Richard Crenna leads in this lackluster 70's horror effort. It tells the story of a couple who buy a mansion much in need of restoration, they call in some friends to assist but find themselves trapped inside by a supernatural entity.Alas very little happens, the story doesn't make a tremendous amount of sense and the whole thing is somewhat of a bore.The IMDB rating for this is quite high so expected more, sadly it misfired on all cylinders and left me scratching my head.No idea how this got its 18 rating either, it's stupidly tame stuff.The Good: Decent settingThe Bad:Rather blandInstantly forgettableOdd endingThings I Learnt From This Movie:Satan is an old fat bearded guy with a cross allergy

"The Evil" (also known more appropriately as "House of Evil") is a very simple, relatively low-budge film that was shot in only 30 days. So, you'd expect it to be crap...but oddly, it isn't.Richard Crenna and Joanna Pettet head a cast of various folks who are soon to become victims of a demoniacally possessed mansion. However, most of the folks spend much of the film trying to rationalize and explain away the weird and malevolent happenings in the place. But when folks start getting tossed about like rag dolls and the place seems to have a mind of its own, the only reasonable explanation is evil!The film has a lot going for it. The ghosts look amazingly realistic and the stunts do as well. Plus, the film is more than just gore and death. Well worth seeing if you like horror flicks.

The movie is wasted only by scenes of people sliding around and people getting killed by electric shocks. There isn't enough to qualify this as spine-tingling fun. It is also laughably dated in visual material! Try to watch that sick girl shake all over the floor in her undies for a change and you'll see why! The only exception would be Andrew Prine sinking in mud and attempting to commit suicide.At first, I was expecting a shrieky classic haunted house spook show, but this wasn't it. Granted, THE EVIL suffers from a serious lack of diversity, or a story. You know a movie that has a conflicting situation between good and evil, and the end always turns out to be quite simple.Any low-budget horror movie can do A LOT better than this, but for the moment, give THE EVIL some extra credit for its dark and thunderous setting that lives up to my expectations. This one spoils the most hardcore horror fans for not being frightening enough though.

I remember seeing this movie as a child, and how it scared me! Well one day I was lucky to find the VHS at a garage sale. Last night I finally put it on to a DVD, where it will never ever wear out.I think Richard Crenna did a great job in this film. I think the film itself was a bit before its time with some of the special effects. The look cheesy compared to todays standards, but for a movie coming out of the 80's it is remarkable.I am really surprised at how little information is out there about this movie, It is one of those small classics that got lost, and I am sure glad that I still have it!