and it sends a message to just not travel anywhere to the countryside.

This is pure drivel and completely derivative, plain and simple. There are no great acts of filming here, no real scares and it's completely devoid of any horror. Give it a miss and re-watch any other found footage movie.

Nothing happens... scream... credits

[zeroserj · 1/10 · 19 March 2012]

To give you an idea of how unbelievably brain-rotting this film his, here is an example:

There are ten minutes of just footage of the furniture. The effing furniture.

Oh, it gets better.

(Here come the spoilers)

There are ten minutes of cars being filmed with little dialogue and nothing much else. During this film, nothing happens at all, then there is a few minutes of banging and screaming, then the credits roll. Hell, the director even makes them feel pretentious. There is no story, no character study, no explanation, no meaning or purpose, no violence, no nudity, no sex, no blood, no acting- skill. You don't find out what happened to half the cast, they just disappear.

You get the impression that the murderer is a stalker but you don't get anything more than that at all. He has no ties to the characters, no explanation as to who it could be and if there is some crazy hidden subtext, I sure as hell didn't get it.

Films like this shouldn't just get avoided. They should be sent back to the maker with a effing complaint. Can't believe someone got the opportunity to make a film and made this instead.

I can honestly say that this is the first film I have seen that manages to have no closure, no twists, no ending and yet also manages to allow no interpretation at all.

Fast forward to 57 minutes..

[kasperdyrendal · 2/10 · 15 January 2017]

I usually don't do reviews. I read reviews and I give scores - but rarely make a review. But for this film, I just had to. The first 57 minutes, absolutely nothing happens.. You see them sit in a car talking while they drive. Then a car drives past them and slows down aaaaand drives past them again. They eat, and they move on - sooo back to driving and talking again. They come to the house - they talk some more and now drink a little - nothing else. And BAM 57 minutes has passed.. And what has happened? Nothing.. Then the narrative changes to the "bad guy's" camera as he films them doing everything we just saw earlier.. Just through a different camera... Some of the cast disappeared. How? No idea. Who took them? No idea. What happened to them? No idea. Really disappointing.. And why the f... does the bad guy make some weird clicking noise? Sounds unnatural, like he is supernatural/alien/mutant of some sort. But we don't know - 'cause we get told nothing..

My advise -> don't waste your time on this. Move along and find another movie instead.

Another hour and change wasted

[pmaheadquarters · 1/10 · 8 May 2017]

This movie starts out with a familiar enough premise. Friends going on a road trip from the city to the Catskills, in this case to celebrate the birthday of one of the girls and guess what? Yep one of the guys feels the need to film everything along the way and you get the usual "Are you going to film everything"? type complaints which every one of these movies seems to have.

Along the way they notice they're being followed by a van (for no apparent reason of course) and they all start to sort of freak out. They stop for food where yes again they see the van.

Their destination happens to be this huge house (in a very remote area of course) which belongs to the birthday girls' aunt. When they get there the power is out. The aunt then shows up to turn it back on and at no time do they mention being followed since the girl claims her aunt is "very over protective". Anyway, that night they film themselves eating, drinking and being silly. The next day they go for a walk in the woods where they get lost...only to find their way back. This is where the whining of the girls (one in particular) starts to become insufferable.

I won't bother with any other details, suffice to say the intruder(s) show up and bang at the door etc. They leave a video tape which shows that the group was being filmed the whole time.

I realize in order to make these film one of the characters usually has to film everything going on. I just wish they gave a better reason why this has to happen. Especially later in the movie when they're running for their lives.

Also, I don't like the whole you have to imagine what's going on while the characters are screaming like banshees. I want to see something "scary". Considering the budget apparently was over $300,000 you would think they would have been able to come up with something (how on earth this movie could have cost this much is beyond me).

Finally, this movie has more high pitched screaming than any I can remember and man is it annoying. Near the end of the movie I found myself hoping they would get killed just to shut them up as I wished the movie would end. Brutal!

'Found footage' film that manages to stand out from the crowd.

[ninfanwill · 7/10 · 15 January 2010]

Lets get one thing out of the way first, it's obviously going to remind you of Blair Witch. Seriously, can any 'found footage' movie not get that comparison. About halfway through the movie I got really worried that it was going to end up the same way as well as the kids wander into the woods and wind up getting lost. Thankfully that's not how it worked out.

Quick rundown on the flick. 5 students, Cassy, Mark, Leo, Tanya and Miriam, head out to Miriams aunts house to celebrate her birthday. It's way out in the boonies and it's quite the trek up there. Along the way they keep being followed by a mysterious van. Eventually they make a turn that the van doesn't and arrive at the house. They're shook up from the van incident and things begin going up and down. When they finally manage to have a good time, something bad will happen. We already know they're all missing so you can figure out what the end result of the movie will be.

The acting is well done which is a good thing because thats what's carrying the movie. You get a crappy performance and you get a crappy movie. I believed it all. If they were scared, you could feel it. If they were laughing, I was laughing especially during one scene where Cassy (Laurel Casillo) is pretending to be Leos (Ryan Maslyn) mom. I was laughing out loud and it emphasized the impact of the film. I really got into the performances and experienced the emotions with the characters. As for the villain of the piece, you never see him. I like that aspect of the movie, actually, I like that in any movie. When you can't see or hear the villain it seems to make them that much more evil. You're mind makes up who this person is and what their motivation is and what you think in your head is probably going to be much worse than what a filmmaker could show you. I always find it much more effective.

While I did enjoy the movie, it's not without its problems. It's a 'found footage' movie but it has a soundtrack at certain parts. Nothing too obvious but it's there. It helps to build the tension and is effective in its use but it goes against the entire 'found footage' concept. There's also another part that works against the 'found footage' aspect but I won't go into it as it plays an important part of the film. I wouldn't want to ruin anything.

It's also a bit slow to start. I found myself getting a bit antsy, wondering when something was going to happen. They're on this long drive into the country so it's understandable that not a lot will be happening but I think some people may be turned off by this. Once everything starts to head downhill the film picks up and I was on the edge of my seat. Like I had said earlier, there's a point where they head out into the woods and get lost. I immediately was overwhelmed with a feeling of "Oh no, this is how it ends up right? I'm watching a new take on Blair Witch." I mean, I was worried that this was the end of the film. It doesn't end there and I'm glad it didn't. That would have destroyed the movie right there and I had really been into it up to that point.

The final scenes are tense, creepy and even gave my heart a jump at one moment. It's a slow burn towards a great explosion at the end but haters of Blair Witch will never be able to get through it. It stands on its own but if the 'found footage' movie isn't your taste then it's not going to sit well with you. I personally love these kinds of flicks and really got into this one. I was up and down about this one for a while. The soundtrack and other moments that go against the 'found footage' idea bothered me at first but it's these things that wind up making the movie that much better and that's the point, to make a great movie. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea but I got into and really enjoyed it.

found footage to avoid

[trashgang · 2/10 · 25 March 2013]

I have nothing against found footage flicks let that be clear but this one here just doesn't deliver any frights or scary moments. What the makers were trying to do is to make a found footage that has a bit of a Blair Witch Project (1999) look. But this time it just didn't work out.

I had to wait around 50 minutes before the first weird thing really happens and even that part was rather stupid. You know the feeling, doors being slammed...Before that you have 5 friends meeting each other and going for a anniversary weekend at a house of one's aunt. But while driving out of New York some van is annoying them. They start filming the van but before they know it the van follows every move they make. But it isn't scary. Once at the house the van pops in again and they go to the woods, getting lost of course full of weird noises but again, nothing really happens. Once the night vision is switched on on the camera I thought, well now we are going to get it but just when it should happen, the movie is over...I thought. End credits and still over 10 minutes before the end. Oh yes, we do see that the van filmed them too, a thing we already knew from the VHS throughout the flick. And even that part I had something like, were is the evil thing? Well, the last minute we do hear some evil thing, already once heard in this flick. Fim over and I agree, an evil thing to watch. avoid it and that's a thing I don't say normally.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Solid if you're open minded to the genre(CONTAINS SPOILERS!)

[Wilkolak · 10/10 · 30 September 2011]

I think with "found footage" films you really have to be open minded to the concept to be able to get anything out of it. I liked Evil Things, although I enjoyed it more the second time around. As is the case with these types of films, you don't know exactly where it's taking you and I was afraid when they got lost in the forest that it would be too reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project. I'm glad it only touched on it and they ended up back in the house. The characters were generally likable though at times somewhat annoying (especially Miriam and Tanya), again, a common trait of this genre. Good acting, some good scares, a real creepy house, and great atmosphere in the woods at the dead of winter. Who/what was stalking them? As far as I can tell, there had to be at least three people to cover the ground the way that they did. I do wonder how they were able to gain access to the house, (it is obvious that the stalkers started following them from the city), the key was left outside but if the group of young people got there first, and the stalkers didn't know their destination, they would not have had access to the key. The only other way would be if the stalkers in fact knew the group, knew where they were going, and were able to arrive first, but I doubt it. That's the thing about these kind of movies where the antagonist is totally unknown, there are many possibilities to think of.

Hidden gem

[Sumbish · 7/10 · 27 October 2021]

I'm not saying this was perfect, but it was very good and definitely one of the better found footage movies out there. Very underrated imo and would recommend for fans of the genre.

Nothing but women screaming

[aucottjohn · 1/10 · 27 May 2020]

Absolutely unwatchable.

I tried to power through but theres very little else other than screaming women.

Is that sound the buzz saw of the killer or the audience snoring?

[johnwilliamson-4 · 16 September 2011]

Evil Things is the title of this pseudo-found footage type movie. The title is about as exciting as it gets. I just spent the last hour watching this piece (it only took an hour because I sped up the playback to 1.5X speed after the first 20 minutes just about had me bored into a coma. This film fails across the board.

The title is misleading. Evil Things makes me thing of spooks, bad guys, monsters, et al. The closest we get is a Duel-esque black van. Sorry guys. That well has been drunk dry. This is the 21st century. With a title like Evil Things, the audience wants there to BE some evil things that we can see...or hear...and most of all...FEAR. I'm still trying to figure out what relevance the title had to anything thing that went down in that film other than the esoteric splash screen quotation at movie's end. Swing and a miss on the title.

The movie purports to be a found footage movie. It is not. More properly is a movie ABOUT found footage. Evil Things has a sound score AND a scene that is shot from third person. Either of these conditions preclude it from being found footage, plain and simple. I suppose maybe the back story might be written that a janitor 'find this footage' in the back room of a post-production shop. Swing and a miss.

There is no back story provided like in the Blair Witch, which one can only assume, this film was emulating. Problem is, the plot is SO weak, the characters so poorly developed that it NEEDS the back story laid out in more than just the quick splash screen at the beginning.

Evil Things does employ a need tool by having some video from the bad guy's point of view. Neat, but again, it fails. Suspension of Disbelief is one thing, but bad guy moves around a house without making a noise...come on...he's walking around a strange house in the dark looking through a camera and not only does he manage to not make a noise...he subdues 5....yes, 5...healthy adults without once being viewed and seems to do it without making any noise either (other than the sound of that one girl screaming...and screaming....and screaming(maybe THAT'S what killed the others!!!)) Swing and miss...and that makes three strikes.

Blair Witch, Cloverfield this is not. It begins being about nothing and pretty much finishes that way. In the middle a group of whiny girls get mad at a dork for putting a camera in their face and there's some highway footage of a black van.

Awful and desperate

[asz752 · 1/10 · 8 July 2012]

The acting is so crap. Who in the world did they cast for this? Can't seem to work out who in the cast is more annoying or who needs a slap more. Less is more people. As for the movie itself the plot is simple and undeveloped. The scares come but they are too few in far between, and there seems to be no rationale for why this stuff is happening. Apparently it took only 3 months to write and boy does it show. It wants to be Blair Witch (hence the plot similarities) so desperately but succeeds in only coming across as being desperate. Check out the website for this crappy film and you'll see how brainless the film makers are. Dominic Perez if your reading this don't bother making any more films. Your friend was right, making a inaugural film is reserved for people in their early 20s. You shouldn't have even bothered if you're going to make films as inept as this.

Ugh

[diatonic-genus · 1/10 · 8 November 2011]

In short, this movie is worthless. It seems like the budget for this film is more like $2,000. Unconvincing, drawn out, boring, disappointing...the list goes on. I was getting so annoyed by what I have to hope to be improv dialog by the actors that I was excited they would get offed, it was getting unbearable. Then, when there is FINALLY some action, you see nothing. While I can appreciate the omission of gore and leaving things a bit mysterious...I don't feel it was well accomplished. The fact that I have never written a movie review ever, but felt the need to just because this movie is so terrible, should say something. Don't even waste your buck twenty at the red box.

Worst Movie EVER

[davidnguyen144 · 1/10 · 9 April 2012]

Rented from RedBox, I have no clue why RedBox is getting more indie films now, and they are all horrible. This one had to be the worst of them all! People that write good reviews either gets scared VERY easily or contributed to the movie's franchise. 1Hr into the movie and it was just them GOING to the location. The next few minutes of the movie before it ended showed Mark in the other room and a "spirit" closed the door on him. I'm pretty sure this is an evil spirit that knows how to drive a van. All in all, the suspense build up of 80% of the movie was not at all worth it. Please don't watch this, waste of time, if you do watch it just don't expect much.

My only review ever is a warning for all- this could've had something, but was just plain bad.

[Nero_Ravensbruck · 1/10 · 14 February 2015]

I have never written a review, but I felt I had to after seeing this film. It started a little slowly, which I have no problem with, setting the scene and character intros are important. There actually are some genuinely creepy moments in this film, BUT it goes nowhere and there's no real depth. I don't want to spoil anything so I'm going to be vague but there is nothing close to an ending, there is basically no plot the characters don't have any realness or feeling to them. This is one awful, pointless film. As I said there are a couple of genuinely creepy scenes, but they are completely let down by the other 99.9% of this film. I suggest to avoid this and spend your 80-something minutes on something much more worthwhile. I wish I never bothered with this film. My opinion is one of the worst things I've ever seen, 0.1/10!!!

Unnecessary screaming

[javillonar · 1/10 · 13 March 2021]

So much bad acting with unbearable screaming. It's all screaming. Constantly for 15 minutes. It made me angry and I wanted to scream. The biggest letdown is we never see these awful people actually get killed. I was really cheering on the killers to end their (and my) misery.

Hand-held Horror

[oldboymatt · 7/10 · 21 December 2009]

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.

Couldn't take advantage of their otherwise interesting ideas!

[SoumikBanerjee1996 · 3/10 · 16 October 2022]

These Found Footages are one of, if not the trickiest projects one has to put up with. It's not easy to work with unsteady footage and, sub-par script, and blending them all into a plausible piece of art is a challenge in itself. And that gets even more so difficult because of all the budget constraints, and therefore, in most cases, the creators tend to fall short of their desired outcome.

Just like in this case! Whilst I wholeheartedly respect the ambition, the execution, however, leaves a lot to be desired, a lot! Everything that is good in it doesn't last for long, and the rest is just a meandering mess. They had an intriguing concept, I will give them that, but they couldn't take advantage of it.

A Very Good Horror Movie

[guyblackcat · 8/10 · 6 April 2010]

I have to admit, I am a little biased, because I'm an indie movie-maker, so I see it from that perspective. At the same time, I am terribly sick of the hand-held, shaky cam, "Blair Witch" POV style. Especially when it doesn't really go anywhere and it doesn't bring anything new to the table. I enjoyed Cloverfield because it had a Monster Movie spin, and I thought it was well executed. With Blair Witch I actually just stopped caring for the characters, because I had nothing in common with them.

I really liked this movie. It's a neat little spin on the stalker / serial killer movie. A few cliché's yes, but really from a fresher perspective. It does fall into some of the same trappings as Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch. I did yell at the screen when a character acted stupidly, and got annoyed when they did stuff I thought I would never do in that situation, but it did it's job, it pulled me in. It got me to care enough to be annoyed, yet concerned enough to keep watching. It was really two things that kept me watching, which are the two things that really make or break these kinds of movies for me. The acting and the camera work.

Great performances from everyone, good chemistry, really felt like they were all friends, and when they were terrified I felt for them. Especially Laurel Casillo as Cassy. She really stood out for me. I can tell there's a lot of talent there, and I look forward to seeing what else she is capable of. The rest of the cast did a very good job in keeping my attention. I empathized with Elyssa Mersdorf's performance, she really made me feel for her, both Morgan Hooper and Ryan Maslyn did very well, and it probably helps that maybe I have a small crush on Torrey Weiss. She's absolutely adorable.

The camera work was tops for me. I hate over the top shakiness, really turned me off of Blair Witch. Worked OK for me in Cloverfield, because it seemed to fit well. Here, Evil Things pulls off that shaky POV without making me puke. Managed to get in some decent and clear shots, while conveying that hand-held feel. So Kudos to director Dominic Perez and for actor/camera guy Ryan Maslyn for pulling it off.

The only real downfall of the movie may very well be what also makes it so great. It's very simple. It's a straight forward plot that takes you on a ride. We go on a ride with some friends as they end up being stalked by a mysterious black van and later in a secluded house. It starts simple and ends simple, but there was a part of me that wanted more. Like I was waiting for some sort of twist or surprise. Alas, no surprises. Some unexpected moments sure, but no twists. What I did get was a very creepy and often times terrifying movie that had me questioning what I would do in that situation. Some truly suspenseful and eerie scenes that added up to an overall great effort and good horror movie.

Very well done and I look forward to seeing what else Dominic Perez will do.

Really not a bad found footage entry.

[JerkyPuck · 7/10 · 23 April 2018]

Here's the deal. The biggest reason a lot of people hate round footage is it relies on gimmicks to push the narrative. Horror fans obviously have no issue with every other single horror movie relying on these same tropes. The difference is they most often show you everything. If you can suspect your disbelief and opem your mind found footage can be a fun experience! Such is the case with this film. No, you won't see blood or gore or really even any violence. Everything in this film is done through the art of suggestion, leaving the viewer to do a little imagination work. I actually prefer these kinds of films over seeing a baby lifted from a crib by an unseen entity. Don't show me...scare me. The actors here do a credible job and for the most part they are quite likeable. Once the action really begins to kick in you may find yourself caring about them other than groaning that, of course their cell phones don't work. You may be entertained if you would stop complaining that they are still filming. Just go with it and enjoy it for what it is. Plus homegirl had on a Wicked shirt. That's boss.

Bad....So Bad

[elizabethhulme34 · 1/10 · 10 May 2020]

Bad acting from the start but I stuck with it because the trailer made it look scarier than it was. My mistake. Its so corny, lots of screaming for no reason, nothing makes sense (like at the start a lot of focus is on one of the group not feeling well in the car, which she acts terribly, then she's fine), seriously dont waste your time on this.