I've avoided this movie since it came out..way, way back. Nothing but scathing reviews. But my friend bought the blu ray with Amazon bucks he had earned, so we scoped it out tonight on a hunch that it might be
one of those movies.
It was...
976-EVIL (1988)
Director: Robert Englund
Story of a nerdy momma's boy who calls a horoscope hotline and is granted evil powers to exact revenge on his wrong doers. Problem is that it takes more than half the movie to establish what exactly is going on here. What the HELL is going on here?!!
Director Englund absolutely nails atmosphere and hires 2 great composers ( Thomas Chase & Steve Ruckerto) to offer up a score in the tradition of Charlie Berstein's original
A Nightmare on Elm Street style synth darkness, but as a story-teller he is way out there. Scenes run on too long creating a weird and murky awkwardness. Is he joking with us? I wasn't always sure. There was a fair amount of really subtle humor in this, especially from the woman who plays the over bearing religious mom, but some of the long takes feel like a punch line is coming, and then nothing happens.
I can totally see why this film is a cult hit nowadays. It has everything you want in a twisted horror; humor, gore, creepy vibes, creepier music, insane camera placement, great night time sets, smoke filtered matte paintings..the whole nine.
As a story it is barely able to hold itself together. It seemed like a bunch of filaments stringing together notes and scene outlines with no real dialog or direction to work from. Englund definitely takes his time with this one. It stands on the edge of boring, but then something genuinely inspired happens and we get another ten minutes we forgive.
I liked this movie. It was just about inane and absurd but that also works in its favor. I'd go so far as to say that Robert Englund was a visionary at this time. It's true he did have his Elm St films to use as a template, but there's more to this film, and it's able to stand apart from his franchise. He's no Wes Craven, and he's no Tobe Hooper, but if he had kept going in this direction, and with a better script supervisor, he may have held a place as director all its own class.
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