CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
In The Aftermath
I've known
some actors and directors in my time who claim they don't read their
reviews, or "notices" if you want to be upper-crust about
it. In my humble opinion, these people are goddam liars; as an actor,
you have exactly three ways to get objective opinions about your work
- the director, the audience reaction, and the critics. Audience reaction
truly is the most important of these - after all, these are the people
you are actually working for - but the sad truth is, you can't put
applause in a scrapbook, and the only enduring proof you may have
of the quality of your work is four column inches by some guy who
couldn't understand what you were working toward, so you must suck.
The best
situation would involve the ability to read reviews and not have them
matter, not to take them personally. This is hard in the acting trade,
the only craft in the world where it's not your work, but you yourself
that is judged. But in the realm of Forever Evil, though I
still get a twinge whenever I run across a negative review, I more
or less accept that these have absolutely no impact on my life as
I live it now.
Remarkably,
most of the reviews were far kinder than I had expected. So let's
look at some of these, both good and bad, print and online. The excerpts
from online sources are accompanied by links to the sites; if you
run across an unfamiliar name, naturally I recommend you visit these
fine folk after our quality time.
"For
those who are not familiar with low-budget, independent horror
films, it's easy to dismiss an entire picture based solely
on trivial aspects such as picture quality reminiscent of
a camcorder, or the actors not quite living up to the standards
of, say, Keanu Reeves. (Whoops, bad example -- but you get
my point.) When dealing with a minuscule budget, you can't
afford the state-of-the-art equipment, the overpaid actors
(see: Keanu Reeves), or anything remotely resembling CGI.
You make do with what you have, and that's what the crew of
Forever Evil (for the most part) did."
-Joe
Bannerman, Opposable
Thumb Films
|
"Painfully
overlong, this starts out as a bad Evil Dead rip-off
until it eventually turns into a bad H.P. Lovecraft rip-off.
The acting stinks too, but some highly imaginative direction
and squishy FX give this a passing grade."
-James
O'Neill , Terror on Tape
(Billboard Books, 1994)
|
Said
it before, say it again: budget over five million, hommage;
budget under five million, rip-off.
"At
least it has great opening credits."
-Michael
J. Weldon , The Psychotronic
Guide to Video (St. Martin's,
1996)
|
Uh...
thanks, Mike.
"There
is some good makeup and a bit of enthusiastic gore, but
not enough to offset the endless chat (presumably improvised
since no writer is credited). Use the fast-forward and you
could probably do worse than this one."
-L.A.
Morse , Video Trash &
Treasures, Vol. I (Harper
& Collins,1989)
|
No
writer was credited? Woo hoo! I have deniability!
"It's
not every day that you stumble upon a horror flick that
will simply take all preconceived definitions of sh*ttiness
and jam them up up your ass at Mach 5. Unfortunately for
all of us here at NIGHT OF THE CREEPS, the latest entry
into our pantheon of horror, FOREVER EVIL, is just such
a film. FOREVER EVIL will quite frankly make your jaw drop
with its unbelievable sequences of what director Roger Evans
calls "special effects". O.K., I say f*ck that. The effects
in this film are SPECIAL in the same way that those kids
that rode the short bus to school are. "
-Night
of the Creeps
|
I
hate it when critics won't come right out and say what they think,
don't you?
"It
was not knowing about the plot in advance that let me enjoy
this one - I probably wouldn't have gotten nearly the kick
out of it that I did if I'd, say, read the back of the box.
"
-Brian
J. Wright's Cavalcade of Schlock
|
"The
acting is poor, the pace is nonexistent, the gore effects
and makeup are crude, and the optical effects are bargain
basement"
-Dan
Krogh, The
Official Splatter Movie Guide, Vol. I (St. Martin's,
1989)
|
"I'm
not looking for an instant classic here. I'm looking for
entertainment. As noted, despite its looped sound, despite
its fuzzy picture quality, and most defiantly despite its
stage like acting, I had some fun watching Forever Evil.
Am I truly mad? Or do I have a good explanation? "
-Dr.
Psy Chosis, And
You Thought It Was Safe!
|
"While
not the simplest of plotlines, you have to admire the sheer
audacity of Freeman's writing. This is especially true when
you consider the elements that were discarded: martial arts
fights and their accompanying philosophy ("Focus your chi!"),
actual development of the relationship between Marc and
Reggie (in the final edit, they miraculously -- and ridiculously
-- fall in love about ten minutes before the movie's end),
and other such interesting bits that the film's producers
were not at all concerned about keeping. "
-Stomp
Tokyo
|
"When
it comes down to it, a group of people tried to make a movie.
Its no Oscar winner and the road to cheesy movies is paved
with like individuals that tried to make a piece of entertainment
and it went horribly, unspeakably wrong. But this movie
didn't really go that wrong. Dr. Freex himself may not agree
with me totally, but I think Forever Evil deserves a look-see
by the B-Movie watching public. I, for one, kinda like it.
"
-Dante's
Inferno & All Night Video Store
|
And
even beyond the kindness shown by Chris & Scott at Stomp Tokyo
and Mike over at Dante, there is the following excerpt, which is
probably the one I'll have read at my funeral:
"Fairly
well-done little Evil Dead rip-off with more thought
and characterization than one generally finds in such offerings...
What works about this film is that its mythology is reasonably
convincing (at least within the confines of the film), its
effects are not cheesy (and a few are genuinely nasty),
and both characters and players are refreshingly human and
even a bit against type (lead Red Mitchell at first looks
like he was picked up at Dorks 'R' Us, but grows on you
as the film progresses)... any film with a realtor as its
central villain has its heart in the right place."
-John
McCarty , The
Official Splatter Movie Guide, Vol. II (St. Martin's,
1992)
|
That's
validation of a sort. I'll take it.
Life After Forever Evil: The Final Chapter
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