Forever Evil (1987/VCI set)
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C-
Roger P. Evans takes his lover of Larry Cohen’s It’s
Alive films and makes a very low budget, low energy equivalent with Forever
Evil, a 1987 release offered in two equally dull versions from VCI. In either cut, it does not matter what is or
is not graphic. A pregnant woman dies
in the shower having a sudden childbirth.
As soon as the other guests in the house suspect a fetus-robbery, they
start getting killed off faster than the film’s predictability. This time, Satan is in the mix, but this is
no Rosemary’s Baby either. After
all, Satan always goes after college graduates, right?
The no-name actors can hardly act and when we do see any
make-up gore and effects, it is nothing we have seen before. If anything, it looks like a rip-off of bad
1980s make-up, instead of the best of the 1970s, turning the horror to humor
quickly. VCI has been issuing a series
of such cheesy films just to get them on the market, as all films deserve to be
out on DVD, no matter how bad. That is
the point of the format and its success.
For those who like this film, at least it gets a deluxe treatment here.
The 1.33 X 1 full frame image in both cases show their
age, while the Dolby Digital in either 5.1 or 2.0 Stereo cannot hide the age of
the sound’s fidelity and low-budget origins.
Points to the 5.1 for trying to be more than old mono or Pro Logic
stereo surround, but it is not as good as the remix for the much older 1976 Bugsy
Malone we recently looked at.
Extras include director/writer commentary on the restored cut, which is
mixed, a stills gallery and trailers on DVD 1, with the latter two repeated on
DVD 2. This is for insanely diehard
horror schlock fans only, but at least it’s out there.
- Nicholas Sheffo
