It's never a good sign when a mid-80s slasher movie/thriller lays lingering on a shelf for several years and ends up being obscure and unknown. There were (too) many similar movies back then and it's difficult to stand out in the crowd, I know, but if a film is so forgotten like "Evil Judgment" it's usually for a good reason. And yet, any slasher flick that features two grisly murders before the opening credits have even finished screen receives my full attention and the benefit of the doubt!

The film also remains intriguing after that, with a sequence at a sleazy diner where an elderly customer urinates in a bowl of soup (allegedly because the soup also tastes like urine) and where a woman insists to her friend, the waitress, that she should consider becoming a prostitute because it pays much better. Career advice, always nice! The waitress discusses the idea with her boyfriend, who's an errand boy for the mafia, and he promptly throws her out of the apartment. Naked. That persuades her to give prostitution a chance. Her friend takes her to a fancy mansion for a threesome with a rich customer, and only then the bizarre slasher/murder mystery plot shifts into gear.

I won't elaborate on the plot too much, but it's convoluted and predictable at the same time. It's also original but boring at the same time, and it's silly but strangely compelling at the same time as well. Those are some very contradictory descriptions, but "Evil Judgment" simply is that kind of unfathomable early 80s low-budget horror flick. Just to illustrate how uneven the script is: Janet's nitwit boyfriend Dino goes from being a heartless jerk, who throws her out of the door naked, to a caring and semi-heroic dream lover who's the only one who believes her and even helps solving the mystery. Why does she go back to someone who treated her so badly in the first place?

There isn't any suspense in this Canadian exploitation flick, and in terms of gore and bloodshed it also doesn't deliver like an 80s horror movie should. The handful of throat-slits are reasonably graphical, but there's practically nothing else. Everything else that could possibly improve the viewing experience is missing here as well (acting, photography, soundtrack, set pieces...). I never heard about writer/director Claudio Castravelli before, but I noticed that - in 1971 - he also made a movie that is called "Up Uranus". I will make it my life's mission to track that one down.

Due mainly to the huge amount of slasher films released during the golden period, many struggled to find an audience and rapidly vanished without recognition. Although the likes of 'Movie House Massacre' and 'Click: The Calendar Girl Killer' were perhaps deserving of such a fate, the excellent 'Terror Night' and the two 'BloodStreams' (both 1985 and 2000 respectively) proved to be worthy of a more prominent status.

As I have said before, 1981 was a fine year for fans of slasher movies. Not only were enthusiasts treated to a sequel for the outstanding Halloween, which was arguably the movie that started it all; but also they were given excellent features such as Small Town Massacre, Friday the 13th Part 2, The Prowler, My Bloody Valentine and Tobe Hooper's Funhouse. In my opinion it was perhaps the best and most lucrative year for the cycle and it is reported that over 60% of box office receipts were from slasher flicks.

Evil Judgement was also completed in 1981, but missed out on the chance to become a part of the peak year influx, due to post-production problems, which have remained undisclosed. The movie sat on the shelves for 3 years and was released direct to video in 1984. Usually such a fate is reserved only for the worst of entries (Twisted Nightmare anybody?), so initially the signs were unconvincing for this Canadian effort.

Everything kicks-off in a formulaic region as an unidentified patient escapes an asylum, murdering a doctor and an unsuspecting orderly along the way. Next up we meet our un-archetypal heroine, Janet (Pamela Collyer), who is hardly the virginal tom-boy that so often dictates the stereotype for a female protagonist in a slasher movie. Working in a grimy café really begins to get her down and so after much convincing, she decides to accompany her friend, who is an expensive prostitute, on a money-spinning night of erotica. Janet's prostitution debut doesn't go specifically as planned, because an unseen maniac turns up on site and attempts, albeit unsuccessfully, to murder her. Despite his failure to relieve us of our leading lady, the killer does manage to slaughter both her friend April (Nanette Workman) and their unfortunate client.

The killer realises that he has left a surviving eye-witness and begins to stalk Janet throughout the rest of the feature, gorily slaughtering everyone that gets in his way. Numerous twists and turns in the plot keep the audience guessing until the surprising conclusion…..

Evil Judgement has become something of an obscurity and is rarely mentioned in the same breath as titles such as Prom Night or My Bloody Valentine. It's a real shame, because actually Castravelli's slasher is one of the better peak-year murder-mysteries. The film's strengths lie in the ambition of its synopsis and an excellent characteristic performance from Jack Langedijk as the anti-hero Dino. Despite an obviously low-budget production, the director manages to build an immensely atmospheric puzzle, which includes characters that break the stereotypical slasher clichés. The story enters realms of the unknown in terms of plot development (how many slashers can you name that mix Mafioso with a demented psychopath?) and it deserves credit for its flair for the ambitious.

Judgement is not a gore film like so many that populated the genre at this point in the period, but there's something notably gruesome in the manner that the killer dispatches his victims. The murders are bloody and the camera never shies away from the graphic corpses. Some may argue that more creativity was needed in the slaughters – every victim suffers a gooey throat slashing - but with that said, Castravelli excels in building tension and the stalking scenes in the mansion are memorable for their level of suspense. Mixing a few decent shocks with a talent for building a Gothic atmosphere, the movie makes the most of its plus-points and rarely struggles to keep up a comfortable momentum.

Whilst Jack Langedijk is excellent as the charismatic Dino, Pamela Collyer is irredeemably poor as the one-toned Janet. At times the feature falls prey to a lack of lighting, which is usually a big negative for slasher flicks, but in places it actually works in favour for Evil Judgement. The film is also surprisingly cheesy, which is a strong selling point to many eighties retro fans. The hilarious OTT fashions are fun and it's a slice of nostalgia that I found to be a refreshing reminder of the decade of decadence.

Its lack of a fan-base means that Evil Judgement may never see the light of day on DVD, but if you still own a VHS player, then I recommend that you give this one a shot. Compelling and alluring, Castravelli's part slasher/part crime movie is well worth a revisit.