The Worst Film Ever

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I don't know why I keep trying these movies at the video store. The cover and story are intriguing, and I am irrevocably drawn to it in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, this one will be different than the mountains of B schlock that I've seen in the past. But alas, it just never happens.This is one more on the pile of practically worthless movies I've seen that have a great idea, but extremely poor execution. I am a horror fan, and love the premise of ghosts, haunted towns, and other supernatural elements in a movie when handled well. The acting from the first frame was unconvincing and amateur, and proceeded throughout. Suspense was typically minimal and most of the "horror" moments were handled very sloppily. I will never grasp how such crap can manage to get funded. The producer(s) must take out a second mortgage or something else dire, and then roll the dice and hope that enough schmucks will shell out their hard earned cash to gobble up their vile stew. Hey, Blair Witch sucked and it made money, right? I must digress a moment and say that there were a few decent scare moments here and there, maybe one good gore bit to keep it from being a complete waste of one and a half hours of my life. It was also interesting to see a host of a show I enjoy called "Cities of the Underworld" on the History Channel have a bit part here. But these fleeting moments do not make the experience worthwhile. If you must submit yourself to this "film," and I use the term loosely, then get it for $0.50 at Family Video. Or just forget it and look for something that's bound to be better.

I was the principal cinematographer* on EVIL'S CITY ( credit omitted from the film at my insistence for countless reasons although it still shows up on IMDb.com ). My comments herein are based on my own observations and understanding, and of course, opinion, all of which some might consider incorrect.The filmmaker, a very nice guy and noted industry attorney ( hence my above disclaimer ), had sincere intentions of a quality project and a hip, entertaining moralistic tale; like so many first-timers stifled by lack of time, money, and other factors, the result was clearly otherwise (in my humble opinion).Originally budgeted at $20,000 ( I was told ), I refused the project repeatedly but finally agreed to lens the film ( my last favor for anyone, ever ) after meeting the cast and hearing the filmmakers detailed cinematic vision. The budget swelled to over $65,000 ( raised by a lead actor and another individual who "purchased" a small role ) ; most of the dollars were spent solely on "panic" last minute location expenses associated with complete lack of any discernible pre-production accomplishments. I know it wasn't spent on catering.Ironically, the main "City" street in the film, thankfully a ghost town in the story, was a movie-ranch set used in countless films and TV shows; it was almost impossible to shoot, as there was no provision for requested lights or power ( the filmmaker insisted that there was power on the street; he did not realize the 3/4 scale power poles were strung up with rope, not electrical wire... they were props, like everything else, miles from civilization). A mere few thousand watts of tungsten light on hand and a construction generator were provided ( hence the completely dubbed or inaudible portions of the soundtrack and the mostly black portions of the film ).In an attempt at complete auteur-ship, the film was edited, remixed, and color-altered by the filmmaker.Numerous people involved brought talent, experience, heart, energy and hope to the project, most without benefit of paycheck, but ultimately if a pilot flies a plane straight into a cliff, everyone still dies.This film and SNITCH'D prove anyone really can make a movie, and even get it on the shelf at your local video store. I'm not sure if that is a good thing.Of confounding interest to other filmmakers may be the fact that EVIL CITY sold to distribution with almost no effort a few short weeks after availability of screeners; DVD's hit the chain store shelves in the U.S. so fast that a star of the film found out when hewent in to rent a movie and saw his name on a film box he didn't recognize ( the working title of EVIL'S CITY was THE LAZARUS SPORE, and then CROSSING ACHERON by wrap of photography ).* Film contains numerous inserts and other material shot by the director or purchased stock. As for the color grading...

Some college kid reporters go off in search of a hidden ghost town called Acheron. Naturally they find a bit more than they bargained for. After a good start the movie gets pretty bogged down. During the first half it's kind of hard to figure out much about what's really going on, it just plain jumps around too much. There are flashbacks that don't really help since they just sort of pop up out of nowhere. The last half hour or so picks up nicely as people are getting knocked off left and right in very violent fashion. You're gonna have to watch this sucker twice to actually enjoy this flick. That way you'll have some idea where the plot is going. Watchable if you like blood and guts. I give it a four out of ten for gore.

Me and a friend were sitting in the local movie store and decided to just go to the horror section, spin around in a circle, and point at the first movie we saw and then rent said movie. Luckily, or unluckily, we ended up renting "Evil's City". Now, it was completely our intention to rent a terrible movie, so you could say that we were more than satisfied with our choice.There's really only one phrase that can accurately describe what a pile of crap this is: a HUGE pile of crap. The DVD alone reeks of bland, uninspired filth. No special features or "making-of" that would most likely just show the writer pooping out his script. The scene selection offers 4, yes FOUR scenes to choose from. I guess the editor couldn't figure out how to slice this steamer of a movie into eighths or sixteenths. Anyway, DVD features aside, the film itself sucks. The only remotely significant character, who I assume is some kind of angel that wears black, is an Aussie who has about 8 minutes of screen time and then disappears for the rest of the film. You later see his face poorly pasted on a stained-glass window which causes a female character to scream rather inappropriately.The only way you can like this movie is if you love clip-art special effects, shoe string budgets (and when I say shoe string I mean the director literally sold his shoe strings to fund the movie when he should've just wrapped them around his neck and hung himself), and putting emphasis on the wrong syllables. This movie needs to be filed under comedy for the unintentional hilarity that ensues on this whacky adventure all the way from the random beginning, over the mountain of plot less and disconnected exposition and then ultimately to the regret of even wasting your time on this.I give Evil's City a -20 out of 10.