The Evil

Richard Crenna has no sympathy for the devil

A formidable psychologist (Richard Crenna) purchases a veritable castle in the mountains of the Southwest and plans to refurbish it into a drug rehab. After hiring several students & colleagues, the team sets about their challenging task when paranormal things start happening and people begin dying in shocking ways.

"The Evil" (1978) is haunted house horror in the mold of "The Legend of Hell House" (1973), "The Devil's Nightmare" (1971) and the soon-to-come "The Amityville Horror" (1979). While it’s not great like “Devil’s Nightmare” or as good as “Amityville Horror,” it’s pretty much on par with “Legend of Hell House” and would influence future ghostly flicks, like “Ghost” (1990).

Crenna is perhaps best known as Col. Trautman from the Rambo series and does a fine job as the main protagonist. Meanwhile Victor Buono shows up for an interesting role (you might remember him as King Tut on the campy Batman TV series).

On the feminine front you have Joanna Pettet, Mary Louise Weller, Cassie Yates and Lynne Moody. Pettet and Weller are stunning, but not very voluptuous. It’s interesting to see the styles from the mid-70s wherein women wore pants so tight they revealed every crevice. Let’s just say they’re not very flattering.

People complain about the ending, yet at least the flick doesn't cop out but rather plainly reveals the source of "the evil." C.J. Arnold (Crenna) is a respected and successful psychologist who admits he made jokes about the concept of God and the devil at cocktail parties. The climax conveys the awful truth.

Of course they could've depicted things in a more conventional manner, but they evidently didn't have the budget to pull it off (think 1985’s “Legend”). So they went with something alternative.

At the end of the day, this is a decent but underwhelming haunted house flick. The shocks are overdone to the point of amusement and it needed more human interest. The best thing about it is the castle-like mansion, which reminded me of my visit to Mansfield Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, the prison used for “The Shawshank Redemption.”

The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes and was shot at Montezuma Castle in northern New Mexico, and nearby Las Vegas (which is different from the more famous city in Nevada, 500 miles further west).

GRADE: C+