Really Surprised!

Don't Believe the Hype

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Maybe it's just me, but I never imagined the Antichrist to be someone who gets straight A-test results, acceptance letters from all the acclaimed universities or allows himself to be bullied by high-school jocks who are obviously homosexual. What's wrong with this picture? On one hand Andrew Williams is a creepy adolescent who petrifies his father and even crippled his own mother, but other the other he's the main target of mockery at school. The continuous lack of logic and the giant leaps in coherence are the biggest defects featuring in "Fear No Evil". Well… those and the copious amounts of downright boring scenes, of course. The film benefices from a constantly strange and ominous atmosphere, but the plot is completely senseless and there's absolutely no excitement to enjoy until very late in the film (and even then the "horror" moments are still disappointing). Writer/director Frank LaLoggia's debut film was clearly inspired by the horror classic "The Omen", as both films revolve on a youthful Antichrist patiently preparing The Second Coming. His father, the dark lord Lucifer, was destroyed by a courageous priest but somehow he apparently managed to impregnate a woman before dying, and the fruit of her loins shall grow up developing curious powers that eventually will bring the world to an end. Meanwhile, an elderly female archangel desperately tries to recruit a young girl – one of Andrew's classmates – to assist her in the battle of good versus evil. Sounds interesting, huh? Yeah, well, it's not so much. The biggest difference between Antichrist Andrew Williams and Damien of the aforementioned classic "The Omen" lies in his character profile. Andrew is an introvert geek who sits on a swing at night and tolerates gay punks to make fun of his naked ass. He's not the least bit menacing and he doesn't nearly take enough advantage of the ungodly powers he inherited! Resurrecting dead corpses is one thing, but inflicting breasts on his archenemy?!? Is that the best you can do, Andrew? In between all the boredom, "Fear No Evil" contains a handful of intriguing sequences that actually make you regret the wholesome is not better. Notably the live outdoor community theater about the final days of Jesus Christ which suddenly turns a little too realistic, the gym dodgeball ending in tragedy and – last but not least – all the random school scenes guided by the soundtrack's terrific rock songs. There's "The Ramones", "Talking Heads" and even England's finest; "The Sex Pistols" with "Anarchy in the UK". This is probably also one of the only 80's horror films to feature an overload of gay slur and actually tries to make is sound cool. I don't know how different high-school was during the early 80's, but where I attended school it definitely wasn't cool for supposedly tough kids to make sexual advances to another guy in the shower… In fact, that was the type of stuff that would get you beaten up.

Since the gentleman who reviewed this film told most of the story (thankfully, so I wouldn't have to), I will just cut to the main points of my review and hopefully, this will help you. After reading many many reviews about this being a "bad" horror film, I went into this one with the idea that I was going to be expecting too much and be let down. But, to my own surprise, I was VERY satisfied with this film. The story of the battle between good and evil is told extremely well and I was very astonished about how glued I was to this story. But I did find a few things wrong/strange with this film: 1) Why didn't we get a story as to HOW Andrew became/is the Devil? In this movie he just IS... 2) Did his parents really know? Why wasn't more explained about his past? Like in the scene where he sacrifices his dog...why wasn't his motivation for that explained? 2) The homo-erotic subtext in this film was unexpected. The whole scene in the shower was not what I was expecting. And yes, many of these underground 80's films get away with the whole male frontal nudity! I've noticed that it other films like "Basket Case" and "Pieces" (And to contradict the reviewer above, some of those men were actually *very* attractive). I was very spooked by the whole scene on the beach during the play - that was done very well. But for me, the whole thing falls apart during the last 15 minutes of the film. And only because of how it was executed. They went too far on the cheesy f/x and though I understood the meaning behind it that no matter what happens good will always triumph over evil...but c'mon! When a great story is being told and then it switches to a zombie flick....? Sorry, but no. And the ending disappointed me, as well. I won't give it away, but when you think there's an explanation for the resolution, then you don't find one, it leaves a lot to be desired. Overall, this was great if you love religious thrillers like "Stigmata", but i wouldn't consider this a "horror film". I honestly give this 8 out of 10, so that should mean something. Check it out, you might like it.

I recently picked up FEAR NO EVIL out of a bargain bin of cheap DVDs because the cover art looked vaguely familiar, but I could not recall if I'd ever actually seen the movie. After sitting thru FEAR NO EVIL last night I came to the conclusion that I must have missed it back in its heyday, because I definitely would've remembered seeing a movie this BAD!! FEAR NO EVIL is a story about Andrew, a young high school genius who also happens to be the reincarnation of the Antichrist. You'd think that having supernatural powers would make high school easier on a kid (You're getting picked on by other kids in the locker room? Make their heads explode! Why doesn't THAT ever happen in a teenage-Satan movie?), but Andrew is a rather wimpy, effeminate looking Satan-in-waiting, surrounded by the usual stock characters that populate nearly every early 80s high school horror film (the tough Vinnie Barbarino clone, the greaser girls who smoke dope, swear and meet guys in the school boiler room for "quick and dirty sex," etc.), all of whom make Andrew's daily life a living Hell (sorry, I had to say it). After a lot of seemingly unconnected scenes that show these characters going around in circles without doing much, Andrew eventually kills a dog, drinks its blood, and goes out to the creepy old castle outside of town (where his predecessor was killed by Priests back in the olden days) to accept his Satanic birthright, while two Archangels (in the form of a crazy old lady and one of Andrew's high school classmates, whom he has a crush on) prepare to destroy him; all the while, there's a local Church production of the Passion Play happening in the background. (??) If this sounds like a mess, it is. Due to absolutely wooden acting by all involved, poor editing, and shoddy script writing (to say nothing of the Atari 2600 style "Laser" special effects), we never get to know enough about ANY of these characters to really care much about what happens to them, and the few disturbing gore sequences that DO work feel like they were tacked on at the last minute to briefly wake the audience up before everything slips back into talky, pretentious oblivion. The last 20 minutes are somewhat interesting, when Andrew unleashes his army of the Undead on his high school tormentors, the guy playing Jesus in the church Passion play suddenly starts bleeding REAL blood all over the first ten rows and general chaos ensues, but even those disturbing images aren't enough to save this movie after sitting through the absolutely craptacular first hour. Especially hysterical is when the Archangels finally encounter Andrew in his full Satanic regalia, which appears to be a black evening gown and dark lipstick. He looks more like a Goth club kid than the Lord of All Evil. Trust me, the effect is more likely to invoke laughter than horror. I turned to my wife and said "That's the gayest Antichrist I've ever seen." Even Dr. Frank-N-Furter from "Rocky Horror" is more macho looking than this guy!! I could go on about the unusual amount of male nudity in FEAR NO EVIL (some of it frontal), the male-on-male kissing scenes (One of which causes a guy to grow breasts!!) or the hilariously wide-eyed, vacant performance of the girl Andrew has a crush on (seriously, was she on Valium during filming?)but I think I've wasted enough time describing this mish mash to you. Suffice it to say that the highlight of this movie for me (aside from the end credits) was when Andrew's father ordered my favorite beer (Genny Cream Ale) in a bar. Apparently FEAR NO EVIL has become a cult film over the years, but I'll be damned (sorry, I did it again) if I can see why. Avoid, avoid, avoid!!!

Andrew is a brilliant teenage boy who does well in school but does not get along with his peers. His parents are frightened of him because he has exhibited disturbing behavior ever since he was born. When he starts having problems at school, people start dying. It turns out Andrew is Lucifer reincarnated and apparently doesn't know it. His old woman neighbor and his high school crush discover they are archangels on a mission to stop him.So this obviously has a silly and unoriginal plot. There are so many things wrong with this movie. The pacing and structure of the story is terrible. The acting is awful, especially by the 20-something actors playing the high school kids. And what annoying high school kids they are! There's a group of "sassy" girls called The Queen Bees (think The Pink Ladies) and an obnoxious perverted bully who smacks his girlfriend and mouths off to teachers. And then there's Andrew, who is quite an enigma. The movie may have benefited from being told through Andrew's perspective, because you never know what is going on with his character. One of the other bad things about this movie are the dated and cheesy animated "laser beam" effects that evoke laughter instead of horror. Also amusing is that the Apocalypse appears to only be happening on a very local level.But there are a few things about "Fear No Evil" that set it apart from the other "satanic" horror films of the late 70s/early 80s and make it worth checking-out. While some attempts at creating a creepy atmosphere fail, others are somewhat of a success. Especially of note is the opening sequence in a murky cavern with dangling animal bodies, a freaky possessed girl, and Lucifer himself. There's an unforgettable scene in the movie where the religious townspeople gather to watch an annual outdoor Passion play. The poor fellow playing Jesus literally gets crucified, and most of the people in the audience get attacked by a stigmata sign! Towards the end there are some zombies in the movie, beckoned by Andrew, and the make-up is great. There is also a scene where a gym teacher (who is apparently on speed) is encouraging aggressive dodgeball and, under the influence of Andrew's rage, accidentally kills one of his students by slamming a dodgeball into him! Another interesting feature of "Fear no Evil" is its treatment of gender and sexuality. The archangels are both played by women who claim to have been "bonded" together. Andrew is an effeminate boy and this does not go unnoticed by his jockier classmates. There is a shower sequence where Andrew gets sexually harassed by the school bully, who forces a kiss as a joke. Andrew turns the kiss into a violent makeout session! The two characters share a "kiss" again later in the movie in a more frightening/disturbing/hilarious scene. Also significant is the all-male nudity in the shower scene. While none of these men are particularly attractive, this sequence is rather cutting edge and controversial at a time when only female nudity was frequent in horror movies.Make no mistake, "Fear No Evil" is an average low-budget 80s horror movie. But it has tiny quirks and somewhat subversive sequences that, while somewhat random and out of place, successfully set it apart from other early 80s American horror movies. It also features a kickass late 70s/early 80s alt-rock soundtrack featuring Patti Smith, B-52s, Talking Heads, Sex Pistols, the Ramones, and a witty use of Boomtown Rats' "I Don't Like Mondays." Recommended if you like movies about the devil, or if you are looking for an early 80s horror movie that was very different from its peers.