Evil Things (2009)

Credits / Details

42%
Overall Rating

Ranked #7,421
...out of 20,886 movies

Genres / Traits: Horror Supernatural Horror Cinéma Vérité

It's Miriam's 21st Birthday. As a birthday gift, Miriam's aunt Gail has decided to lend Miriam her beautiful country house for an entire weekend. Aunt Gail's country house is amazing. It's a four bedroom house surrounded by breathtaking mountains and miles and miles of woods. Miriam invites her young college friends Cassy, Mark, Tanya and Leo to join her at the country house for what looks to be the most amazing weekend ever. Of course they all jump at the chance to spend a free weekend in the country, in the middle of nowhere. Miriam's friends are totally in the mood for a big time party weekend. They're also anxious to escape the dark and gloomy concrete jungle known as Manhattan. Miriam, Cassy and Tanya bring the food. Mark brings the beer and Leo, the aspiring filmmaker, brings his new video camera. Leo hopes to produce a short movie by documenting every amazing moment of this weekend getaway. Unfortunately, what Leo ends up capturing on camera is not a weekend of peace and tranquility, but a nightmarish descent into pure terror. --IMDb

Review by bluemeanie
Added: September 6, 2010

When I first saw "Evil Things" I commented that it was, "Blair Witch in the woods." Then I thought about it and realized -- wait, "Blair Witch" was "Blair Witch in the woods". So, I am not quite sure how to accurately describe the film "Evil Things" other than to say it's low-budget, taken from numerous other sources and possesses really nothing original whatsoever. That said, it's rather well done, all things considered.

The plot concerns a group of friends headed to a cabin for the weekend to celebrate the birthday of their friend. On the way they have a run in with a van that begins to follow them and harass them. After they arrive, they brush the incident off and begin to go about their weekend. Things quickly take a turn for the worse when they get lost in the woods and return home only to find that their chance encounter with the van might have a more sinister meaning and consequences. That plot line is stretched over about ninety-minutes of screen time in which we get to see kids lost in the woods, kids screaming because a van is following them and kids hiding in a house in the dark being chased by something. Sound familiar? That's because it is.

Let met just get this out of the way -- "Evil Things" does not have an original bone in its body. I have seen all of this before, and done better. "Paranormal Activity" really helped elevate this type of film and was the most effective since "The Blair Witch Project" until "The Last Exorcism" came along. "Evil Things" comes off as a well-meaning homage to "The Blair Witch Project" -- basically it feels like a bunch of kids got together and then decided to make a movie because their friend had this creepy van.

All of that said, "Evil Things" has some genuine scares and the ending works. I didn't really know where the film was going to go exactly and I was somewhat surprised it went where it did. Even though we've seen the kids lost in the woods scenario, "Evil Things" handles those scenes with a sure hand and really help build the dread and the tension. The fact that we really can't hear anything only adds to this. As soon as they get home after this scene we know something horrible is about to happen. Credit is due to director Dominic Perez for casting the film with strong performers, all good at improv and all equally convincing when terrified.

"Evil Things" is as low-budget as they come and probably isn't going to go anywhere, but I think it's a good first effort from the director and an interesting project to check out. Like I said, what it lacks in originality and creativity it makes up for in its ability to sit back and let you dream the unimaginable. That, in itself, makes it worth watching. Check it out if you can. You might be disappointed. You might not. 7/10.

Recommended Movies