Another Evil (2016)
Starring Steve Zissis, Mark Proksch, Jennifer Irwin, Dax Flame
Directed by Carson D. Mell
Screened at FrightFest 2016
More mumblecore horror makes its way on to the scene with writer/director Carson D. Mell’s darkly humorous ghost story Another Evil, wherein professional artist Dan (Zissis) discovers that his family’s holiday home appears to be haunted by one or more apparitions – the more startling of which crawls around the floor with its entrails hanging from its mouth.
Seeking to get rid of the pesky – but otherwise quite benign – spirits, Dan enlists the help of a local psychic. When this particular individual, who seems more focused on drinking beer and having pleading arguments on his phone than he is shooing the spooks, declares that the house is indeed haunted but the ghostly residents can’t be removed, well… Dan’s not having it.
Cue the recommendation from Dan’s agent to enlist the help of Os (Proksch), a professional ghost buster and out-and-out oddball who seems nevertheless completely confident in his ability to do the job.
As Dan and Os spend a few days living together in the house while Os works his magic, Dan becomes gradually more concerned about the mental state of the constantly drinking, uncomfortably personal and inquisitive man he has employed.
Of course, Dan’s concern is not unfounded – and he soon finds himself considering whether the real threat under this particular roof is the unstable man he has invited in.
In the vein of similar genre work such as Onur Tukel’s Summer of Blood and Applesauce, and Patrick Brice’s excellent 2014 entry, Creep, Mell’s film is less concerned with showy filmmaking than it is the naturalistic relationship between his characters. It’s slow and measured with little in the way of visual flash to keep your attention – which means there’s a heavy responsibility on the shoulders of Zissis and Proksch.
Thankfully, both men are more than up to the task. Zissis perfectly delivers the feel of Dan’s schlubby everyman – an artist who personally can’t believe that he’s managed to fall into a wildly successful niche of lazily painting black circles and watching incredulously as people buy them. Proksch, on the other hand, offers a palpably vulnerable element to his insanity — Os being the kind of man who just desperately needs to know that he has a genuine friend in this world.
He’s a cringe-worthy social pariah (if also potently unstable), but even when he truly goes off the rails – declaring the holiday cabin to be a literal portal to hell and refusing to leave when asked – it’s hard to believe that he’s capable of causing any real harm to Dan or his family… even when you aren’t entirely convinced that he won’t.
This makes for some nail-biting tension as the film progresses, gradually darkening as it dials down the humour and aims to maximise on the particular brand of discomfort that this kind of naturalistic filmmaking affords. Another Evil doesn’t reach the success of the aforementioned Creep in terms of delivering on the horror front – the threat doesn’t quite feel as prevalent here, with the film definitely erring more often on the funny side – but it remains a highly entertaining, subtly tense jaunt through genre-tinged territory and is more than deserving of your attention.
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Film
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