Review: Evil Things
Director: Dominic Perez
Year: 2009
Country: USA
It’s fairly disconcerting to see an envelope from the Department of Justice with the word CONFIDENTIAL stamped on it. A shock goes through your system and you think, “I’m careful with my piracy, how did they find out?” But glancing just below my name an address are the words, and I’m paraphrasing, “Please review the film on your site, imdb and YouTube.” I chuckled to myself and remember it was the DVD for Evil Things, an independent attempt at a cinema verite horror film that follows the basic premise of “friends go on vacation, film everything, disappear.” But I digress. Inside the envelope was a DVD for the film and a letter, both of which have the FBI logo plastered up at the top and signed by “the director” Dominic Perez. The letter states that my help is needed in discovering the whereabouts about the missing individuals by reviewing the enclosed film, which was presumably sent to the DOJ two months after their disappearance. I am a huge sucker for cinema verite films, and the obvious comparisons to The Blair Witch Project notwithstanding, I had high hopes for this film.
Evil Things follows five intrepid individuals, Miriam, Leo, Mark, Cassy and Tanya, as they traverse winding, snowy roads to celebrate the birthday of Miriam at her her Aunt Gail’s. Naturally, Leo is an aspiring filmmaker and determined to film everything. As they head up to the mountain a large van starts toying with them, preventing them from passing, flashing their brights, etc. As they continue on their way, stopping at a gas station and a diner, the van follows them, prompting Mark to go outside and attempt to confront the driver when he drives right by the window as they eat. They eventually leave and finally make it to the house. Once there, the requisite strange things start to happen: phone calls, weird noises, etc. A fun weekend in the mountains slowly turns to terror as they realize they’re not alone. Blah blah blah. Kinda trite, right?
The film is problematic on two fronts. It clearly follows the Blair Witch Project marketing gimmick in it attempt to lead people to believe the subjects of the film are in fact still missing. Unfortunately, there’s no follow through on the part of the filmmaker, as he prefers to end the film with a credit sequence that belies its verite nature. Even the website plays into the “missing persons” aspect, featuring interview with friends and family. They clearly wanted to emulate BWP , but in this they came up short. Second, it tries to allude to a supernatural cause, though this is relegated to one scene that results in a quizzical “What the fuck?” expression that takes away from the human element of the film. It also seems to be a blatant rip off of Paranormal Activity, though this is most likely due to the timing of its release.
In the end, I really wanted to hate this movie, but I simply couldn’t. For an amateur film featuring no-name actors, the acting is phenomenal and incredibly believable, as if they just gave them a camera, a basic plotline, and told them to just be real. Nothing seems forced, and the fear seems genuine. Although slow to start, it gives off a “slow burn” feeling, amping up the fear gradually and culminating in a genuinely terrifying ending, which managed to utilize some clever camera work and making full use of sound to convey a true sense of fear. In between the horror were ample bits of humor, including a horrible Jewish stereotype that had me laughing my ass off. The point was to place a group of friends in an incredibly terrifying situation, and in that Perez succeeded.
Evil Things is a solid attempt at cinema verite, however flawed it may appear to be in the end. In a year rife with disappointing indie screeners, Evil Things was a welcome change of pace, and my problems with the marketing gimmick aside, I wish nothing but future success for Dominic Perez. Much more can be said about the film, but it would delve too far into spoiler territory, so I invite you to seek out this film and make up your own mind.
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Oh man, I want me a shiny letter from the FBI, just not the kind that figures out what I’ve been doing with my internet connection.
Flick sounds interesting and when you want to hate something and you can’t, that probably speaks alot of the film.