EVIL THINGS (2009)
Directed by DOMINIC PEREZ
Review by PHIL ALLELY


Released by
Running Time: 79 minutes
Rating: NR
Color format: Color
Audio/Subtitles: English
Region Code: 1, NTSC
Aspect Ratio: Widescreen
16:9 Enhanced: Yes
Special Features: NONE
Trailer Online: Yes

EVIL THINGS has aspirations to being the next Blair Witch Project and whilst it doesn’t quite reach that level the idea is a solid one and fans of that genre will certainly enjoy watching it from start to finish.

Shot in the all too familiar hand held camera first person way EVIL THINGS starts off like so many young people on a trip flicks, we meet our frisky batch of twenty-something’s and learn a little bit about what’s going on before our story kicks off properly. The story is that our group are on their way to a country house for a free weekend courtesy of birthday girl Miriam. Miriam’s aunt Gail has decided to let the five friends stay at her home whilst she is out of town. Of course considering it’s free and a great excuse to celebrate Miriam’s 21st birthday the guys and girls are more than happy to pack their bags hope in the car and head off into the unknown for a weekend away from it all.

Everything we see in the movie is filmed by aspiring filmmaker Leo, who we barely see on screen, his presence is merely to narrate where needed and bicker with his friends. After a pretty long series of establishing scenes and introductions our tale begins to take shape as a dark van pesters the group during their snowy trek to Aunt Gail’s house. We never see the driver and this is where this film takes a shot at success and succeeds, our unknown driver doesn’t really do much for ages, simply happening to appear near our group, their car or in the distance and their collective paranoia kicks in.

What writer/director Perez has done is take the concept of a stalk and slash movie and remove the bad guy, he lets the characters scare themselves and drops the hidden pursuer in and out of the story when he desires. The setting of remote country roads and the icy conditions, the lack of people and the group’s eventual breakdown in unity all help ramp up the fear factor in what is essentially a short story that has been spread out to keep viewers glued to the screen.


It’s interesting to see this film more as a study of people and how conditions change them than to see it as a horror movie. Yes the five young people do have a stalker as such and they are being watched, but the whole film really is a look at how they handle the pressure and is an insight into how their seemingly tight knit friendships begin to crack under the pressure of their collective situation.

The entire things is turned on its head during the last act when our mysterious person drops off a VHS that show him filming the group and that he has even been in the house whilst they slept, all hell breaks loose from then on as our plucky heroes get picked off by an unseen figure with a night-sight.

Not wanting to spoil the film, let’s just say keep watching and all will become clear. Although maybe it only just raises more questions, but that’s a point to be brought up if a sequel arises.