Something Evil

Beware the supernatural jam jars! Early Steven Spielberg TV movie that is a considerable step down from Duel released the previous year, but showing signs of a directorial craft to follow. Something Evil is not a great horror movie, well it was to those of us at a very young age who were allowed to watch it that is. The plot finds a family of four moving into a pastorally pleasing Pennsylvania farmhouse only to find a demon resides there. Hubbie works all hours in the city while mama and the two young children fall prey to something that manifests itself as red goo in jam jars or via a wind machine. Cue mama fighting the demon trying to take control of her family with love and pentacle art. Yep, it's really that simple, the budget doesn't stretch beyond that. Spielberg shows some nice skills with his dissolves, close-ups and distorted angle shots, but much of the impact is undone by poor acting and a musical score that belongs on a ghost train ride at the funfair. A couple of characters appear, and then vanish until the last third of the movie needs them, while the special effects on offer are understandable low in quality. For its time, its budget and as an observation to the early work of a man who would become one of America's biggest directors, it's a curio piece worth sampling. But it's hardly essential for horror fans or Spielberg completists. 6/10

_Tame television precursor to “The Exorcist”_ This was Spielberg’s second of three TV movies before breaking into cinema as a powerhouse. Meanwhile star Darren McGavin just got done doing the first Kolchak movie, “The Night Stalker,” which would lead to a sequel the next year, “The Night Strangler,” and the TV series in 1974-1975, albeit just 20 episodes. It was influenced by Hammer’s “The Devil Rides Out” from a few years earlier, not just the devil and possession elements, but also the protective circle. It takes these ideas and meshes them with the milieu and television budget of “Crowhaven Farm." Imagine if Kolchak was married with two kids and purchased a farmhouse outside the city. That’s a good description of this flick, except that McGavin’s character is a producer of commercials rather than a newspaper reporter. The subdued material would’ve worked fine as a 51-minutes episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, but it’s weighed down by 23 additional minutes of mundane filler for a total runtime of 1h 14m. Still, the filmmaking is proficient and fans of either McGavin or costar Sandy Dennis should appreciate it more than me, not to mention Spielberg. “The Exorcist” hit theaters 23 months later and outdid it on every level, leaving this as a footnote in the history of flicks dealing with demonic happenings. For a more imaginative take on similar material and setting, that is, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, check out “Apprentice to Murder” (1988), which was based on a true story that took place in Nov 1928. It was shot in 1971 in Newhall at Golden Oak Ranch, which is 45 miles north of Los Angeles, and east of Santa Clarita; studio work was done back in the city. GRADE: C-/C