The Evil

1978 Directed by Gus Trikonis

Escape is just a nerve-shredding scream for salvation!

Shortly after moving into a dark, brooding mansion, a psychologist and his co-workers are terrorized by a horrible evil being.

Richard Crenna Joanna Pettet Andrew Prine Cassie Yates George O'Hanlon Jr. Lynne Moody Mary Louise Weller Robert Viharo Victor Buono Milton Selzer Ed Bakey Galen Thompson Emory Souza

Alternative Title

Le Couloir de la mort

thriller horror

89 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Tony the Terror😼🏳️‍🌈 👻 ★★★½ 1

Ahhhh I love this ridiculous movie. My rating is biased because I love haunted house movies in general, but this one really does have a super cool house (or hotel is probably what it was when it wa occupied). There’s a ton of kills and some of them are quite gory, but the real kicker is the last ten minutes which just fly straight off the fucking rails into wtf insanity that may or may not have been intended as comedy and my guess is that was not the intent. Plus, watching Richard Crenna and Andrew Prine attempt to out act each other is pure gold.
The last time I watched this was on The Tube of You so I was nice to see a better quality version available on Prime. I’m thinking I’ll pick up the bluray because honestly it’s pretty essential to a haunted house lover’s collection.
Review by Ian West ★★½ 6

This has its moments, but just didn’t reach the heights of other 70’s Haunted/Evil house flicks to fully win me over. Still recommended for fans of 70’s evil house jams though, just don’t expect much. Perhaps a cleaned up print would do some good for this... maybe one day.
Review by Tony the Terror😼🏳️‍🌈 👻 ★★★½ 6

A doctor, his wife, and their friends attempt to fix up an old dilapidated mansion only to find themselves trapped inside and haunted by an unseen presence in this late 70’s horror flick that has that great atmosphere I really just can’t get enough of. I looooove haunted house movies so naturally I enjoyed this...possibly more than most people but, whatever, it was great hokey fun.
The body count is surprisingly high in this one and has an almost slasher-like feel to the killings so that was pretty nifty. There’s a smattering of gore to go along with the haunting and the effects were done well for an obviously small budget. However, the real star of this movie is that…
Review by AScaryGhost ★★★★

Hooptober 5.0 5/33
Anniversary Film (1978)
OK y’all. I waited far too long to see this ridiculous wedge of haunted house cheese, thank satan i finally watched it though!
The Evil started out very slow and kind of obnoxious, I wasn’t feeling any of the characters and I didn’t know where all this was
going. But once the “action” starts, it’s all uphill from there!
I became engrossed in the characters’ escalating panic as they tried to escape the house, only to find themselves dying weird and violent deaths. I ooohed and aahhed at the swirly special effects on the ghost of Fargle or w/e the ghost’s name was. I said “omg finally” when the male lead finally figured out…
Review by Hollie Horror ★★½ 3

Throughout The Evil I couldn't shake that feeling of "this movie is like, almost there" but when it ended that realization was finalized. It's as if they had a majority of the necessary components for a good, classic horror film but they weren't quite sure which piece fit where.
A psychiatrist takes on a huge, old manor and decides to renovate and turn it into a clinic. In order to accomplish this goal on a budget, he enlists the help of a group of volunteers made up of prior students, colleagues and even a few patients. In other words, enough people to kill off in supernatural ways.
The Evil is a rather typical haunted/evil house trapping everyone inside and killing…
Review by Geoffrey Broomer ★★½

The late introduction of an antagonist that looks like Colonel Sanders can be done well, The Matrix just needed Victor Bueno.
The late great King Tut walks on as Satan, which is a little jarring, but the previous eighty minutes are delightfully atmosphere. The Evil (1978) sees couple Richard Crenna & Joanna Pettet purchase a dilapidated mansion with plans to convert it into a drug rehabilitation facility. A fixer upper, they task their friend - a sleazy university professor, Andrew Prine - and a collection of students with the renovation. Unfortunately they haven't been there for five minutes when Crenna obliviously opens a portal to hell, making him the direct cause for all suffering that follows. While still painting him as…
Review by Kodiak ★★★

Better than I expected, but not wholly “good” in any specific way. I just like 70s haunted house movies I guess, and this one has some spooky atmosphere, a cute dog, and a cool house.
Review by My God's kitten ★★½ 5

With The Evil I cross out an entry from both the video nasties list and another Scream Factory release. I was originally going to watch this in my Halloween marathon, but knocked it off the list for The Owners. This turned out to be the right choice!
How did this make it onto one of the video nasty lists? Was someone offended that the devil showed up? I love great big empty houses as horror settings. I have regularly had dreams where I am wandering the maze of hidden passages in a gigantic mansion, traversing dusty tunnels to try and discover where they lead. It really speaks to my inner desire to explore. Sadly, it's a bit wasted here, not enough exploring. Too many deaths involving electricity. I will give kudos to the one overly excited guy who manages to escape only to get eaten by the ground. That was a pretty cool death.
Review by AThousandSons 2

Another haunted house with a gateway to hell in the basement movie. Not even the seemingly tacked on bit with Victor Buono could save it.
Review by Grim Street Grindhouse ★½

Hooptober 5.0 Review #15
Rules this satisfies:
10 movies released in years ending with 8, not including 2018. (1978)
A group of people renovating an old mansion are locked inside and picked off by the the building itself while a nerdy disembodied voice cackles in the hallways.
I had hopes for this one. The trailer made it look like good fun, but, ugh. Things seemed promising during the first act. The second act began without much fanfare, and about half-way through, the doors and windows locked and the crew were trapped inside. That is generally a point where a movie would have gotten good, but it's where The Evil got stupid.
First, none of the characters appear to understand the…
Review by SkaneNoise ★★½

I have two reviews for this alleged movie.
1.) lol
2.) This is a premake of The Evil Dead (1981), a version made by your Aunt Susan. The one who wishes you wouldn’t curse so much and reminded you of this the last time you lost Candy Crush and in her presence let slip an ‘oh hell’. The one who overly idealizes her still living father. The one who likes lace on furniture, especially wicker furniture. The one who thinks wood paneling of the mid 70’s to early 80’s was the height of interior decor. The one who isn’t totally sure about climate change. The one who is extremely judgmental about the amount of make-up your sister wears but lacks…
Review by Mondo Cinema ★★½

letterboxd.com/zombifan/list/mondo-cinema-vs-hooptober-3-in-3d-hooptober/

Col Troutman vs the devil, who apparently lives in a hole beneath a old house? in this low budget, sort of campy haunted house flick from the 70's, that still manages to be entertaining and interesting to watch.
Mondo Cinema out...

Recent reviews

Review by Alex Dawson ★★½

Pretty boring for a movie about Col. Trautman locked in an evil house that sets people on fire. Cool house though!
Review by Fried Tofu ★★★

Fun haunted house flick!
Lotsa funny things happen like being able to see the strings pulling people during the paranormal FX.
Was cracking up about the noose prank. Like WTF?!
Review by Emily ★★★½

Dat satanic Victor Buono! And if that weren’t worth the price of admission, we’ve got some Andrew Prine eye candy t’boot!
Review by ChakaRory ★★★

Victor Buono was, naturally, the best part
Review by Weirdlingwolf ★★★★

'The Evil' (1978) is some gloriously vintage spook-house hokum starring the delightfully sleek-limbed scion of schlock Andrew Prine! (Hey, man!!! Y’all just gotta' love the princely Prine!) This gonzoid Grindhouse gem remains a supremely fun, eerily effective, shock-larded, haunted house humdinger; and along with the always delicious Prine, the immaculately stern, splendidly bearded Richard Crenna suddenly find themselves inadvertently at the veritable epicentre of a centuries old battle betwixt the benign forces of good and the bellicose belligerence of evil incarnate! Quite literally merest moments after entering this creepily cavernous and foreboding property it swiftly becomes patently obvious that this uncommonly ill-tempered, malefic building means to do the protagonists a serious mischief with all the considerable satanic malevolence it can…
Review by BrokeNoseDeNiro ★★

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Review by Eric Patrick ★★½

Middling 70s haunted house movie. Everyone in denim jackets and blue jeans. I swear when a dog attacks they used the TIE Fighter sound effects, which was a little trippy.
Review by Gavin Rye ★★★★

There is one issue many people have with a haunted house film, and that’s why don’t the people just leave. Well The Evil doesn’t give our victims that choice. The entity in the house seals the entire place shut and anytime someone is close to escaping, they are either thrown back in the room, or in the case of one escaping down a rope, set on fire.
I love the house in this film. It’s just massive and well represented on film. There are massive calls and conservatory like areas that really make it stand out in the haunted house genre. The characters are OK if nothing to write home about, but they all do a good job and as…
Review by masha gomberg ★★★

Well, I don't about satan but this place definitely gives you the creeps. Whether it is the endless supply of IB homework, the astoundingly shitty cafeteria food, the occasional lack of water, the bonkers-crazy eco chamber that houses this entire place, or the actual fact that we have the fourth floor, that if entered can get you expelled all contribute to the occasional shudder.
I have no idea who Emilio Vargas is but if you do ketamine you will definitely be warned on multiple occasions that you should leave this place.
Come visit! Or Don't, you will probably be told to leave by the people in the welcome center, or be boiled alive in the hot springs. Your pick.
Haunted? Probably, Fun? yes, Hotel? Trivago
Do your homework kids.
P.S Also it is pretty concerning how I sat on one of the couches featured in this film, today.
Review by silvia servín ★★½

The best way i can describe this is as.. almost good.
Review by MoHill ★★½

Typischer Grusel aus der Zeit aber einige echt harte Kills und blutige Effekte (Kreissäge) sind drin. Kann man sich mal geben.
Review by Michael ★★★

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Strangely enough, I have never seen this movie before despite it being a popular movie with horror movie fans. I always remember seeing VHS copies of this movie growing up, but I never bother to watch it. I'm not the biggest fan of ghost and haunted house movies with some exceptions because I never find ghosts to be scary or interesting. I finally watch this movie on Amazon Prime and it was not bad. I didn't love this movie, but I didn't regret watching it.
You have solid performances from…