It's always odd seeing a major studio logo appear at the start of a video nasty. That cool old school 70's red Warner Brothers one starts Evilspeak and as soon has it fades off screen we get a naked woman decapitated by an evil Spanish monk called Eastaban during an effectively and chillingly staged medieval satanic mass. Nudity crossed with violence was big censorship no-no back in the day and having it in the opening minutes always meant Evilspeak was going to be frowned on.
As her head flies through the air we cut to a ball in the air. Nice Kubrickian match-cut there. A ball kicked during a game of football being played at the West Andover military academy in sunny California. Struggling to keep up is Stanley (Clint Howard, star of Gentle Ben, brother of Ron). He's the school target, bullies and teachers hate him because try as he might he messes everything up. One day as punishment he's sent to the basement where he finds a satanic book belonging the devil worshipping Estaban from the beginning of the film and it piques his interest. How that book got to California isn't quite clear but Evilspeak isn't a film to bother itself with such answers. Or any form of logic really. In an attempt to translate the book he uses the school computer which of course gets possessed and as his bullying intensifies so does his obsession with the book. Eventually he himself is taken over by Estaban and all hell breaks loose during a school meeting in the chapel.
Evilspeak rocks. There's no faffing around with it, it has decent production values and actors you'll actually recognise. R.G. Armstrong, a familiar face from 1000 westerns pops up as a crazy coot who gets his head twisted right around by an evil presence. Lenny Montana, famous for playing Lucas Brasi in The Godfather, plays the school chef and it's his act of kindness that leads to the straw that breaks the camels back so to speak. The head bully is played by Don Stark who's afro you'll remember from That 70's Show and then there's Clint Howard, an actor who's always had a rather peculiar presence but here's that presence is perfect for the part of the bullied pupil who strikes back viciously. Remember how Brian De Palma's Carrie ended. The bullied girl letting loose at the prom? If you enjoyed that then you'll fuckin' love this.
Anyway, down to the nitty gritty. Why was this on the video nasty list? That bloody opening and ending and it's overall themes of satanism of course. Does Evilspeak deliver on that front? Oh yes indeed. We get satanic pigs disembowelling people in bathtubs, decapitations aplenty, entrails ripped out in gooey close up, nails flying out to crucifixes into priests skull's and a headmaster's head ripped asunder by a broadsword. But here's the thing, it's all so silly and over the top that you can't take any of it seriously. It's wildly funny and all scored by a brilliantly hammy Omen aping operatic score. It's only after it's over that you realise you've been laughing at what is essentially a movie about a bullied pupil massacring his school mates, only this time he's using the devil instead of a machine gun. This is one film that will never get a modern day remake.
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| The moneyshot |
Would I recommend Evilspeak? Yes. It's highly entertaining if you don't think too deeply about it.
Did it deserve to be on the Video Nasty list? Nope. It's definitely gory and vicious but only a fool would be offended by it. Enter the BBFC. Context and comedy was ignored while they forensically ticked their boxes and boom, another silly horror movie finds itself prosecuted by the DPP. Thus making it infamous.
Next up - Exposé aka House On Straw Hill. A rather disturbing watch.
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