SEE NO EVIL (2006)

 

(Director: Gregory Dark. Screenwriter: Dan Madigan.)

Storyline

In a falling-apart hotel, a psychopath (Jacob Goodnight) hunts a group of teenagers.

 

Review

EVIL is a solid slasher film. The acting, its setting, its pacing, and writing (for the most part) are entertaining in a smart-minded way. Jacob Goodnight is a chilling killer with a well-explained backstory─it helps that Glenn Jacobs, a.k.a. WWF/E wrestler Kane, plays him with brutal efficiency and surprising nuance when Goodnight’s emotional side comes to the fore (the guy’s got chops!). According to IMDb, the role was written specifically for the 6’7” wrestler, whose character’s name was not uttered in the film. The rest of the actors do their jobs well, and the stinking, corpse-strewn Blackwell Hotel (with its falling-apart secret passages and two-way mirrors) is a great, atmospheric terror site.

There are few surprises story-wise, instances of crude humor, and several scenes where characters─who have briefly knocked Goodnight out of action─fail to follow through in killing him because they flee or don’t help their friends when it matters most. This last flaw, a staple in the horror genre, is not egregious here like it is in other films because most of the other elements and execution of EVIL are top-notch. It’s not going to win anybody an Oscar, but in a genre littered with so many crappy flicks, a high-budget horror film that delivers continuous, smart-minded frights like this does stands out. If you’re a fan of crude humor, make sure to watch the end-credits. Followed by SEE NO EVIL 2 (2014, directed by Jen and Sylvia Soska, a.k.a. The Soska Sisters).