Where Evil Lives (1994) [filmed in 1991]

... aka: Trilogy of Fear

Directed by:
Richard L. Fox Jr.
Stephen A. Maier
Kevin G. Nunan

Oh, Troma, you masters of hyperbole and deception, you! Where Evil Lives is a low budget, shot-on-16mm anthology film from Florida that apparently went unseen for a very long time. And by a very long time, I mean for over two decades. That's 21 years, folks. There was no VHS issuing and it wouldn't be until 2012 that Troma decided to finally unleash this beast on DVD with the tag line “One of the GREATEST HORROR FILMS of the 80's!” That statement is ridiculous enough as is until you realize that this couldn't possibly be one of the greatest horror films of the 80s because it's not even from the 80s. It was actually filmed in 1991 (despite Troma's false claim of 1989 on their website). Glancing at the end credits, the copyright date is 1994 and there's even a dedication to the late Claude Akins, the only real “name” in the cast (who passed away in January of 1994), so it's safe to assume someone was hoping to release this in '94 and it just never happened for whatever reason. Speaking of Akins, the IMDb trivia section for the film (as well as Troma's website) claims this was his final film appearance. Amusingly, the trivia sections for three other films on IMDb - Seasons of the Heart (1993), The Search (1994) and Twisted Fear (1994) - also claim to contain his final film appearance. That either means his final film appearance somehow happened simultaneously on four different films or that yet another clueless bozo has submitted false info. I'll let you work that one out on your own.

This is basically three short films from three different directors with a framing story that attempts to link everything together. In the framing segment (directed by Kevin G. Nunan), Realtor Brandy Wine (producer Faye McKenzie) leaves potential buyer Blake Rutherford (James Coffey) to look around a mansion while she makes an important phone call. Blake wanders around the estate and eventually stumbles upon friendly caretaker Jack Devilin (Akins) digging a hole in the backyard. Jack warns him that the house has “quite a history” and may actually be haunted and then proceeds to tell him three different stories of horrifying things that have happened there over the years.

First up is “Hubert's Homecoming,” directed by Stephen A. Maier. Back in 1969 when the home was being used as a college dormitory, obnoxious and unpopular Hubert Whitehead (Peter Zaff) decided to slaughter six popular students, including gunning two down in the middle of a game of Twister and stabbing another to death with a stuffed blue marlin (!) while blood sprays all over a Yogi Bear lamp (!!) He's put away but then released in 1991 and goes to stay at a puke green home he inherited from his dead parents. Eager to prove he's been cured to his new neighbors, Hubert sits on his front lawn talking to a Barbie doll and brushing its hair and spending hours furiously washing his old purple T-bird. Hubert eventually goes back to the now-closed-down college and encounters the vengeance-seeking zombies / ghosts of his victims, who force him to play a deadly game of. uh, Quarters (!) Confederate flags seem to be all over the place for some reason and this is both predictable and silly. Yet, as dumb as the whole thing is, it proves to be the easiest-to-tolerate of these tales.

Nunan's “Midnight Date” is next and the only memorable thing about it is an unintentionally hilarious voice-over that seems pilfered from a corny paperback trash romance novel. 11-year-old Jamie Davis (Beth McKenzie), who has the psychic gift of “sight,” breaks into an old abandoned house but runs off after encountering a fried-haired, lingerie-clad vampiress named Diane (Jennifer Marie) in the basement. Jamie's horny oldest brother Tim (Thomas Croom) goes back to the house later that same night and sees Diane dancing. Seeing how “Her slow, sultry movements perfectly matched his eternal pubescent rhythms,” she is clearly “The perfect woman to ignite the hot loins of his youthful passion.” And how could he resist “Her slow, undulating sexuality...” as it “...sent ripples of desire throughout him?” Well, he doesn't resist it, gets himself bit and transforms into a vampire. Jamie sees it all in a vision and is unable to convince either her parents or the cops about what happened. Instead, she and her other brother Tommy (Derick Martini) get advice from a comic book called “Succubus” about how to stop her. This is just... not good... at all. And I'll leave it at that.

Last is Richard L. Fox's “Saved by the Spell.” Goofball scientist Dr. Henry Gabriel (Dan Daly), the new occupant of Spencer House (now called “Gabriel House”), has lost his mind and wants to construct a female Frankenstein monster using fresh body parts. He sends out grease ball hired killer Nico (Larry Quadagno, another producer) to get all the organs he needs, which he does by strangling women with piano wire, slicing them open with a scalpel and removing whatever part is requested by his boss. The cops are on the case but, since this is a tough nut to crack, police chief Thompson (Larry Silver) enlists the aid of “special agent” Jessica Peters (Louise LeTourneau). Jessica is actually a witch who conducts candlelit black magic rituals wearing only a sheer robe. One would think she'd eventually use her powers to apprehend the killers but instead she has sex with Nico (?!) to get his bodily fluids and proceeds to do nothing with them and doesn't even have a hand in stopping the doctor! Things end on a rushed and inconclusive note, which makes me think they either ran out of time / money or at one point this was an attempt to make a full-length feature but the project was abandoned before completion. Either way it just feels really incomplete.

Things finally return to the framing footage, which has its own (pretty stupid) twist. Needless to say, Evil proves to be far from the best horror movie of the 80s (or 90s) and Troma yet again proves they'll say just about anything to sell something. Surprisingly, two people involved in this one managed to go on to bigger and better things. Actor Martini from the second segment has gone on to an award-winning career as a independent filmmaker and third segment director Fox went on to become an assistant director in Hollywood and has worked on such features as Donnie Darko, The Descendants and Spring Breakers. The end credits feature a few outtakes with Akins, where it's revealed this was called Trilogy of Fear (the title on the slate) at one point.

★1/2

Lord of the Flies (1963) [filmed in 1961]

Directed by:
Peter Brook

William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies has gone down as one of the most widely-read and acclaimed books of the 20th Century and beyond thanks to the author's melding of solid, deceptively straight- forward storytelling with allegory, making it an excellent tool to introduce various literary devices to students (hence why it is usually a staple of high school and college English curriculum). TIME Magazine even included it on their list of the 100 Best English-Language Novels written between 1923 and 2005. The novel itself can be enjoyed on many fronts. If nothing else, it's a fascinating premise: What would a bunch of young, unsupervised boys do if stranded somewhere with no adults around, no rules, no laws, no structure or discipline and left to their own devices? The fact it also happens to be rich as an allegory on human nature and societal structure is just the icing on top. Golding himself summed up his intent rather simply by stating it's "... about the problem of evil and the problem of how people are to live together in society." That basic concept is put front and center in director Brook's film adaptation and relayed with a raw, rough-around-the-edges, primal power despite obvious technical issues that arise along the way.

An airplane full of young British schoolboys - ranging from about 6 years old to early teens - crashes somewhere on an uninhabited island. Ralph (James Aubrey), the son of a Navy commander who thinks the paternal figure he idolizes will soon come find them, stumbles upon the chubby, insecure, bespectacled, talkative Piggy (Hugh Edwards) first and the two make their way down the beach, discovering more of their schoolmates as they go. Along the beach come a second and smaller group of slightly older boys, led by Jack (Tom Chapin). Things begin harmlessly enough, with the kids essentially viewing the experience as some extended camping trip. They play games, laugh, play pranks, gather fruit, start a fire and build a shelter from branches as they await rescue. Using a majority rules vote to establish a new leader in Ralph, the group set down a few basic ground rules at the outset to maintain order, like using a conch shell as a platform to speak without interruption and keeping a fire going at the island's highest peak so any passing aircraft may see it. But things quickly go to hell.

Once one of the boys claims to see a "snake-like" shape-shifting beast stirring among the bushes at night (which later turns into a mythical sea beast), a seed of superstition and paranoia encroaches on the new society and things escalate from there. Jack and his group deem themselves "the hunters," sharpen spears, paint their faces, dress in animal rags, leave pig heads on stakes as an offering to their perceived new God and quickly descend into a life of violent tribal savagery, while Ralph loses his power and his numbers once his rival proves he can provide better and has no issue using deadly force as a means to silence those who oppose the new way. After having swayed the majority of others over to his side, Jack and his few remaining allies realize their own lives are in grave danger.

Filmed in 1961 in Puerto Rico, this low budget (250,000 dollars) production had numerous technical issues that needed tending to before it could finally be released in 1963. The major problem was the audio, most of which was not actually recorded on location due to various natural noises the filmmakers really couldn't do anything about. As a result, most of the dialogue was dubbed in later and, sadly, they didn't do a very good job of it. Audio levels really seem off throughout. Many seem to have issues with the casting of inexperienced boys instead of trained child actors in all of the roles, which results in some wooden, amateurish and / or stilted dialogue readings. Personally it didn't bother me all that much, but it obviously does some viewers. If you can ignore the above issues, this is a visually splendid film that's atmospherically photographed on beautiful locations and manages to generate a great desolate feel apart from the 'civilized' world.

Most importantly of all, Brook actually does the source novel justice. Very little of importance was left out and the director conveys exactly what the book was trying to say. That's especially impressive considering he had to narrow down around 60 hours (!) of total filmed footage to just 90 minutes for the theatrical release. Supposedly a 100-minute version was initially released to the Cannes Film Festival, but I don't believe that cut has ever been made commercially available. A more polished and bigger- budget color remake was made in 1990 by director Harry Hook. Though it's not a completely terrible movie, it still lacks the character and artistry of this original version and is less effective as a result.

Flies was chosen as one of the Top 10 Films of 1963 by the National Board of Review. The Criterion DVD - a digital remaster supervised by editor and cameraman Gerald Feil - is now the way to go if you can afford it. It comes with loads of great extras, including a commentary track with director Brook, producer Lewis M. Allen, director of photography Tom Hollyman and Feil, a 2008 interview with Brook, home movies taken on set, actor screen tests, deleted scenes, stills galleries, outtakes, a trailer, an audio recording of Goldman reading excerpts from the book accompanied by appropriate stills from the movie and many other supplements.

★★★