Am I Missing Something?

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

I didn't really expect much from this movie, being a Greek zombie movie and all, but my prejudice was quickly put to shame. "Evil" (or "To Kako") turned out to be somewhat of a surprise.Think a mixture of "28 Days Later" and Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive" (aka "Braindead"), then you sort of have the thing that is "Evil".Personally, I am not keen on zombies that are super agile and running around, as they are in this movie. That being said, then the director of this movie managed to uphold a very "28 Days Later" feeling all throughout the entire movie, and for that, thumbs up.There was a good amount of gore in the movie as well, though the movie was fairly low-budget, they managed to make the effects look nice and realistic enough. And again, thumbs up on that.However, one thing that didn't really sit well with me was the characters in the movie. They weren't really given much space to unfold or develop. And as such, they were fairly two-dimensional. There were some attempts thrown in at being funny, particularly from the Argyris guy, whether or not that is good, is a personal preference, I, however, just didn't find the forced humor at place in the movie.Now, this movie is of course a mile and a stone away from being up to most Hollywood productions, but still, if you are a zombie aficionado, there is some good stuff here and good entertainment, and "Evil" should - and deserves - a place in the movie collection of any zombie aficionado.So you might wonder why I am only rating "Evil" a 5 out of 10 rating. Well, simply because I don't find agile, running zombies particularly enjoyable, and also because of the misplaced attempts of humor in the movie. "Evil" has a lot to offer, but with some adjustments, it could have been so much more. But with "Evil", Greece has put itself on the world map of the zombie infection.On a closing note, then the ending of the movie was just priceless. It was the best part of the entire movie. And what a way to leave the audience hanging. Several rotting thumbs up for the bold ending of the movie.

We all hate the Hollywood remakes of foreign movies, like {REC) / Quarantine, Ju-on / The Grudge, Ringu / Ring, Nattevagten / Nightwatch etc... But where's the Hollywood remake when you need one?! Because To Kako, or Evil, is exactly the kind of movie that might have been good given more money, better script based on the original one, (better) actors and so on. The original script is very well-intended, the author really likes zombie movies, but his literary vein endures only for the first half of the film; after that, it seems the writer couldn't wait for the film to end so he threw in some fast jokes and zombie shooting and that was that. There are some good tricks, some good ideas, few very good scenes, the fight looks bad but at least they tried to think, if not choreograph, every move. The movie makers also obey the rules, even the rule that says every rule must be broken. For example, Yorgos Noussias' zombies don't die exclusively by brain destroying, but can also be killed by stabbing in the chest – at least if the scene (one of the zombie that was put to sleep in the restaurant scene) was intentional. Of course, To Kako is a film exclusively for die hard zombie fans (pun pretty much intended). Only we can watch such cheap productions, achingly bad acting, stupid character motivations, dialogs ripped off from another 100 movies, artificial conflicts, fake fight scenes, horribly lighting, goofs (like the blood spurting out from a zombie cut in two – but spurting out and upwards from the low half – as the heart was of course in the upper half!), confusing editing at times... and I won't continue the list, because, despite all those shortcomings, I still liked the movie. To Kako is pretty much a kind of The Elephant Man (but the character, not the film): inside there's a great person, but you hate the way he looks. It's hard to look at him, but you ignore his appearance because you know down there there's good soul. As for the horror factor, yes, it exists, although achieved more by editing (the sudden bursts of the zombies…) and sound, which is the easy way to do it. Nevertheless, this film had one thing that was more scary and horrific than any other; it really made my hair rise and my teeth ache… and I'm talking about the music. The score was absolutely idiot, ruined many scenes and also killed any attempt to disbelief suspension. On the other hand, one of the best thing in this movie is its humor. I mean not in the sense that it has many jokes or wise cracking, but there is one of the funniest (or rather hysterical!) moments I have seen in zombie flicks – the one involving Argyris and the zombie who interrupted his fun. Oh, and speaking about humor… or maybe goofs?... or maybe genre transgressing?... anyway… I didn't get the scene at 00:37:27, with Argyris hiding behind a, like, 6 inch thick tree… Was it some attempt to put some cartoon fun in a zombie movie?... Hard to say! Finally, the actors. As I still liked this film, I will only add that here at IMDb it's mentioned a sequel will come out next year, starring Billy Zane. Let me just say Mr. Zane is going to be the Dustin Hoffman of the cast. Not a word more!

If there is a category for "torture porn" there should be one for zombie movies too; that is, movies that are not about plot or character but just "delivering specific goods." "To Kako" could serve as a standard, and it's too bad most fans won't see it because it's from Greece, and subtitled. The filmmakers here know we don't care 1) why people are turning into zombies or 2) much of the personal problems of the characters affected by the zombie plague. They know we just want more, and new, variations on the themes set up by Romero, Raimi and Jackson. They know we want the goods--zombies and over-the-top gore! And this film delivers.Of course the word "porn" is derogatory and implies there's nothing more than exploitation going on here, which is not the case. Even though the story and characters are inconsequential (there's little or no exposition as to what caused the "zombie virus," why it affected the main characters and why we should care--in fact, initially I had a hard time keeping the characters straight) there's much at work here beneath the surface regarding good ol' fashioned suspense film technique, parody or straight-ahead; despite its direct-to-the-jugular attitude this is not a "dumb" movie. It's actually dark satire, but you have to be able to recognize that to enjoy it fully. The only things I do NOT like about "Braindead" and "Shaun Of The Dead" are the fact that the films waste so much screen time on their respective pathetic male heroes, and their pathetic problems. I also don't care for the way these films descend into cutesy Warner Bros. cartoons. "To Kako" is not "better" than these movies, or Romero's early classics, but it's a solid entry in the genre that is not to be missed if you're a fan. The zombies are plentiful, nasty, and just keep coming in the way that we fans of the genre love.The benefits: Remarkable, fast-moving, creative splatter set-pieces, inventive camera, editing (loved the "flash forwards") and split-screen work (cheesy, but I think it was *supposed* to be), minimal moments of "down time", an eerie/throbbing techno score, the beautiful Athens locales and doe-eyed actors and a truly memorable, disturbing, apocalyptic ending. On the downside: some technical troubles where the low budget shows, some bad acting, some weird storytelling choices, none of which get in the way of the "fun."On that topic, this film brings up an interesting point; despite some moments of genuine humor (there's one ridiculous sight gag with the perpetually horny cabbie behind a tree that shouldn't work but made me laugh all the same) this is a brutally violent movie concentrating on the wholesale graphic destruction of men and women trying to kill each other by utterly destroying each others' bodies until they become lasagna. The film's focus, and what will keep most of the fans happy (including this one), is how many people--undead or not--are dispatched, how graphically, and how often. It shouldn't be "fun," and with a heavier directorial hand it wouldn't be (Fulci films are pretty bleak, in general) but it is. That this makes such compelling viewing is probably symptomatic of the times we live in, but I'm not nearly drunk enough to know why...The great cover art by Michael Bukowski well-represents the comic-book style of the movie. Check it out for yourself if you get the chance, it's worth the gamble.

~~WARNING! THE FOLLOWING REVIEW MAY OR MAY NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS. USE YOUR OWN JUDGEMENT WHEN DETERMINING A SPOILER~~First off, can anyone say 28 Days Later? This movie reeks (pun intended) of the international hit by Danny Boyle. From the surreal haunting music, the camera work involving abandoned shots of Downtown Athens (more notably the train track sequence when heading to the army.), and the red first person perspective of the zombies as they chase their prey. As far as originality goes, the story is part of the same that has been about through the ages. A group of strangers caught up in a diabolical plague set forth to find others as well as make it out of the infested city and to the country. The Gore meter is maxed out with plenty of visceral decapitations, disembowelment's, and gut munching mayhem. Though effective throughout the movie, the effects seem rather comical and cheesy because they are so overdone. And lets not forget the ever so clever comedic performance that are never absent when it comes to a gore-fest zombie movie. There are some pretty snappy one liners and some scenes just make you laugh out loud. Keep an eye on the cabbie throughout the movie as the laughs usually emit from him. A fairly decent cast with some rough "Follow me if you want to live." action lines that could have not been inserted into the already fast paced action. Tough guy and girl antics run amuck. Some unsuspecting scenes really catch you off guard during the duration of the movie, which makes it not only a action oriented horror movie, but gives elements of suspense. If you think you know whats going to happen during this movie I can tell you that you're wrong from the start. Abolutley GOREgeous shots of Athens abandoned. Some notably scenes are: THE RESTAURANT ALLEY WAY WITH THE WATER PIPE THE SOCCER STADIUMAll in all this movie garnered a 7 overall for mostly the 28 Days Later atmosphere which really wasn't a fantastic choice to base your movie on. Although the Evil Dead and Dead Alive references totally undertake the negative.