Fear No Evil (1981) [Blu-ray]

The "Damion" type character (Satan incarnate) is rather inconsistent. One scene, he's in control and knows exactly how evil he is.. most the time, he's a wimpy, akaward teenager who bumbls around just for the sake of bumbling around. There are so many plot holes in this story that are hard to keep anyone engaged.. story wise. However, the over all rediculousnesss of this is highly entertaining.The pop songs they select are memorable by themselves. They offer literaly nothing to help the film directly. More often than not, they actually hurt this already painful flim.The ONLY reason I had to buy this movie is the gay shower scene. The Directors comment claims its "homo erotic" but no.. I honestly cannot call a group of men (playing teenagers) totally naked in the shower together.. The "bully" holds down our "hero" and tells him that he's gay ..and proves that the bully is not gay by holding him down and kissing him ... with tongue in front of the other naked guys. That, my friends is gay porn - and the only reason I love this movie.

I got to spend some time in the thousand islands where this movie was filmed. It was fun seeing the movie and where I had been. The scenery is simply gorgeous.The movie is a silly horror movie but I love them and will always watch them to the end.

I am in the camp that finds "Fear No Evil" ambitious and fun.This review suggests there is value to viewing both the DVD and Blu-ray versions.The DVD version is put out by Anchor Bay. The extras are a commentary track by the director and the director of photography, a behind-the-scenes showing filming (19+ minutes), the theatrical trailer, eight TV spot ads, a poster and stills gallery (104 items), an 8-page glossy booklet on the making of the film, and the ability to download the screenplay. The picture and sound are pretty good.The Blu-ray version is put out by Scream Factory. The extras are a commentary track by Stefan Arngrim ("Andrew" and the second "Lucifer") and a producer of the extras, an interview with Stefan Arngrim (37+ minutes with some overlap with the commentary track), an interview with John Eggett (special effects, 28+ minutes), the theatrical trailer, seven TV spot ads, and a poster and stills gallery (48 items). The picture is noticeably sharper and more colorful than in the DVD version.It's nice to have interest in this film continue with upgraded editions.

I watched this when it came out in 1981 and it scared the crap outta me. I was young and very involved in a church. Now, more than 30 years later I can see it for what it is. Mostly lame with okay special effects. I do recognize what had me so scared way back when and I am glad I outgrew those things.

Scary back in the 80s. Had to watch just for the memories of horror classics.

I saw this movie as a teenager and it gave me the creeps. I don't understand all the bad reviews on this movie so I guess there must be a lot of agnostics and atheists out there who like horror movies. For those of us who know that the Devil is real, this movie is scary. Don't listen to these weirdos and buy this movie and watch it in the dark by yourself if you're not a sissy.

Was looking for the perfect birthday gift for a friend. He had mentioned that when he was young his father took him to see this movie. (his father passed away on father's day 2 yrs ago)When I saw it I knew I had to get it. I purchased and gave it right too him. He just loved and it meant so much!!!!

Have you ever sat through a film, and then after it was over, wondered at all the things you could have better spent time you just used watching said film? That happened to me tonight after watching Fear No Evil (1981)...the back of the DVD case states `Fear No Evil marked the extraordinary debut of 26-year-old writer/director/co-producer/composer Frank LaLoggia and remains one of the most startling horror films of the 80's'...I'd probably take exception with the usage of the terms `extraordinary' and `startling', as they seem to apply to another film...as I already mentioned, the film was written and directed by Frank LaLoggia, and stars Stefan Arngrim (Class of 1984). Also appearing in the film is Kathleen Rowe McAllen (As the World Turns, All My Children), Elizabeth Hoffman (Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!) and a bunch of people I couldn't recognize, probably because their collective credits indicate they're all pretty much bit actors, and had decent screen time here only because they were willing to work cheaply.The film starts off pretty well, as we witness a battle between what is supposed to be the devil incarnate and a priest, and the holy roller wins out...but don't count old Scratch out yet, as he makes a comeback in the form of a baby named Andrew. After one of the more exciting (and bloody) christenings I've seen, we fast-forward about 17 years to see a grown Andrew, played by Arngrim, a gangly, straight A student and senior in high school...oh yeah, and he's also the devil incarnate (I wonder where that fits in on his transcripts). Anyway, Andrew begins realizing his potential, making plans to actualize his dominion over the Earth, but not if three archangels, in human form (well, two in human form, a young girl and an old woman, the third being the now deceased priest), have anything to say about it...As I said, the film started off strong, but soon petered out (after about ten minutes)...the next hour is, well, boring...seriously, not much happens. There were one or two bright spots, but the story drags...and drags....and drags...until the last 15 minutes or so when things pick up again. I actually had to stop the movie like three times and go do something else, as I found myself becoming annoyed with the fact so very little was happening. There were a few decent elements in the film...the cinematography, the music, the locations used, but what really derailed the movie was the lack of direction in the story. There were a couple of different stories going on at once, the angels in human form coming together, and Andrew coming into his own, but these elements were drawn out to the point where they killed the pacing completely. There were some points of interest during Andrew's development, in particular the dodgeball incident...and that's something else...did anyone ever play dodgeball in high school gym class? I recall playing this in grade school, but then once I passed into later grades, this activity was replaced by others like rope climbing and square dancing. Another thing...if you're looking for some nudity, there's like one or two female chest shots, very brief, countered by a long scene in the boy's shower room...maybe it just seemed long to me, as sausage fests really aren't my thing. Seriously, if you like male bum cakes and male dingles, you're in for a treat here. The scene included a male bully taunting Andrew, making references to his sexuality in that the bully jokingly pressed Andrew for a date. The bully then followed this up by forcibly...kissing Andrew on the mouth! Um, okay...I'll stick to snapping someone's behind with a wet towel, but to each his own. Eventually things pick up again, as the local church is performing the Passion play, and Andrew, not to be outdone, revives the dead, and causes spontaneous bleeding among parishioners. The walking dead did look kinda cool, but their role in the story was slight and their time on screen minimal. I'm unsure what his purpose was in raising the dead, other than to show us he could. The acting actually wasn't that bad, and the script decent. I could be critical of the special effects, but given the limited budget of the film, that really wouldn't be fair, and besides, I've seen much worse in more expensive films, and I felt there was an attempt here to make the most of what they had. I've always found that if the story is strong and the acting passable, certain things can be overlooked, such as meager effects. Look at the film The Day After Tomorrow...they had some really amazing effects, but they tried to use them to cover up the lousy story, and it didn't work...a polished turd is still a turd...I will say LaLoggia does have talents, and during brief parts of the film I almost felt like I was watching a John Carpenter movie, but he needs to familiarize himself with the idea of a cohesive plot and moving things along at a well-regulated pace. Horror fans may find bits and pieces (pun intended) of the film to their liking, but the patience required to get to those scenes is too much. There are some decent tunes used sparingly in the film by such artists as The Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, Talking Heads, and The Ramones, and I also found the original music to be suitable and even inspired.The widescreen (1.85:1) picture, enhanced for 16X9 TVs, looks decent, and the audio comes through clean. There's a whole slew of extras including a commentary track by the writer/director and the photographer, behind the scenes footage, a theatrical trailer, like 9 or 10 TV spots, a poster and still gallery, the original screenplay on DVD-ROM, and a six page booklet insert with production notes.Cookieman108

Lucifer is reborn in the form of high school student Andrew Williams(Stefan Arngrim) a bright, gifted pupil who starts to become aware of his powers when he uses them to combat the bullies who torment him.Meanwhile, the forces of good, three angels(Mikhail,Gabriel and Rafael) in human form struggle to unite and come together in time to fight Lucifer before the powers of evil take over.I was really looking forward to this film as I love LaLoggia's other genre film 'The Lady In White'. This film is visually stunning, ambitious and full of ideas. Unfortunately, something got lost in the transition from script to screen, as what we have is to be honest a bit of a mess. There is no coherent narrative, as the film jumps wildly from one scene to another totally unrelated one, and in the end no amount of visual thrills, pretty lights or big explosions(there's plenty of those in the climax) can compensate for the confusion on screen.Still it has to be admired for its ambition and at least trying to be different to the numerous slashers and their sequels that populated early 80's horror. In the end however, it will be probably be remembered as the film where a man grows a pair of very shapely breasts.An interesting effort, but no 'Lady In White'. 3 out of 5