How entertaining? ★☆☆☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 2 September 2016
A movie review of THE EVIL IN US. |
“Please, just kill me,” Zoe Kieslowska (Tatyana Forrest)
Bargain bin filmmaking of a low order. At least there is no female exploitation. THE CABIN IN THE WOODS and TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL have upped the ante on youngsters in peril in an isolated hut. There is no excuse now for this level of incompetence. Dialogue drops leadenly out of character mouths as if there was no script and everyone had to improvise on the spot, with no prep and not more than a single take permitted. The runtime is dominated by three twenty-something couples, who are friends and lovers with zero chemistry. When it comes the inevitable time for them to perish, the audience will be nonplussed.
Three separate arenas make up THE EVIL IN US, which is the only thing going for the movie: Two murders and one mutilated survivor in Seattle, the island countryside cabin, and a lab prison where human experimentation is undertaken. The link between the first two becomes apparent, but it is not until the twist reveal that the final segment becomes clear. There is an attempt at political commentary, but the denouement opts for conspiracy theory. Was the aim to have an impact on the US presidential election later this year? If the writer-director had dialled back the O.T.T. tone, honed in on social relevance, and delivered effective thrills, then THE EVIL IN US would have been a more palatable proposition.
Bargain bin filmmaking of a low order. At least there is no female exploitation. THE CABIN IN THE WOODS and TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL have upped the ante on youngsters in peril in an isolated hut. There is no excuse now for this level of incompetence. Dialogue drops leadenly out of character mouths as if there was no script and everyone had to improvise on the spot, with no prep and not more than a single take permitted. The runtime is dominated by three twenty-something couples, who are friends and lovers with zero chemistry. When it comes the inevitable time for them to perish, the audience will be nonplussed.
Three separate arenas make up THE EVIL IN US, which is the only thing going for the movie: Two murders and one mutilated survivor in Seattle, the island countryside cabin, and a lab prison where human experimentation is undertaken. The link between the first two becomes apparent, but it is not until the twist reveal that the final segment becomes clear. There is an attempt at political commentary, but the denouement opts for conspiracy theory. Was the aim to have an impact on the US presidential election later this year? If the writer-director had dialled back the O.T.T. tone, honed in on social relevance, and delivered effective thrills, then THE EVIL IN US would have been a more palatable proposition.
The human capacity for wickedness is barely explored (unless the title refers merely to the climactic mystery), and attractive cast members turning homicidal zombie does not shine a philosophical light on the human condition. The players are so wafer thin, and the acting so stilted, it takes a final talking head to explain what the flick is about.
Production values are ropey. We watch proceedings through a greyish filter. A “City of Seattle Police” sign stands outside what looks to be a community centre. Inside the décor is unfortunately hilarious. I’m no detective, but the jargon rings false. Maybe THE EVIL IN US is a comedy, and one watched in the wrong light? If it is, this is no BROOKLYN NINE-NINE.
Back to the cabin, there is a slow-mo swimming montage, and then a slow-mo fireworks montage, to pad things out. Replacing dialogue are some hollering and whooping (over nothing discernible deserving of such faux-joy).
THE EVIL IN US is the sort of horror movie you just sit and sigh through, waiting for the protagonists to be let out of their misery. One of the messages seems to be an anti-cocaine public service announcement. If this is actually a hugely ambitious 90-minute just-say-no-to-drugs P.S.A., then I need to change my score significantly upwards.
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