Review by: Dawnrazor
Date: 5th May 2008
The Evilmaker
Serena, (Stephanie Beaton), bails out of an abusive marriage and heads back home to get her life
back together. She hooks up with 3 girlfriends from high school for a trip to the beach. Of course,
this being a horror film the van breaks down and they end up stranded in a deserted house…a
house occupied by a malevolent and pissed off spirit.
I know this sounds about as clichéd as it gets, but writer/director John Bowker takes the set up
and heads off in some interesting directions. The story is filled with flashbacks, often of the same
scene, revealing more info each time. The downside to flashbacks is of course they tend to give
away where the plot is going, but even this is given a twist and used to misdirect the viewer. Like
many of the film's events, you're never sure what memories are real and what are demonically
induced.
Once the spooky stuff starts up it's handled in some interesting ways that you don't see coming.
The final resolution is so far removed from what is expected I never saw it coming and the fact it
works and isn't hokey is a testament to everyone involved. The final twist isn't as surprising
though. The film never managed to scare me, but it certainly kept me on edge and cranked up the
tension.
Being an ultra low budget film the cast is small and a lot of the weight of the film is on their
shoulders. Thankfully the actresses are up to it, especially Stephanie Beaton as Serena and Felicia
Pandolfi as the goth chick Rachel. In several scenes Felicia looks amazingly like Alice Cooper.
Arlene Henry and Dori Schartz give solid performances as the other two girls and Alfradeo is
passable in flashbacks as Serena's ex. As a nice bonus we get some topless scenes from
Stephanie and Arlene. One of Stephanie's is absolutely stunning, but describing it would give away
a major plot detail so all I can say is its near the film's end and ironically enough, unintentional.
Effects are limited to blood spray and a few aftermath type shots. There's a brief shot of a
severed head but apart from that there's no real gore. What there is in abundance is a strobe light
effects to indicate the supernatural presence. It's annoying and gave me a headache, the film
would have been much better off without it.
“Evilmaker” was shot on video and not with a high end setup. The picture is grainy and
somewhat washed out in spots and there's tracking artefacts at the bottom of the screen in
several scenes. This is offset by some good camera work and some fairly impressive shots.
Nothing the match say “The Evil Dead” but impressive for it's budget none the less. Bowker has a
good eye and uses the film's limited locations to their full advantage.
On the down side however there are several continuity gaffes as shirts change scene to scene,
bloodstains vanish etc. And most jarringly at the film's climax the figure in the robe and cowl is
very obviously not the person that played the part during the rest of the film. That really hurt
what is otherwise a well done sequence.
Why that happened is explained on the commentary track with John Bowker and cinematographer
Joe Sherlock which is quite good and explains a lot of how the film turned out the way it did
between budget issues, casting and lucky breaks. It's a fun look at micro-budget film making, the
good the bad and the improvised on the spot. Other extras include a blooper reel that's basically a
collection of forgotten lines and a rather dull behind the scenes segment with various behind the
scenes shots set to music.
To sum it all up this is a surprising and refreshing twist on an all to clichéd genre and setup. If you
can get past the obvious low budget and ragged edges “Evilmaker” is a fun way to spend an
hour and a half. Definitely recommended.
Abomination: Evilmaker II
Having been pleasantly surprised by the original Evilmaker I was looking forward to the follow up.
Picking up shortly after the events of the first film it deals with the sister of one of the original
girls and her efforts to find out what really happened in that old house.
At this point a SPOILER ALERT is probably a good idea. This does follow right along from the first
film so if you haven't seen Evilmaker you may want to avoid reading further and having plot points
given away.
Ok, with that out of the way let's proceed.
The film gets off to a bad start, with some truly horrible dialog and clichéd characters being
dragged out to set things up. Everybody wants to know just what happened in the house and
since the only survivor committed suicide, (revealed by way of a news broadcast), the only way
to find out is to go snooping around said house.
So soon we have Madam Vladmeria, (Shannon Barksdale), a TV psychic, Kathy, (Kylene
Wetherell), the sister of one of the missing girls and Charles, (John Wilmot), the ex cop who lost
his badge over the investigation all converge on the house. Of course there's already a couple
renting it, (how did they miss the news about what happened there?) and a couple of goth girls
looking for a thrill. As anyone who saw the original can tell you, this is not going to end well. And
as things get more and more unwell the film shakes off it's weak start and starts delivering the
goods starting with the spirit of Kathy's sister Rachel, (Felicia Pandolfi), summoned up by a
psychic bond between them.
The cast range from passable to very good in their roles. Shannon Barkdale and Felicia Pandolfi
definitely stand out with Felicia pulling off double duty as good and evil versions of her character
and Ms Barksdale giving us a nice bit of skin while avoiding letting her character become a cliché.
Like its predecessor, Abomination doesn't dwell on gore and effects to produce scares. Much of
the plotting revolves around the way the evil presence plays with people's minds, possessing some
and playing tricks on others. You're never sure what is real and what is an illusion with some
serious mind-fucks resulting from this. The script by writer/director John Bowker sometimes takes
things a bit too far and becomes hard to follow but it is effective at keeping you guessing what's
going to happen next.
What effects there are come off pretty good, even more so when you consider the budget this
was shot on. The melting/transformation scene is very effective and disturbing and stuck with me
well after the film was over.
Also like the first film this was shot on a low end video unit so the image quality is not the
greatest, however I've seen a lot worse. The actual cinematography is fairly good with the
occasional inspired setup standing out among the usual low budget work.
There is a commentary track and it's well worth checking out. Making a low budget film can be a
very interesting experience and there's some great stories and insights revealed. From why
Stephanie Beaton's character not only didn't return but dies off-screen, (scheduling and logistics
issues) to convincing amateur actresses to show some skin to securing locations. There's also a
behind the scenes feature that's pretty good but nothing extraordinary. It is however miles ahead
of the one for the first film.
Date: 5th May 2008
The Evilmaker
Serena, (Stephanie Beaton), bails out of an abusive marriage and heads back home to get her life
back together. She hooks up with 3 girlfriends from high school for a trip to the beach. Of course,
this being a horror film the van breaks down and they end up stranded in a deserted house…a
house occupied by a malevolent and pissed off spirit.
I know this sounds about as clichéd as it gets, but writer/director John Bowker takes the set up
and heads off in some interesting directions. The story is filled with flashbacks, often of the same
scene, revealing more info each time. The downside to flashbacks is of course they tend to give
away where the plot is going, but even this is given a twist and used to misdirect the viewer. Like
many of the film's events, you're never sure what memories are real and what are demonically
induced.
Once the spooky stuff starts up it's handled in some interesting ways that you don't see coming.
The final resolution is so far removed from what is expected I never saw it coming and the fact it
works and isn't hokey is a testament to everyone involved. The final twist isn't as surprising
though. The film never managed to scare me, but it certainly kept me on edge and cranked up the
tension.
Being an ultra low budget film the cast is small and a lot of the weight of the film is on their
shoulders. Thankfully the actresses are up to it, especially Stephanie Beaton as Serena and Felicia
Pandolfi as the goth chick Rachel. In several scenes Felicia looks amazingly like Alice Cooper.
Arlene Henry and Dori Schartz give solid performances as the other two girls and Alfradeo is
passable in flashbacks as Serena's ex. As a nice bonus we get some topless scenes from
Stephanie and Arlene. One of Stephanie's is absolutely stunning, but describing it would give away
a major plot detail so all I can say is its near the film's end and ironically enough, unintentional.
Effects are limited to blood spray and a few aftermath type shots. There's a brief shot of a
severed head but apart from that there's no real gore. What there is in abundance is a strobe light
effects to indicate the supernatural presence. It's annoying and gave me a headache, the film
would have been much better off without it.
“Evilmaker” was shot on video and not with a high end setup. The picture is grainy and
somewhat washed out in spots and there's tracking artefacts at the bottom of the screen in
several scenes. This is offset by some good camera work and some fairly impressive shots.
Nothing the match say “The Evil Dead” but impressive for it's budget none the less. Bowker has a
good eye and uses the film's limited locations to their full advantage.
On the down side however there are several continuity gaffes as shirts change scene to scene,
bloodstains vanish etc. And most jarringly at the film's climax the figure in the robe and cowl is
very obviously not the person that played the part during the rest of the film. That really hurt
what is otherwise a well done sequence.
Why that happened is explained on the commentary track with John Bowker and cinematographer
Joe Sherlock which is quite good and explains a lot of how the film turned out the way it did
between budget issues, casting and lucky breaks. It's a fun look at micro-budget film making, the
good the bad and the improvised on the spot. Other extras include a blooper reel that's basically a
collection of forgotten lines and a rather dull behind the scenes segment with various behind the
scenes shots set to music.
To sum it all up this is a surprising and refreshing twist on an all to clichéd genre and setup. If you
can get past the obvious low budget and ragged edges “Evilmaker” is a fun way to spend an
hour and a half. Definitely recommended.
Abomination: Evilmaker II
Having been pleasantly surprised by the original Evilmaker I was looking forward to the follow up.
Picking up shortly after the events of the first film it deals with the sister of one of the original
girls and her efforts to find out what really happened in that old house.
At this point a SPOILER ALERT is probably a good idea. This does follow right along from the first
film so if you haven't seen Evilmaker you may want to avoid reading further and having plot points
given away.
Ok, with that out of the way let's proceed.
The film gets off to a bad start, with some truly horrible dialog and clichéd characters being
dragged out to set things up. Everybody wants to know just what happened in the house and
since the only survivor committed suicide, (revealed by way of a news broadcast), the only way
to find out is to go snooping around said house.
So soon we have Madam Vladmeria, (Shannon Barksdale), a TV psychic, Kathy, (Kylene
Wetherell), the sister of one of the missing girls and Charles, (John Wilmot), the ex cop who lost
his badge over the investigation all converge on the house. Of course there's already a couple
renting it, (how did they miss the news about what happened there?) and a couple of goth girls
looking for a thrill. As anyone who saw the original can tell you, this is not going to end well. And
as things get more and more unwell the film shakes off it's weak start and starts delivering the
goods starting with the spirit of Kathy's sister Rachel, (Felicia Pandolfi), summoned up by a
psychic bond between them.
The cast range from passable to very good in their roles. Shannon Barkdale and Felicia Pandolfi
definitely stand out with Felicia pulling off double duty as good and evil versions of her character
and Ms Barksdale giving us a nice bit of skin while avoiding letting her character become a cliché.
Like its predecessor, Abomination doesn't dwell on gore and effects to produce scares. Much of
the plotting revolves around the way the evil presence plays with people's minds, possessing some
and playing tricks on others. You're never sure what is real and what is an illusion with some
serious mind-fucks resulting from this. The script by writer/director John Bowker sometimes takes
things a bit too far and becomes hard to follow but it is effective at keeping you guessing what's
going to happen next.
What effects there are come off pretty good, even more so when you consider the budget this
was shot on. The melting/transformation scene is very effective and disturbing and stuck with me
well after the film was over.
Also like the first film this was shot on a low end video unit so the image quality is not the
greatest, however I've seen a lot worse. The actual cinematography is fairly good with the
occasional inspired setup standing out among the usual low budget work.
There is a commentary track and it's well worth checking out. Making a low budget film can be a
very interesting experience and there's some great stories and insights revealed. From why
Stephanie Beaton's character not only didn't return but dies off-screen, (scheduling and logistics
issues) to convincing amateur actresses to show some skin to securing locations. There's also a
behind the scenes feature that's pretty good but nothing extraordinary. It is however miles ahead
of the one for the first film.
| "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned... ...who's holding an axe!" |
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The Evilmaker & Abomination: Evilmaker II
DOUBLE FEATURE DVD/APPROX. 178 MINS/2000 - 2003/USA UNRATED
DOUBLE FEATURE DVD/APPROX. 178 MINS/2000 - 2003/USA UNRATED
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