first-time director Roger P. Evans, an SOV offering that was converted to film before its VHS release, as was the norm at the time of its production.
Independently wealthy heir and “gadget” inventor Marc (Red Mitchell) invites his brother and a gaggle of friends to a weekend at the family lake house, only to become the only survivor of an abrupt burst of EVIL DEAD-influ- enced supernatural mayhem. Long story short (and it is a long story, as scripted by Freeman Williams), Marc makes the ac- quaintance of Reggie (Tracey Huffman), a young woman who also survived such goings-on in the past, and the two of them team up with Detective Leo (Charles L. Trotter) in an attempt to prevent the final awakening of the Lovecraftian demon Yog Kothag. Unfortunately, the char- acters spend so much time get- ting to know each other in the process of research and prepa- ration (the occasional haunting or burst of violence notwithstand- ing) that it isn’t until the last half- hour of the nearly two-hour production that they finally get around to repeatedly attempting to kill the unkillable zombie
prominently featured in every piece of promotion before con- fronting “the man behind it all.” FOREVER EVIL was suffi- ciently successful in video stores to earn several playdates on the USA Network (usually as part of the late, lamented SATURDAY NIGHTMARES film series), but the cuts necessary to fit the film into a two-hour time slot (with commercials) were frequently at the expense of the “good stuff” (the highlight being the messy “dream” birth of a monster in- fant) and did little to relieve its much-too-leisurely pacing. That said, the infrequent peaks are carried out with plenty of micro- budget gusto as seen in the un- rated tape release (which appears on Volume 6 of VCI’S Scream Theater lineup). However, the label has also released this 2-disc “Special Edition” which includes not only the regular VHS cut but Evans’ restored director’s cut (119m 28s). The difference is no- ticeable from the very beginning: the original “demo film” footage (in which writer Williams both heralds and experiences super- natural doom as tarot-card reader Magnus) no longer serves as a prologue but is relocated to
Hannah Herzsprung and Angela Winkler play two survivalists in Tim Fehlbaum’s dystopian drama HELL .
the middle of the picture, which starts with the same set of primi- tive, hand-animated credits. The added footage indulges our leads with plenty of extra, sincerely- acted character moments... but in the end, the very last thing FOREVER EVIL needed was to be 10m longer. Still, it’s only the Director’s Cut that comes with a pleasant (and frequently self-dep- recating) feature commentary with Evans and Williams. A well- mixed Dolby Digital 5.1 sound- track upgrade has been applied to both cuts, while a photo gal- lery and the original promotional trailer are offered as additional supplements. FOREVER EVIL was unquestionably seen by many patrons, and should they care to repeat the experience, then this Special Edition offers the best way for them to do so.
HELL
2011, Arc Entertainment, 88m 57s, $14.99, DVD By Richard Harland Smith
Though it cleaves a little too closely to the 28 DAYS LATER (2002) playbook—two-thirds on the road, one-third locked in some nutter’s attic with the offer
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