I've been watching horror movies for 40 years or more but The Evil has somehow passed me by. That was until now, just watched it on an old VHS tape (this somehow found itself on the British Video Nasties list under Section 3, goodness knows why!). A bunch of people start renovating a large house with a creepy past. One of them, played by the very attractive Joanna Petter, starts to see ghostly apparitions, a warning about an evil force that lurks in the house. They carry on with their work regardless but spooky things start to happen, people start dying (some of these deaths are pretty inventive) and they find themselves trapped inside by an invisible force. All the while a storm rages outside. As haunted house movies go this was pretty good, it held my attention all the way through. The special effects are good and the film does maintain a level of fear. I did feel that the finale was a little weird, but having Victor Buono play the Devil does at least serve as something of a curiosity. One character turns out to be a practical joker, much to his victims' annoyance. We got to see many more of these, turning up in slasher films of the 1980s. Naturally it does look dated - the fashions, the hair, the cars, even the slapping of a woman's face to calm her down. But I enjoyed it and would certainly recommend it as a supernatural horror movie.

While I know this was filmed on the outside of Las Vegas, I was curious as to where it was set, taking place in an alleged Civil War mansion which gives it a good premise. Had I not been enjoying this film, I could have cared less, as this is one of dozens of very similar horror films made in the 1970s (both theatrically and for TV) dealing with supernatural issues. Richard Crenna and Joanna Pettet have purchased this house with the intent of making it a drug rehab center, and somehow Unleashed hidden demons that lurk in the shadows which have an entrance to a world that none of them want to go through.

Everything seems to be fine, although credit does see some strange operations and hears some very eerie noises but can't figure out what is happening. Everything turns upside down when a group of guests appear to help them fix the place up which results in some violent deaths and a horrific attempted rape scene by a ghost towards Lynne Moody. Even Crenna's dog is affected, going mad and turning into an evil tool of the most demonic force the world has ever believed in. The fact that the guests all have their own individual feelings about religion and spirituality does add to the drama as they are revealed and intimate conversations before everything goes haywire.

Who else but Roger Corman could come up with an idea like this, and it's a shame that this film was a flop when it came out. It certainly is comparable to a lesser films of this genre that were successes. As happens in all these kind of dumb, not every idea works, and while there are many cliches, those are very important in setting up the atmosphere for what happens. Like I do with all of these supernatural films, I refuse to watch them before I go to bed, and indeed this does have many disturbing images. When parrot is visited by a ghost that looks strangely like a statue, it is a very haunting moment.

Victor Buono appears in a small role towards the end that is key to wrapping things up tightly. As usual, he is an over-the-top presence that must picture taken with a grain of salt considering his haminess. Well filmed and extremely suspenseful, this probably have the misfortune of being one of two many thrillers of this nature. Milton Selzer is the real estate agent, giving little hints of the house's history. The film is well directed by Gus Trikonis who appeared in the original film of "West Side Story". While there are some scenes that are very graphic, the film avoids being gory for the most part, but it's the emotional scares that could cause the nightmares.

A gripping film which still packs a punch with grisly murders , tension and plot twists. A two-hundred-year-old haunted mansion , it is the setting for chosen group . The haunted house has an evil history with tragic accidents, and human misjudgement. It seems which the scary mansion has been the place of weird happenings . A doctor (Richard Crenna) and his wife (Joanna Pettet) buy a Civil War era dilapidated mansion at a bargain price to use as a clinic, and hires a few young colleagues (Andrew Prine , Cassie Yate , Lynne Moody , Mary Louise Weller) to fix it up, but the mansion hides a deadly secrets before the evil demon deciding to utilize its powers by attacking the guests . Later on , they're plunged by demonic forces into supernatural attitude. As he and his associates are victimized by supernatural powers within. Escape is just a nerve-shredding scream for salvation! . Witness Its Awakening. An ancient horror slept beneath the old haunted mansion... nothing could stop its escape! .Their only hope of ever leaving alive or dead is the ghostly resident that built the house ! .

Effective chiller about a strange house located at an isolated location that causes creepy goings-on in its new owners . Mindless and acceptable film is packed with thrills , chills , intrigue , suspense, horror and lots of interminable screams with no sense . Moderated budget makes for big scary scream-feast . An intriguing tale of suspense and survival , as the film contains restless terror and great loads of screams , gore , blood and usual poltergeist phenomenon caused by the curse and the usual ghastly shenanigans with a weird threat that manifests itself with violent attacks, doors suddenly slam , deadly fires and anything else . It is produced in limited budget but well recreated with high grade special effects that are frightening and horrifying to spectator. This is the classic version about the haunted mansion in the infamous ¨Amityville¨ house style , with lots of screams and strange deeds in which some visitors fall into supernatural terror . The story starts little by little , some youngsters arrive , but they find only devilish horror , full of nightmares and extreme terror that turns out to be a haven for a demonic force . And soon the poltergeists make their nasty appearance originating a lot of unusual rattles and creaks , things go wrong when a cross is removed from a stone door in the basement and satan himself begins wreak havoc on each person one by one. The main and support cast are acceptable . Richard Crenna is fine as psychologist buys an old mansion as well as his wife played by Joanna Pettet . The original ¨Exorcist¨ film (by William Friedkin) spawned a wave of demonic possession movies that continues unabated today as ¨Changeling¨ (by Peter Medak with George C Scott), ¨Amytiville ¨(by Stuart Rosemberg with James Brolin , Margot Kidder , Rod Steiger) are two further examples of this sub-genre . Following a great number of clumsy , stupid sequels directed by Damiano Damiani , Richard Fleischer ,Sandor Stern (screenwriter of Amityville), Anthony Hitchcock. And the bad following ones just go on and on attempting to cash in on the success of the first movie . However , recently is made a good new adaptation ¨The Amityville Horror¨(2005) by Andrew Douglas with Ryan Reynolds , Melissa George and Philip Baker Hall . And adding other classic films about haunted houses such as ¨House of a haunted Hill´(1959) by william castle¨, ¨ Haunting¨(1963) by Robert Wise , and ¨The Haunting¨ by Jan De Bont (1999)

The motion picture was rofessionally directed by Gus Trikonis . He is a craftman who directed all kind of genres in films as : The Dark side of terror , County Express, The Student Body , Nashville Girl , The Swinging Barmaids , Supercock , This is my Wife' or Life with Goldie , Five the Hard Way. Later on , he moved to television , directing episodes of known series as Baywatch , Viper , Centinel , Pensacola , Quantum Leap , Burke's Law , New York Undercover, Flash , Wiseguy , SeaQuest DSV , among others . The Evil(1978) rating : 6/10 . Aceeptable and passable .